Stories Archive | Page 83 of 86

Analyses

The history of the Islamic Republic of Iran—established in 1979 following the revolution that overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi—is marked by a dense sequence of developments that have progressively altered its political and institutional configuration. These changes, however, have only sporadically been recognized by Western analyses, which have instead tended to perpetuate a more functional and instrumental stereotype based on the image of a monolithic, highly verticalized religious autocracy. While such a characterization was broadly accurate during the first decade of the Islamic Republic, it has undergone a profound transformation since 1989.

Political Theory
Erdoğan, from Rags to Rebellions
Juliana DeVries 30 June 2011

For many Turks, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a man of the people; born in 1954, he spent his early childhood near the Black Sea coast, moving to Istanbul at 13, where he sold simit (sesame buns) on the streets and played semi-professional soccer. He went on to become the mayor of Istanbul in 1994 in a rags-to-riches tale of hard work and charisma. Now, the third-term prime minister faces undesirable regional and domestic instability.
Religion
Navid Kermani, Muslim democracy spoiled by the West
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29 June 2011
By Nicola Missaglia Navid Kermani, an Iranian and German citizen, was born in 1967 in Germany to a family of Iranian origin. He is one of the most interesting personalities among the young Muslim intellectuals who were born and grew up in the West
Political Theory
A Third Time Around for Erdoğan
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Nicola Mirenzi 28 June 2011
Turkey – The almost 50% of votes that Turkey’s electorate gave Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the June 12th elections proved once again that the democratic Islam that Erdoğan and his men represent is profoundly linked to the feelings and moods of the nation. But the overwhelming victory Erdoğan hoped to achieve—in order to have the power to change the constitution unilaterally, as well as to become a “Republican sultan” in Turkey’s political narrative—did not happen.
Political Theory
A New Muslim Religious Establishment for a New Arab World
Brahim El Guabli 27 June 2011

“It was not Islam that bore the responsibility for the political and intellectual weaknesses afflicting Muslim societies—as many a European observer of Islam suggested— but the failure of Muslims to properly interpret their foundational texts in accordance with changing needs” (Mohammad Zaman, p.7)
Religion
Opening the Doors of Ijtihad
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Fred Dallmayr, University of Notre Dame 13 June 2011
From Reset-DoC’s Archive – «Is it possible to grasp the ‘objective’ historical meaning of a text? Or is the process of textual understanding intrinsically connected with the role of the interpreter? This is the core question of hermeneutics. And it is precisely this question which – in different formulations – permeates the Arabic-Islamic tradition, ever since the beginning of Qur’anic interpretation and of ta’wil. Thus, the guiding question of the Mu’tazilites was: Is it possible to understand the divine meaning of the Qur’an without having a pre-understanding of justice or the unity of God? If we approach the Qur’anic text starting from the presumption of its divine nature but without having an intelligible pre-understanding of divine truth, how can we know that this text is not a lie or falsehood??» Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd
Religion
Secularism and Islam: An Artificial Divide
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Abdou Filali-Ansary 13 June 2011
“It seems today that the acceptance of secularism within the Muslim world is extremely far away. It is as if, on the basis of deeply-held convictions, Muslim society were demanding a form of not exactly theocracy, but certainly a ‘moralisation’ of public life.” So says Abdou Filali-Ansary, director of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations at the University of Aga Khan, London. The director and founder of the Moroccan literary review ‘Prologues,’ Filali-Ansary is also the author of a number of works on the reformist tradition within the Islamic world, including L’Islam est-il hostile à la laïcité? (2002) and Réformer l’Islam? – Une introduction aux débats contemporains (2003). He recently spoke at ResetDoc’s Istanbul Seminars 2011 (19-23 May).
Migrations
«While Italy complains, Tunisia and Egypt accept hundreds of thousands of Libyan refugees»
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A conversation with Laura Boldrini, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR. By Ilaria Romano 22 April 2011
In recent days the UNHCR has invited donor countries to provide the necessary financial assistance needed for humanitarian aid in Libya and neighbouring countries. In the meantime it continues to work with local agencies on the shores of the Mediterranean. In some cases work also consists of searching for people who have taken to the sea and for whom all trace has been lost.
Migrations
Cultural diversity? It is our best chance to have a future
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Elisa Pierandrei 21 April 2011
At the international conference entitled “Recreating Babel; teaching cosmopolitism” organized by the Intercultura Foundation in Milan from April 7th to the 9th, 36 experts (among them Fred Dallmayr, John Lupien, Giancarlo Bosetti, Marco Aime, and Ramin Jahanbegloo) explained how social, political and economic events in the 20th Century, including the very recent events in North Africa and Japan, are almost all of an international nature and allow us to understand well how it is impossible to live within the political and cultural borders of one’s own state or nation.
Media and Communication
The lies of power no longer work
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Steven Livingston talks to Mauro Buonocore 5 April 2011
“We are all Khaled Said”. There was a young 28-year-old man who kept united the protesters filling the Egyptian squares to oppose Mubarak. Tortured and killed by policemen who wanted to search him at an internet café in the suburbs of Alexandria last June, Khaled was at the heart of mobilization. His name united an entire people, who allowed him to speak out with one single voice to say “enough” to the regime’s abuse of power. The images of his tortured body circulated the country and were shared online by millions of Egyptians. Beaten up and killed, probably because he wanted to post online a video showing two policemen involved in drug trafficking, Khaled’s name has been used for the Facebook page around which protesters gathered to then physically take to the streets to oppose Mubarak and his system. Would all this have taken place even without Facebook, Twitter and other social networks? According to Steven Livingston, professor at George Washington University and an expert on the way in which the media influences mechanisms in democracies, the answer is linked to technology, more specifically to multiple technologies, such as mobile phones, computers, satellites and cables for the high-speed transmission of data. All this creates a new environment for news that allows citizens to be more aware of what is happening around them and demand power to be more transparent, open and efficient. This provides an immense opportunity for democracies in emerging countries, as the American professor stated in a recent study entitled Africa’s Evolving Infosystems: A Pathway to Stability and Development. He emphasizes the manner in which digital media increase the possibility of creating health systems, helping the agricultural produce market, setting up banking services as well as improving public security and the very quality of democracy itself.
Political Theory
The Outset of Post-Islamist Age
Harith Al-Qarawee 31 March 2011

Arab dictatorships have guaranteed their external legitimacy by exploiting the threat of Islamism, securing the backing of Western governments by proclaiming that Islamic fundamentalism would consolidate itself in the event of a free and transparent election. Therefore, the ‘Islamic exceptionality’ has been widely accepted and taken for granted by the Western governments, and gradually, this argument became so entrenched even in research centres. ‘Stability’, rather than democracy, became the main objective when the Middle East is concerned and it was interpreted as the necessity of maintaining the status quo, no matter how harmful and unfair it has been for the majority of population.