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32. Thinking Through Islamophobia: Global Perspectives edited by S. Sayyid and AbdoolKarim Vakil
- Author:
- Pamela Irving Jackson
- Publication Date:
- 04-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- No abstract is available.
- Topic:
- Islam
- Political Geography:
- Britain, China, Europe, Turkey, Belgium, and Netherlands
33. Islam and Religious Transformation in Adjara
- Author:
- Thomas Liles
- Publication Date:
- 02-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues
- Abstract:
- While Adjara's Islamic identity has been in decline, the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) has increased its presence in Adjara's capital Batumi and western lowlands since the 1990s. Today Islam retains a strong presence primarily in the republic's eastern highlands (upper Adjara), specifically in the Khulo district and to a lesser extent in the more rural areas of the Shuakhevi and Keda districts. With financial support from the state, the GOC maintains a growing presence in upper Adjara, and conversions to Christianity in the area are becoming more common. Simultaneously, certain segments of the region's Muslim population express dissatisfaction with perceived state discrimination, mainly resulting from the lack of state funding for local Islamic institutions and the difficulties of legally registering such institutions. With the creation of the new Administration of Georgian Muslims (AGM) in May 2011 and the passage of a new law on the registration of minority religious groups in July 2011, this discontent may well subside. However, it is still too early to tell whether these laws will have a significant effect in upper Adjara.
- Topic:
- Islam, Religion, and Minorities
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Georgia
34. Georgia's Muslim Community: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?
- Author:
- Conor Prasad
- Publication Date:
- 02-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues
- Abstract:
- In early May 2011, an Administration of Georgian Muslims (AGM) was established. Although founded with government help and by government officials, it is officially a non-governmental organisation (NGO) whose aim is to manage and address problems and issues affecting Georgia's diverse Muslim population. The new administration replaces the semi-independent, Baku-based Caucasus Board of Muslims (CBM) which until recently was the governing body for Georgia's Muslims.
- Topic:
- Islam, Governance, and Minorities
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Georgia
35. European Perceptions of Turkish Foreign Policy
- Author:
- Talip Küçükcan and Müjge Küçükkeleş
- Publication Date:
- 04-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- As a staunch ally of NATO whose actions were easy to predict, Turkey did not attract much attention as a foreign policy actor until a decade ago. The increasing activism of Turkish foreign policy and the greater initiative taken by Turkish elites have raised interest in Europe. After overcoming the first wave of bewilderment and irritation at Turkey's independent foreign policy initiatives, Europeans have started to develop a more nuanced approach towards the specifics of Turkish foreign policy. Currently, debates over Turkey are not confined to EU accession discussion alone. Instead, they consider the implications of Turkey's more assertive foreign policy as well.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, NATO, and Islam
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Central Asia, and Turkey
36. The Somali Crisis: Failed State and International Interventions
- Author:
- Rossella Marangio
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- The long-lasting Somali conflict is profoundly linked to the country's historical development and its socio-cultural specificities. The political milieu and the struggle for power in Somalia reflect the cleavage between tradition and modernity. This rift has led to a legitimacy vacuum, which has made it difficult for the warring parties to find enough common ground for a compromise. Furthermore, external influences, at both regional and international levels, have contributed to the fragmentation of the political arena, due notably to the emphasis on the use of force as the principal tool for acquiring or maintaining power. In this unfolding crisis, regional pressures and rivalries, international interventions, economic and strategic interests as well as piracy, corruption and Islamic extremism all play an interlocking role. In view of this, a new approach to the crisis is badly needed. The EU, in particular, should promote a new strategy based on three components: enhancement of social cohesion through local cooperation programmes, state-building and development.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Islam, and Fragile/Failed State
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Europe, and Somalia
37. Religion and Peacebuilding: Reflections on Current Challenges and Future Prospects
- Author:
- Susan Hayward
- Publication Date:
- 08-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United States Institute of Peace
- Abstract:
- The field of religious peacebuilding has begun to move closer to the mainstream of conflict resolution practice and theory. The 2011 unrest in the Middle East and North Africa—the Arab Spring—reflects ongoing challenges and opportunities for the field. American and European nongovernmental organizations, agencies in the U.S. government, academia, and international organizations—sectors that once held religious issues at a distance or understood religion mainly as a driver of violence—increasingly engage religious communities and institutions as partners in creating peace. Meanwhile, religious organizations that have been involved in creating peace for decades, if not longer, increasingly have institutionalized and professionalized their work, suggesting ways that religious and secular organizations could coordinate their efforts more closely. The U.S. Institute of Peace's own programs on religion reflect the development of the wider field, having moved from research and analysis to on-the-ground programming to foster interfaith dialogue in the Balkans, Nigeria, Israel-Palestine, and Sudan. In addition, it has trained religious actors in conflict management in Sri Lanka, Iraq, and Colombia and developed peace curricula based on Islamic principles for religious and secular schools in Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and elsewhere. As the U.S. field of religious peacebuilding continues to develop, challenges include integrating further with secular peacebuilding efforts, engaging women and youth and addressing their priorities, working more effectively with non-Abrahamic religious traditions, and improving evaluation, both to show how religious peacebuilding can reduce and resolve conflict and to strengthen the field's ability to do so.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Islam, Peace Studies, Religion, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, Europe, and Arabia
38. The Roots of Balkanization: Eastern Europe C.E. 500-1500
- Author:
- Ina Merdjanova
- Publication Date:
- 07-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- In his book, Ion Grumeza ambitiously sets about “to fill a gap with authoritative material on how the process of Balkanization came about, to separate fact from fiction and trace the patterns of ethnic and cultural life that originated fifteen centuries ago.” (p. ix) Furthermore, the book “traces the creation of the present Balkan nations and examines their influence on Eastern Europe.” (p.xiii) With this impressive aim in mind, the author has studied some hundred historical books on the Balkans, or at least this is what we find in his bibliography.
- Topic:
- Islam
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Turkey
39. U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition: Competition Involving the EU, EU3, and non-EU European States
- Author:
- Brandon Fite
- Publication Date:
- 09-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- The various states that comprise the EU and non-EU Europe collectively and individually influence US-Iranian competition in a number of ways. The EU, and particularly the EU3 (Britain, France, and Germany), are the United States' most consistent allies in seeking to roll back Iran's nuclear efforts. Though the European approach has not always paralleled that of the US, unlike China and Russia, European disagreements with the US serve to moderate rather than to weaken or spoil American efforts.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Foreign Policy, and Islam
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, Europe, and Iran
40. Spinoza, Locke, and the Limits of Dutch Toleration
- Author:
- Geoffrey A. Gorham
- Publication Date:
- 11-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Macalester International
- Institution:
- Macalester College
- Abstract:
- The Netherlands' reputation as a bastion of religious and political toleration has been tested in the last decade by the rise of indigenous anti-immigrant political movements. These movements are fueled not only by simple xenophobia and racism, amplified in the wake of September 11, but also by the seemingly sincere sentiment that the Netherlands, the most densely populated nation in Europe, cannot sustain historical immigration levels: “Holland is full.” But another important component of anti-immigrant rhetoric is conceptual or ideological rather than practical, and trades on the tolerant self-image of the Dutch: toleration does not extend to the intolerant. Muslim immigrants are the usual target of this argument, who are accused of harboring theocratic, patriarchal, homophobic, and anti-Christian or anti-Jewish convictions and designs. Such rhetoric raises important and complex questions about how social and political ideals like toleration, freedom, and equality—as much as idolatry, infidelity, and heresy—are conditioned by the structures of social and economic power in which they historically emerge. That is to say, does the ideal of “toleration” in practice merely reinforce the boundaries of what is “tolerable” within the dominant culture?
- Topic:
- Islam
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Netherlands, and Holland