scholarly journals Review of In a Pure Muslim Land: Shiʿism between Pakistan and the Middle East by Simon Wolfgang Fuchs

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-144
Author(s):  
Mohammad Kalantari
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
The State ◽  
Islamic Revolution ◽  
Layer Interaction ◽  
Transnational Ties ◽  
The World ◽  
Shed Light

By some estimates, the Shiʿis of Pakistan, roughly around 25 million people, represent, after that of Iran, the second-largest community of Shiʿis all around the world. Simon Fuchs’s book is among the few scholarly works which have tried to shed light on this relatively under-studied community. His study of Pakistani Shiʿis goes beyond their internal social and bureaucratic relations within the state, and concentrates more on the religious transnational trends which they have forged, especially after the 1979 Revolution in Iran. He argues how the Islamic Revolution in Iran, a watershed moment for Shiʿi transnationalism, was factored in by some Shiʿi scholars in Pakistan to consolidate their base throughout the community. Describing the evolution of these transnational ties, and its multi-layer interaction with the clerical authority and sectarian polemics in Pakistan, is the theme running through all chapters of the book.

Fragmentation as a Challenge: Tribal and Sectrarian Identities in the Middle East

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-85
Author(s):  
Kleanthis Kyriakidis
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Arabian Gulf ◽  
The State ◽  
Islamic Revolution ◽  
Direct Response ◽  
Tribal Identity ◽  
Gulf States ◽  
The Ideal

In the Arabian Gulf two identities can be really considered almost as important as the national one: the tribal and the sectarian ones. Someone should expect that the reinforcement of these identities is a direct response to inequality and processes of exclusion. Furthermore, parochial tribalism is expected to arise as the protector of cultural heritage, especially in a region where the ex-pats vastly outnumber the locals. Nonetheless, both statements are far from truth. In this paper we will analyze how in the Gulf, sectarian identity came to play a significant role only after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran and it keeps on surviving through mainly instigations and Iranian propaganda, provocations and support. It should be noted that Sunni identity has been allegedly subjugated in other Middle East States (mainly in Syria and Iraq) but in the Gulf the sectarian challenge stems from the Shia communities, openly supported by Tehran. Strangely enough, the tribal identity does not pose that much of a challenge, since tribes are more the friend than the enemy of all Gulf States. Actually, these countries could not have survived without the loyalty and commitment of the tribes not only to the Royal families but also to the idea of the State and the ideal of the Nation – and Gulf Nations do protect their cultural heritage. Keywords: Gulf, Globalization, Fragmentation, Sectarianism, Tribalism

The ICRC's humanitarian policy and operational activities

1991 ◽  
Vol 31 (280) ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
The Review
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
The State ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Internal Conflicts ◽  
The World ◽  
Operational Activities ◽  
Humanitarian Work

The current war in the Middle East shows the extent to which the world is now beset by disruption and uncertainty. The humanitarian work of the ICRC is obviously seriously affected by this situation. Being particularly sensitive – both by its nature and because of its mandate – to the state of international affairs, the ICRC is having to cope not only with the immediate effects of an international conflict but also with the implications in humanitarian terms of internal conflicts and disturbances which continue to prevail in many regions and which equally require the constant presence of delegates from our institution.

Transnational Relationships between the Italian Revolutionary Left and Palestinian Militants during the Cold War

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 31-70
Author(s):  
Luca Falciola
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Transnational Ties ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Way

This article examines the transnational ties between the Italian revolutionary left and Palestinian militants from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s. Some observers have cited these connections to explain the magnitude of Italian terrorism in the 1970s and early 1980s. However, in the absence of empirical research, the issue has remained murky. The archival sources and detailed interviews with protagonists used in the article shed light on this phenomenon by addressing four questions: first, the reception of the Palestinian cause within the Italian revolutionary left; second, the way Palestinian terrorist groups established roots in Italy and how the political context facilitated those efforts; third, the interactions between Italian and Palestinian militants both in Italy and in the Middle East; and fourth, the factors that strengthened or weakened the relationships between these entities. The evidence indicates that although Italian revolutionaries forged concrete ties with Palestinian militants and terrorists, these ties were not as extensively developed as some of the Italian leftists had hoped. The interactions encouraged radicalization but did not significantly foster violent escalation and terrorism in Italy.

scholarly journals Offensive Realism: The US Strategies to Contain Iran

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-103
Author(s):  
Munawar Hussain Panhwar ◽  
Ronaque Ali Behan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Islamic Revolution ◽  
Realist Approach ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran ◽  
Offensive Realism ◽  
Tremendous Impact

The Islamic Revolution, as one of the greatest political developments in thetwentieth century - caused a radical change in the Iranian political system.Consequently, it has posed a tough challenge for the American politics inprotecting its significant interests in the region. Since then, the US hasemployed multiple methods to contain the growing influence of Iran which hasleft the tremendous impact on its interests in the region. Similar, approacheshave been used against many other countries of the world where the Americaninterests have been affected. Thus, understanding the US tools and strategiesused against the Islamic Republic of Iran would help independent countriesbetter to confront with the similar problems. This research tries to respondthis question that what were the US strategies to control and contain theIslamic Republic in the last four decades? Mearsheimer's offensive realismhas been used to answer that question. The offensive realist approach hasbeen extensively discussed to find out the similar patterns in the US strategytowards Iran. The results of this article clearly point to the several USstrategies to control the power and maintain an influence of the IslamicRepublic of Iran in the Middle East which has posed the potential challengesto the American interests in the said region.

scholarly journals "Euroslam" - is it ridda or time consuming?

2005 ◽  
pp. 22-39
Author(s):  
T. Hazyr-Ogly
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
East Asia ◽  
North Africa ◽  
The State ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Monitoring Center ◽  
Muslim Communities

Islam is now professed by the population of many countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe. According to the World Islamic League, as of 2004, there were 1.2 billion Islamic followers in different countries (around 120 countries). In 35 countries, Muslims now make up 95-99 percent of the population, in 17 countries Islam is the state religion, and in 25 states, Muslims are an influential minority. Muslim communities are overwhelmed in Asia and North Africa. But they are also present in Europe, the US and Japan. According to statistics from the European Monitoring Center and Xenophobia (EUMC), Islam is the only religious religion in the world over the past 100 years, from 13 to 19.5 percent.

12. Litmus Tests for European Integration Theories

2018 ◽  
pp. 237-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja A. Börzel ◽  
Thomas Risse
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Continuous Variable ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of The Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Shed Light

This chapter deals with two litmus tests for theories of European integration. The first part asks, how and to what extent various approaches can explain the contemporary crises of European integration. It thereby tackles the question of whether European integration theories might have biased EU scholars towards ignoring evidence for (dis-)integration. While being more optimistic about the state of the Union than many EU scholars are, the authors of this chapter argue for a more differentiated conceptualization of integration as a continuous variable that takes disintegration, rather than stagnation or no integration, as the opposite value of integration. The second part of the chapter examines to what extent European integration theories are able to shed light on experiences with regionalism across the globe. It argues that they do provide plausible accounts for the emergence of regionalism around the world. Comparing regions points to important scope conditions under which European integration theories operate. When it comes to outcomes, however, they need to be complemented by explanations emphasizing diffusion to clarify why and when states are more inclined to pool and delegate sovereignty in some regions than in others.

Is Citizenship Dead?

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
The State ◽  
The World ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
The Arab Spring

Globalization has eroded borders, fostered mobility, and deepened inequality virtually everywhere. The waning of the state as the world’s default political unit has had myriad consequences; among the most challenging may be the simultaneous expansion of supranational norms of human rights and contraction of legal, enforceable citizenship. The upheavals of the Arab Spring provided eloquent testimony to both the appeal of rights-based political discourse, as protesters across the region called for “bread, freedom, and social justice,” and the catastrophic consequences of reliance on weakened and ineffectual states to enforce such rights. The baleful landscape of the Middle East today suggests a warning for the rest of the world: enfeebled states may herald the demise of universal human rights.

The Shiʿite Hierocracy and the State in Pre-modern Iran: 1785–1890

1981 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saïd Amir Arjomand
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Islamic Revolution ◽  
The West ◽  
State Problem ◽  
Progressive Development ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Secular State

With the progressive development of secularism in the West, of which Spain's formally becoming a secular state in 1978 may be taken as a symbolic culmination, the Church-State problem has long receded from the foreground of the Occidental memory. Yet, in other parts of the world, where God is not dead, the analogue problem of the relationship between the hierocracy and the state merits attention. As the Islamic revolution of February 1979 eloquently demonstrates, the problem is of great importance and the sociologists' or social historians' neglect of it could only be to the detriment of their understanding.

Iran’s Policy towards Jewish Iranians and the State of Israel. Is the Present Iranian State Islamofascist?

2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 370-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katajun Amirpur
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Jewish Community ◽  
The State ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
The World ◽  
Iranian State ◽  
To Come ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
Hostile Attitude ◽  
The Revolution

Ever since his inauguration in 2005, Iranian president Maḥmūd Aḥmadīnezhād keeps the world on its toes with his attacks against Israel. One could easily come to the conclusion that anti-Semitism and a hostile attitude towards Jews are deeply rooted in Iranian society. Moreover one could assume that the present Iranian state has to be called Islamofascist. To come to a sounder judgment, this article looks at the situation of the Jewish Iranians—present and past—and asks how the different regimes, before as well as after the revolution, treated the Jewish minority. Iran counting today some 25,000 Jews harbors the biggest Jewish community in the Middle East with the evident exception of the State of Israel.

Sarcasm as Postcolonial Dialogue: Bloggers, Cultural Hegemony and Resistance

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-184
Author(s):  
Wisam Kh. Abdul-Jabbar ◽  
Sabah Wajid Ali
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Cultural Hegemony ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
American Intervention ◽  
Theatre Of The Absurd ◽  
The World ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract This essay looks at two young English-speaking Iraqi bloggers whose internationally recognized writings describe the chaos in post-Saddam Iraq. It examines sarcasm as a mode of resistance as employed by Salam Pax, characterized by BBC Radio in 2003 as “the most famous diarist in the world,” and Riverbend, whose blog was published as a book and translated into several languages. By subjecting the colonial discourse to ridicule, they not only successfully convey the angst their people suffer, but also mock a stereotypical rhetoric that haunts the Western mentality regarding the Middle East. This essay negotiates their use of sarcasm as a means of non-violent resistance. It demonstrates how, for instance, they shift from the sarcastic to the absurd to unravel the banality of the colonial mind and the conceited position of its liberating enterprises. The aim of the paper is, therefore, to shed light on the emergence of a digitalized group of subalterns who write back to the center in the wake of the American intervention to topple the Baath regime in Iraq. Pax and Riverbend distinctively succeed in subverting the colonial and hegemonic gaze by unravelling the encroaching uncertainties of war through the deployment of sarcasm to signify resistance, and by transforming the coalition forces’ theatre of war into a theatre of the absurd.

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