No Country for Muslims? The Invention of an Islam Républicain in France and Its Impact on French Muslims

Since the beheading of the French teacher Samuel Paty on 16 October 2020, the call for a fight against the so-called ‘Political Islam’ has been heard once again, not only in France, but all over Europe (EU). The politicization of Islam is held to be responsible for the increasing attacks by radical Islamic actors within European metropoles, and the EU states’ call for action and revenge in response to this ideology and its adherents, in order to guarantee public security and democratic values. Starting from the major terrorist attacks in France in the last few years, this paper seeks to compare the interlinking between domestic policy and religious radicalization and its impact on neighboring states. With regard to the attacks on 13 November 2015 in France, the attackers were traced back to radical networks in Belgium and Germany. Based on selected interviews that have been conducted by the author with female adherents of jihadist milieus within the years 2015 and 2016 in France and social media examples of Muslim reactions on the current French law enforcement, the tension between domestic policy and religious freedom related to Islam in France will be highlighted in this article. Among other reasons, the interview quotations and social media reactions can be seen as a result of a specific religious understanding and practice related to Islam by some actors. In addition, the ongoing othering of Muslims by France and other European societies can be seen to be in sum to be responsible for the increasing interest of young Muslims in radical Islamic thought that led to jihadist attacks within France in the not-so-distant past. With respect to the aforementioned development, this article will conceptualize the problematique of a (politically motivated) category formation related to one religion that is currently practiced in France, as seen from the perspective of a religious studies scholar.

The Information and Analytical Component of the Activities of Diplomatic Institutions

The purpose of the article is to reveal the essence of the information and analytical component of the activities of diplomatic institutions. The research methodology is based on a set of general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, generalisation and systematisation, which made it possible to achieve the goal of the article. The scientific novelty of the findings consists in focusing on the areas of information and analytical activities of diplomatic institutions: collecting and analysing information in the interests of the foreign and domestic policy of the state, which will guarantee it a worthy position in the international arena; providing information support for the country’s foreign and domestic policy. It is noted that a significant increase in the volume of information, in its content diversity, and a large-scale spread of advanced technologies that allow not only transmitting information over vast distances but also quickly processing large amounts of data, require diplomatic institutions to give special treatment to the forms and methods of information and analytical activities. The matter concerns the need to acquire skills in working with information and communication technologies, along with the use of traditional channels for receiving and transmitting information, as well as direct human communication. Each of these channels for obtaining information has its characteristics, which, in turn, highlights the need to choose the optimal possible number of different sources of information, taking into account the essence and nature of the tasks undertaken by a diplomatic institution. Providing the state leadership with high-quality analytical materials requires their compliance with such characteristics as objectivity, reliability, completeness, etc., while proposals and recommendations made by a diplomatic institution should contain a forecast of the further development of the event or situation in the host country and worldwide.

KEBIJAKAN INDONESIA MERATIFIKASI ASEAN AGREEMENT ON TRANSBOUNDARY HAZE POLLUTION (AATHP)

This research discusses why Indonesia ratified the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP). AATHP has been signed by ASEAN’s member states since 2002, but not all of them directly ratify it. Indonesia had not ratified AATHP for more than one decade because it faced domestic political barriers. The interest of private groups becomes the reason for the non-ratification policy for many years. In 2014, Indonesia made a contrast change by AATHP ratification policy. It obviously raises a question about the cause of that change. In order to answer the question, liberalism is proposed to be the framework theory to analyze the influence of private sectors and other actors in Indonesia's domestic policy on the AATHP ratification. Liberalism considers that AATHP ratification policy is encouraged by the support of domestic political actors in Indonesia, especially the private group. In the sphere of Indonesian domestic politics, behavioral change of private group and supports of other actors towards the ratification, these both aspects become the background of the emergence of Indonesia AATHP ratification policy.

South Africa’s Economic Role in Africa

South Africa’s expansion into Africa since the dawn of democracy has mostly been a product of a series of deliberate domestic and foreign policy decisions implemented by successive post-apartheid governments. By prioritizing the ‘African Agenda’, South Africa has sought to harness its representation at the helm of continental institutions into meaningful foreign policy outcomes, including economic diplomacy objectives. South Africa has largely succeeded in fulfilling the goals outlined in its foreign policy and in the ‘African Agenda’. Nonetheless its actions, especially in the context of the enactment of the Protocol on Trade in the Southern African region, has also undermined the economic interests of its regional neighbours. The extent to which South Africa will be able to sustain its foreign policy performance in Africa in the future will depend on how far it weighs its domestic policy pressures with its continental obligations, on how it responds to and accommodates the economic concerns of its regional neighbours, and on how it manages African perceptions of the country.

Prospects for Russian politics in 2022

Subject Prospects for Russian politics in 2022. Significance Now that the Kremlin has dealt with the immediate domestic policy priorities of constitutional change and parliamentary elections, 2022 will be a year of consolidation and continuity. The administration's focus will be on preparing what it regards as optimal, stable conditions for the presidential election in 2024. The Communist Party has a chance to build popularity among anti-government voters, but may not be bold enough given the Kremlin's limited tolerance for rebellious behaviour.

William Herle and the English Secret Service

<p>This thesis examines William Herle's life through his surviving letters to William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and other Elizabethan Privy Councillors. It emphasises the centrality of the Elizabethan patronage system to Herle's life, describing how his ties to Cecil helped Herle escape prison, avoid his creditors, and gain recompense for his service to Elizabeth. In exchange for Cecil's protection, Herle became deeply involved in Elizabethan intelligence networks, both domestic and foreign, throughout the 1570s and 1580s. Herle helped uncover plots against Elizabeth, passed vital information about events in the Spanish Netherlands back to England, and provided analyses of English foreign policy for his superiors. Despite his vital role, Herle never experienced true success, and died deeply in debt and abandoned by his patrons. Herle's life allows us wider insights into Elizabethan government and society. His experiences emphasises the inefficient nature of the Tudor foreign service, which utilised untrained diplomats who gained their position through political connections and were left to pay their own way through taking out loans they had little hope of repaying. Similarly, the numerous law suits which Herle describes in his letters are absent from official records, implying that Tudor society was even more litigious than previously assumed. Herle's life-long status as a gentleman, despite being arrested as a pirate and frequently imprisoned for debt, reinforces the lack of social mobility in Elizabethan England. His focus throughout his life on the need to support the 'Protestant Cause,' and his fear of an international Catholic conspiracy was shared by Cecil, Leicester, and Walsingham, and shows how deeply religious divisions affected English foreign and domestic policy.</p>

William Herle and the English Secret Service

<p>This thesis examines William Herle's life through his surviving letters to William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and other Elizabethan Privy Councillors. It emphasises the centrality of the Elizabethan patronage system to Herle's life, describing how his ties to Cecil helped Herle escape prison, avoid his creditors, and gain recompense for his service to Elizabeth. In exchange for Cecil's protection, Herle became deeply involved in Elizabethan intelligence networks, both domestic and foreign, throughout the 1570s and 1580s. Herle helped uncover plots against Elizabeth, passed vital information about events in the Spanish Netherlands back to England, and provided analyses of English foreign policy for his superiors. Despite his vital role, Herle never experienced true success, and died deeply in debt and abandoned by his patrons. Herle's life allows us wider insights into Elizabethan government and society. His experiences emphasises the inefficient nature of the Tudor foreign service, which utilised untrained diplomats who gained their position through political connections and were left to pay their own way through taking out loans they had little hope of repaying. Similarly, the numerous law suits which Herle describes in his letters are absent from official records, implying that Tudor society was even more litigious than previously assumed. Herle's life-long status as a gentleman, despite being arrested as a pirate and frequently imprisoned for debt, reinforces the lack of social mobility in Elizabethan England. His focus throughout his life on the need to support the 'Protestant Cause,' and his fear of an international Catholic conspiracy was shared by Cecil, Leicester, and Walsingham, and shows how deeply religious divisions affected English foreign and domestic policy.</p>

Mauritania: the Evolution of Political Structures

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania as an independent State emerged as a result of the collapse of colonial French West Africa, which included Mauritania. Its independence was declared on November 28, 1960. At the turning point of historical epochs, under the influence of national liberation movements on the continent and the general democratization of world government institutions, wide opportunities opened up for political activity, both for individual parties and movements, and for a particular individual. The pressure of foreign monopolies, the archaic social structure, internal political instability and the complexity of relations with neighboring countries have become serious obstacles to the development of Mauritania. During the years of independence, Mauritania has repeatedly experienced coups d’etat, which could not but have a negative impact on the entire socio-political spectrum of this West African country. Decades of French colonial influence has been reflected in the formation of political institutions in Mauritania, such as the Constitutional Council and the judiciary. Mauritania’s domestic policy has been based on racial and ethnic lines for many years. The protracted confrontation resulted in a conflict between the black population mainly in the south of the country and the traditionally Berber Arabs living in the northern regions, whose representatives held leading state posts. Each new head of state who came to power in post-colonial Mauritania, among the main tasks of domestic development, set the task of uniting various ethnic groups. Despite the obvious difficulties in solving this issue, the main tasks of the country’s leadership in the field of domestic policy are strict compliance with the current legislation in order to restore public confidence in state institutions and psychological restructuring of the consciousness of the vast majority of the population, aimed at developing a new attitude to domestic political life. In the 1980s, the country began a movement for the right of women to participate in the socio-economic sphere. But only in the 21st century did they gain the right to hold political office, although they are still required to live under Sharia law. At the level of public consciousness, the participation of women in politics and in other spheres of public activity is not approved. Traditional slavery is a special problem of socio-political development.