Rashed Al-Ghanoshi's Concept of Democracy

This study analyses the concept of democracy according to Rashed Al-Ghanoshi that it aims exploring the contributions of this intellectual theses about democracy in the contemporary Islamic intellectual interaction with reality. Furthermore, it adopted text analysis method that Al-Ghanoshi’s intellectual texts are subject to this study. The researcher concluded thatAl-Ghanoshi based his writings on hte technical dimension of the concept of democracy eliminating the philosophical dimension to assure the neutrality of his methods. Also, he confirms that Islam and its objectives do not prevent these methods and arrangements. On the contrary, Islam aims to get humanity to these good arrangements for ruling in order to fulfill the principle of Shora (consultation). Besides, Al-Ghanoshi based his intellectual project on a number of ideas about the principles and practices of democracy where are intellectually controversial in the contemporary Islamic thought such as multiparty system, elections, the concept of the majority, legislation and separation of powers. This is done to reach the conclusion that Islam does not contradict with these practices and principles as the Islamic thought rejecting this concept and its methods is the only hindrance for any democratic change in the Arab Islamic societies.

Authoritarianism from Above and Below: Exclusive Nationalism and the Turkish-Kurdish Conflict

The persistence of the Kurdish conflict in the Middle East has created deadly outcomes for Turkey’s democratization process and facilitated the emergence of an authoritarian coalition promoting exclusive nationalism from above. While consolidation of the authoritarian rule in Turkey occurred in parallel to the rise of exclusive nationalism and regional militarism, the electoral authoritarian regime is currently facing multiple challenges. As the economic recession deepens, a new wave of ethnonationalism targeting the Kurds and immigrants is in the making, but this time from below. The possibility of democratic change in the future seems to depend on to what extent main opposition parties will be able to distance themselves from exclusive nationalism and build a pro-democracy alliance including the People’s Democratic Party (HDP).

Spontaneous humour and Malaysia’s democratic breakthrough in 2018

The 2018 Malaysian general election was the first democratic change of government in the nation’s modern history. The victory of the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope – PH) coalition surprised several observers within and outside the country, especially considering the intensified repression employed by the outgoing Barisan Nasional (National Front – BN) ruling coalition leading up to the polls, including media censorship, the silencing of political opponents, and the manipulation of Islamism and ethnic Malay nationalism. This article examines the role of spontaneous, conversational humour in constructing a viable political identity for the PH. It does this by considering humorous moments during press conferences and similar media events held by the PH coalition, led by its designated choice for prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad. This article aims to contribute to the scholarship on the role of humour in identity construction and political campaigning.

Education network pirates, corporate control and the inverted panopticon: about the unfulfilled pandemic promise

There are two issues in the article. The first concerns the educational dimension of the pandemic in social spaces. The second issue is about the possibility that the pandemy opens up for academic education. I believe that the pandemic crisis could have provided a progressive lessons and an impetus for a pro-democratic change, both in society and in institutionalized education. However, this lesson has not been learnt, and the pandemic itself has been used to intensify authoritarian tendencies in the womb of the (post)neoliberal world.

Revisiting norms of citizenship in times of democratic change

Over the last two decades, scholars have investigated norms of citizenship by focussing primarily on ‘dutiful’ and ‘engaged’ norms. In the meantime, contemporary democracies have witnessed growing demands for more sustainable styles of living and increasing public support for authoritarian and populist ideas. These developments point to both a change and an expansion of conventional understandings and conceptions of what a ‘good citizen’ in a democratic polity ought to do. Specifically, they raise questions about whether demands for more sustainability and increasing support for populist ideas establish new facets of democratic citizenship, and if so, how they can be meaningfully incorporated into existing images of citizenship. This study provides a re-conceptualization of citizenship norms and empirically tests a new measurement instrument using original data collected in Germany in 2019. The empirical application of an expanded set of items demonstrates the existence of more variegated facets of norms of citizenship, including norms to safeguard a sustainable future and distinct populist facets emphasizing the relevance of trust in authorities and experts as well as reliance on feelings and emotions. Contemporary conceptions of citizenship thus go beyond conventional distinctions between dutiful and engaged norms of citizenship.

International interventions in non-democratic states between democratic change and achieving interests (Iraq as a case study after 2003)

This research seeks to critically analyze the international efforts, particularly the United States of America, in transforming authoritarian and non-democratic states into democratic ones, and clarify to what extent the US seeks to achieve real democratic change in non-democratic countries, especially Iraq, and whether their main goal is to achieve stability and their vital interests or democratic change and reform. It argues that although spreading democracy and human rights in the Middle East has become, especially after the end of the Cold War, one of the main goals of the US, but, in reality, the US is not ready to sacrifice its vital interests in the region at the expense of spreading democratic values, as well as reducing its strong security and economic relations with its non-democratic allies, or even applying the required pressure on them. Consequently, this increases doubts about the credibility and seriousness of the US in achieving its goal of spreading democracy in the Middle East in general, and Iraq in particular.