POMED Notes: “Qur’anic Guidance for Good Governance”
October 10th, 2008 by Tariq
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) held a Caux Round Table discussion on “Qur’anic Guidance for Good Governance” on Thursday. Stephen Young, Global Executive Director of the Caux Round Table, described meetings with Islamic scholars from the International Islamic University of Malaysia, and emphasized the compatibility of American style constitutionalism with the Qur’an, and the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, respectively. The event was moderated by Jerry Hyman, Senior Adviser and President of the CSIS Hills Program on Governance.
For POMED’s notes on this event, click here.
Posted in Event Notes, Islam and Democracy, Political Islam | Comment »
Buddy Up
October 10th, 2008 by Amanda
The Christian Science Monitor discusses possibilities of US interaction with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Although the McCain campaign has derided Obama’s plan to extend cooperation with them, some concede that this is a viable option, including General Petraeus. While CSM thinks that inclusion isn’t a bad idea, “the threshold set for Taliban leaders to be folded into a new regime should be high” and must “swear allegiance to a democratic Constitution.” By taking these steps the Taliban could be forced into moderation because it “knows it is not popular with the masses and may want to use elections, rather than guns, to win back support for their views of running an Islamic society.”
Dexter Filkins also fields questions about the Taliban, Afghanistan and Pakistan in a recent interview with Foreign Policy.
Posted in Afghanistan, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Pakistan, US foreign policy | Comment »
POMED Event Notes: “Religion and State”
October 6th, 2008 by Jason
This afternoon, POMED and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung hosted a panel discussion titled “Religion and State: A Middle East, U.S., and EU ‘Trialogue.’” The event featured Geneive Abdo, Ibrahim Houdaiby, Bob Edgar, and Dietmar Nietan. The discussion was moderated by Andrew Albertson, Executive Director of POMED.
Geneive Abdo discussed the permanent tension in Islamic societies between the authority of the state and that of the religious clerisy. Ibrahim Houdaiby said that all three major monotheisms share basic human values that should govern societies. He believes a society governed by absolute secularism loses certain human values that only a religious framework can provide.
Dietmar Nietan noted that all European nations share the difficulty of integrating their Muslim populations. He stressed the need for dialogue with religious groups and noted such engagement has proven historically successful. Bob Edgar said that he believes strongly in the separation of church and state, but not in the separation of people of faith from government institutions.
For full notes on this POMED event, click here.
Posted in Egypt, Event Notes, Islam and Democracy, Muslim Brotherhood, POMED, Political Islam, Secularism | Comment »
Democratic Reform and Terrorism
October 6th, 2008 by Jason
RAND has published an ambitious, book-length empirical study on the link between democratic reform and terrorism. The report looks at 15 years of liberalization efforts in six case studies: Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Morocco.
Their overarching conclusion is that process matters. The enhanced legitimacy of a system produced by political opening does serve to undermine extremists, yet stability is threatened if reforms are not viewed as genuine or are reversed. The report finds that human rights, rule of law, and judiciary reform are the most critical elements in building the legitimacy of a nascent democratic process. However, merely cosmetic reforms or backtracking can destroy any legitimacy that has been earned.
The report also shows that allowing participation of moderate Islamist opposition in the political process has served to marginalize hard-liners in several MENA states. Though if the process is viewed as corrupt, or if it does not end up producing tangible results, in time it can embolden extremists.
The study calls for sustained non-violent U.S. pressure; an emphasis on rule of law and human rights; and a focus on strengthening democratic institutions and practices. It also recommends engaging moderate Islamist parties and working to expand the political sphere for all opposition elements.
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Human Rights, Islam and Democracy, Judiciary, Terrorism, US foreign policy | Comment »
A Call for Islamist Reformation
October 3rd, 2008 by Jason
Michael Allen at Democracy Digest has a good summary of recent arguments from various Middle East analysts on the need for a “radical intellectual revision” of Islamist thought. Some call for the abandonment of such facile slogans as “Islam is the solution.” Bret Stephens discusses the three broad blocs comprising Muslim societies: pre-modern tribes; the modern Arab center; and anti-modern Islamists. He suggests attempting to “isolate anti-moderns by creating political alliances between the urban middle class and the tribes.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Islam and Democracy, Muslim Brotherhood, Political Islam | Comment »
Battle for Islam Moves to Facebook
September 19th, 2008 by Jason
The LA Times has a report on Facebook’s role as a leading arena for debate between young secularists and Islamists in the Muslim world. An Egyptian student notes that both sides are “resorting to this virtual world because we have no space in the actual world [to express our opinions].”
The tenets of Islam in the 21st century are “now being analyzed by thousands of new, young and disparate Web surfers” who can “express whatever [they] want on screens that can hold infinite numbers of words.”
While the space for dialogue is a fine thing, we could see this next part coming: “But there’s too much tension. No one wants to revise his opinions. It’s turned into a screaming war.”
Posted in Islam and Democracy, Political Islam, Technology | Comment »
‘Islamic Democracy’ in the Arab World
September 12th, 2008 by Jason
Der Spiegel has an in-depth look at the current state of democracy in the Arab world. The 7-part series surveys Kuwait, Turkey, Tunisia, Jordan, and the Gulf, as well as analyzes the history of the fusion between Islam and democracy.
The authors reject the notion that democracy is somehow incompatible with Islam or Arab culture, and they conclude that “giving the peoples of the Islamic world a voice in shaping their own destinies will help make their lives easier, the region more predictable, and the West more secure.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Gulf, Islam and Democracy, Jordan, Kuwait, Political Islam, Tunisia, Turkey | Comment »
Changes in the Moroccan Opposition
August 29th, 2008 by Adam
In the National, Blayne Slabbert reports how recent changes in Morocco’s Justice and Development Party, especially the election of Abdelilah Benkiran as leader of the party, have seemed to reinvigorate a shift to a more conservative approach. POMED’s Director of Research, Shadi Hamid was quoted as saying that the new leader is a “staunch social conservative” and that the change in leadership reflects “a certain amount of internal discontent.” Some critics have feared that this new leadership will push the party towards a more hard-line Islamist ideology.
Posted in Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Morocco, Political Parties | Comment »
POMED Notes: Implications of Turkey’s Constitutional Court Decision
August 7th, 2008 by Sarah
Yesterday, the Brookings Institution invited Cagri Erhan, Ibrahim Kalin, and Murat Yetkin to discuss the Turkish court’s ruling and its implications for Turkey’s relations with the United States and Europe. Cagri Erhan is Vice President of the Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies, Ibrahim Kalin is the Founding Director of the Foundation for Political, Economic, and Social Research, and Murat Yetkin is a columnist for Radikal, a Turkish publication. Brookings Visiting Fellow and former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Mark Parris moderated the event.
All of the speakers saw the court’s decision as “good step forward for democracy.”
For POMED’s full notes, click here.
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Event Notes, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Political Parties, Turkey | Comment »
Recommendations Regarding Islamists
August 7th, 2008 by Sarah
Robert Satloff at Middle East Strategy at Harvard introduces several recommendations made by the late Peter Rodman to policymakers regarding Islamist political groups. Rodman had argued that merely because a group is elected through democratic processes, does not mean that it is democratic; they must also agree to certain liberal principles including ”political pluralism, limitations on government power, guarantees of individual and minority rights, the possibility of alternating parties in office.” Rodman also argued that the best way to encourage moderates is to “demonstrate by our firm resistance that radical policies are counterproductive.” In regard to U.S.-friendly autocrats, Rodman warned “it is not our job to accelerate the delegitimization of friendly governments that seem not to meet our standards, only to have them succeeded by something infinitely worse, as happened in Iran.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Political Parties, US foreign policy | Comment »
2008: Handling Turkey’s Crisis And Our Addiction to Middle East Oil
August 5th, 2008 by Matt
A couple unrelated posts to pass along from the folks over at The Washington Note:
Last Thursday, one day after Turkey’s Constitutional Court narrowly decided against throwing out the moderate Islamic ruling AKP party, Ben Katcher criticized the State Department’s neutral policy position on the issue, saying it “undercut the administration’s policy of promoting democracy in the Middle East”. Katcher also posed an important question yet to be directly addressed by either candidate–whether the U.S. should seek to isolate, marginalize, or engage moderate Islamist parties like AKP as part of our efforts to promote democracy in the region.
Today, Steve Clemons criticizes both McCain and Obama for proposing “short-term, knee-jerk responses” to the current energy policy dilemma. Clemons implores both candidates to “work harder at thinking through what the characteristics of a new equilibrium in the Middle East and globally might look like”, so they are as prepared as possible to create a more stable, durable situation upon taking office.
Posted in Election 08, Islam and Democracy, Oil, Political Islam, Secularism, Turkey, US foreign policy, US politics | Comment »
Perhaps Not A Victory For Democracy After All
August 5th, 2008 by Sarah
Spencer Boyer and Brian Katulis at the Center for American Progress laud the Turkish Constitutional Court’s recent decision, upholding the constitutionality of the AKP party. “Turkey is as important to the United States as Germany was during the Cold War, serving as a literal and figurative bridge between East and West.” They argue that “Muslim-majority countries all over the world have been watching the complicated interplay between Islam and secular democracy in Turkey, and many have viewed the AKP as an encouraging model for the future.”
However, Zeyno Baran at the Hudson Institute isn’t convinced that the decision is an outright victory for democracy. According to Baran, the AKP party has created a “climate of fear” by conducting government surveillance on its critics, and there is speculation that the Ergenekon case is mere political retribution. Ultimately, Baran warns that if the Ergenekon case turns out to be “mostly a show trial, then those concerned for Turkish democracy and rule of law need to reconsider where Turkey is headed.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Political Parties, Turkey | Comment »
A Victory for Democracy
August 4th, 2008 by Sarah
An editorial in The International Herald Tribune applauds the Turkish Court’s decision to not ban the AKP party. “The court ruling is a victory for Turkey, for democracy and for the politics of moderation in the volatile Near and Middle East. That makes it a victory for the United States as well.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Political Parties, Secularism, Turkey, US foreign policy | Comment »
AKP Triumph
July 31st, 2008 by Sarah
An editorial in The Times Online (UK) lauds the Turkish Court’s decision to not ban the AKP party as“showing moderate Islamists in other countries that Islam is compatible with democracy, and that they should and can work within a secular legal framework to achieve their spiritual ends.”
Meanwhile, an editorial in The Wall Street Journal Europe argues that the “Court’s ruling is an opportunity for E.U. leaders to re-engage their large Muslim neighbor” and cites the prospect of E.U. membership as having “done more than anything else to solve some of Turkey’s fundamental problems.”
Posted in Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Political Parties, Secularism, Turkey | Comment »
Response to Wittes
July 31st, 2008 by Sarah
Steven Cook at the Council on Foreign Relations responds to Tamara Cofman Wittes’ article for the Journal of Democracy. Wittes puts forth some criteria to distinguish those Islamist groups that have a genuine commitment to democracy and those who don’t. Cook, however, is skeptical and argues that perhaps Islamist participation in elections “is the result of strategic calculation,” as the “most efficient means of accumulating political power as opposed to say, fomenting revolution or embracing democracy.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Elections, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, US foreign policy | Comment »
Turkish Court Decision Upholds AKP Party
July 30th, 2008 by Sarah
Turkey’s highest court has just announced that it will not ban the AKP party as unconstitutional on charges of undermining the country’s secular system. However, Hasim Kilic, the head of the constitutional court, says that the party would instead be deprived of half of its funding from the state treasury and says that “the decision was a warning, a serious warning [to the party].”
Likewise, Wolfgango Piccoli, an analyst with the Eurasia Group, notes “It is certainly a strong warning. The AK Party was not just cut off from funding but also the actual voting of 6 to 5 is a signal. Has it let the AK Party off the hook? That depends on whether they have learned a lesson from what has happened and whether they will be able to show that they are committed to secularism.”
Mithat Sancar, a law professor of Ankara University, suggests that “Cutting the party’s treasury funds means that the evidence for their anti-secular activity was there but not substantial enough to impose a ban. Therefore they warned the party to be careful in their actions to avoid closure in the future.”
Although other parties have been banned in the past by the Turkish Court, Radio Netherlands reports that the case against the AK party was unusual because it marked “the first time it concerned a ruling party with an extensive power base.”
In regard to the decision’s economic consequences, Market Watch reports that after the decision came down, “Turkey’s stocks and currency soared…the decision was among the most market-friendly possible outcomes since it reduces political uncertainty, which had escalated sharply in Turkey in recent months.”
Meanwhile,Win Thin, a senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. remarks that “it’s ironic that the mildly Islamic AKP has been the best thing to happen for the economy and so investors can look forward to a continuation of orthodox policies.”
Others, such as Turkey’s Labor Minister Faruk Celik, said ruling not to ban the ruling AKP Party “was a victory for Turkish democracy.”
E.U. Parliament member, Joost Lagendijk signaled his relief, noting that “closing down AKP on the basis of this indictment clearly goes against European rules on closing down political parties and would have been an anti-democratic decision,” while a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana expressed “hope that the decision by the court will contribute to restore political stability.”
Posted in Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Political Parties, Secularism, Turkey | Comment »
Islamist Parties and Democracy
July 29th, 2008 by Sarah
The Journal of Democracy, of the National Endowment for Democracy, has released this quarter’s issue focusing on “Islamist Parties and Democracy.” Contributors include Tamara Cofman Wittes, Husain Haqqani, and Hillel Fradkin among others.
Wittes provides a more nuanced understanding of Islamist groups, as the “usual division of Islamists into ‘moderate’ and ‘extremist’ categories is less helpful than a threefold classification that suggests a distinct policy approach toward each group.”
Husain Haqqani and Hillel Fradkin explore the paradox of Islamists parties and their roots. “Do such parties thus represent a decisive break with the Islamist past that may portend revisions in other areas of Islamist doctrine as well?”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Political Parties, US foreign policy | Comment »
Turkey’s Court Meets Today
July 28th, 2008 by Sarah
Turkey’s highest court meets today to decide whether the AKP party should be banned as unconstitutional. BBC News reports that “if the party is closed down or large numbers of its senior members are banned from politics, it will deepen the political fault lines between AKP supporters and secularists,” and “could lead to a period of political instability.” In addition, BBC News notes that “the case has already caused uncertainty in Turkey’s stock market,” and that “a ban could harm Ankara’s long-running bid to join the European Union.”
Posted in EU, Islam and Democracy, Political Islam, Political Parties, Turkey | Comment »
Morocco’s Islamists and the Problem of Participation
July 28th, 2008 by Adam
The Carnegie Endowment for Peace has an intriguing report by Amr Hamzawy about Morocco’s Islamist, Party for Justice and Development (PJD). Hamzawy sees that the PJD, though entrenched in the nation’s political system, is challenged by various constraints, including the system’s semi-authoritarian nature, the power of the King, and competition to win the Islamist vote. This puts the PJD in a perpetually unstable posture as it must play by the rules to remain politically acceptable to the powers that be, while it cannot be so moderate that it alienates its religiously oriented constituency. Hamzawy mentions that while some of these factors are unique to Morocco, it does highlight the dilemmas faced by Islamist parties seeking peaceful political participation.
Posted in Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Morocco, Political Islam, Political Parties, Reform | Comment »
Islamism and the State
July 25th, 2008 by Amanda
The Journal of Democracy examines the role of Islamist parties in the political process across the Middle East. Tamara Coffman Wittes of the Brookings Institution highlights “The Three Kind of Movements” in political Islam, from the moderate forces of the Muslim Brotherhood to the extreme, and to the “nationalist” groups like Hezbollah of Lebanon.
Continuing on the topic of Islamism and the state, The Economist covers the controversy among Muslims about the the consequences for apostates of the faith. Grand mufti Ali Gomaa of Egypt cites Quranic verses permitting the conversion of Muslims to another faith, namely that ‘there is no compulsion in religion’.
Posted in Egypt, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements | Comment »
