In recent years, a ‘moderate’ wing has emerged within the traditionally conservative organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood; challenging many Western stereotypes of Islamism, and raising questions over the group’s political aspirations in the aftermath of the ‘Arab Spring’ in Egypt.   The Muslim Brotherhood has been engaged in a struggle for political space with the
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In 2000, Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father and, in vibrant speeches, promised a new wave of reforms towards political liberalisation and a multiparty system. In 2011, people are still waiting for the democratisation, while the Ba’ath party is still the only party allowed by the constitution to rule the country (article 8). Since mid-March, Syrian
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With the death of Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, international thoughts are inevitably turning towards the impending internal power struggle within the National Transitional Council . An obvious bi-product of an organised liberation fight is that the rewards must be shared, and thusLibya’s ethnic and tribal groups are actively seeking enhanced roles within the post-revolutionary society. There
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After Tunisia, Jordan was touted alongside the likes of Egypt, Libya and Syria as the latest state to see protestors spill onto its streets, swept up in the wave of the Arab Spring. Anything seemed possible: rattled, King Abdullah II reversed stringent economic reforms, reinstated a fuel subsidy, and sacked his Prime Minister and Cabinet.
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On October 6th 2011, the Supreme Court of Pakistan announced its verdict on the Karachi suo motu case. This city last summer witnessed an alarming level of violence. According to the Supreme Court itself, 1310 people have been murdered this year. Article 184(3) of Pakistan’s Constitution states that the Supreme Court is allowed to take
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Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea The visit of a delegation of Syrian religious leaders, to the head of Lebanon’s largest Christian denomination, the Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai, on the 28th September, sparked controversy among members of Lebanon’s Christian communities and served as a reminder, albeit a subtle one, of the fragility of both inter and
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The Iranian government is claiming that the insurrections in the Middle East and North Africa are a realisation of Islamic values and inspired by the Iranian Revolution of 1979. This peculiar narrative is unlikely to win over many supporters.   The increased participation of the masses in domestic politics and the proliferation of social media
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