From PUP, the introduction to Young Islam: The New Politics of Religion in Morocco and the Arab World by Avi Max Spiegel. Adam Shatz on Kamel Daoud and Algeria, caught between Islamist fervor and cultural flowering. What happens when Islamists lose an election? In the wake of its electoral defeat in October, Tunisia’s Islamist party Ennahda debates its future as a political party and social movement. Stephen Zunes on the contrasting fates of Tunisia and Libya. The introduction to Soft Force: Women in Egypt’s Islamic Awakening by Ellen Anne McLarney. Asaf Sharabi (PAC): Religion and Modernity: Religious Revival Movement in Israel. Can posters and statues incite violence? Thanassis Cambanis on how Lebanon’s Shia and Sunni communities have reached a seemingly small accord — to take down visual propaganda. Tilman Rodenhauser (HEI): International Legal Obligations of Armed Opposition Groups in Syria. Meet the young activists who upended Turkish politics and want a new model for the Middle East. Iran’s “Generation Normal”: Iranian youth — curious, wired and desperate for normality — are forcing change that horrifies their rulers. Fed up with Islam and sectarianism, some Iraqis embrace Zoroastrianism. A Saudi blogger will likely get 50 more lashes — his wife fears he won’t survive them.
From The Monkey Cage, John M. Owen on what history says about the prospects for Islamic democracy. The study of Islam and the “Arab Spring”: Irfan Ahmad interviews Talal Asad. Walter Russell Mead on the plight of the Middle East's Christians: Can the West find a way to preserve the Christian presence in the Middle East — and stave off a “clash of civilizations”? Hakim Khatib on how the story of religious competition and involvement of religion in politics isn’t novel in the Middle East. Is the promotion of violence inherent to any religion? David Nirenberg reviews Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence by Karen Armstrong. David Motadel on defending the faith in the Middle East. Invisible atheists: Ahmed Benchemsi on the spread of disbelief in the Arab world.
