How fragile states breed violent extremism
Each fragile state is fragile in its own way, but they all face significant governance and economic challenges. In fragile states, governments lack legitimacy in the eyes of citizens, and… Read more »
Category: jihadist
Algeria’s Mouwatana: ‘opportunity for building energetic dissent’?
Algerian police recently arrested a number of political and human rights activists and journalists who protested in central Algiers against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid for re-election for a fifth term,… Read more »
Democratization ‘no longer the key’ to defeating jihadism?
Democratization is no longer treated as the key to victory over jihadism or violent extremism, argues Steven Metz, the author of “Iraq and the Evolution of American Strategy.” “Throughout the… Read more »
Jihadist propaganda offline
Insurgent strategic communication has rarely posed as great a threat to regional and international security as it does today in Syria, where jihadists are using it to aggressively advance their… Read more »
Pakistan’s ‘second democratic transition’?
A former Pakistani Supreme Court chief justice has been chosen as the caretaker prime minister until late July, when Pakistan is to hold general elections, the New York Times reports:… Read more »
‘Marshall Plan’ program would counter extremist distortions of Islam
In his new book, The House of Islam, former Islamist radical Ed Husain arrives at the conclusion that the spread of this rigid, literalist interpretation of Islam “rejected by the vast majority… Read more »
Bernard Lewis, R.I.P. – opposed Arab autocrats, studied Islam-democracy relationship
Bernard Lewis, an eminent historian of Islam who traced the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to a declining Islamic civilization, a controversial view that influenced world opinion and helped… Read more »
The Awakening of Muslim Democracy: a New Political Islam
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is one of a crop of present-day political leaders who value the respectability an ostensibly democratic election confers but don’t want to risk actually losing the vote, the… Read more »
How to undermine violent extremism
Why do some individuals engage in political violence in Yemen, while others do not? A new RAND report, Undermining Violent Extremism in Yemen, examines the role that social, political, and… Read more »
Can Saudi Arabia help win ‘Islam’s War of Ideas’?
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is in Washington, D.C., March 19-22, the third stop on his first foreign trip as crown prince, notes the Project on Middle East Democracy: Mohammed… Read more »