Tag: Democracy

The Enduring Scars of Expedient Bigotry

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How Primary Politics Institutionalizes Prejudice Against American Muslims American democracy faces a profound paradox: the very mechanisms designed to ensure representative governance—the primary election system—have become accelerants of corrosive rhetoric that inflicts lasting damage upon the nation’s social fabric. In the pursuit of narrow electoral victories, political actors increasingly deploy narratives rooted in fear, misinformation, Read more

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What the results of the 2018 Turkish elections tell us: a preliminary analysis

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While the Turkish president celebrates his re-election, we can reason that the results point to a difficult future for Erdogan and his party, due, in part, to Erdogan’s rhetoric that emphasized personality over ideas and loyalty over concern for the nation.  1. Erdogan’s party lost its majority. In the re-do votes of November 2015, the Read more

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Final results of the 2018 elections in Iraq: no real winner

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The results may be disappointing to Iraqi politicians, but it is a positive sign for the process. To form a government, they must work together to form a governing coalition, and the results show that there is no king maker. Here is what we know about the requirements and about the results: available seats 329, Read more

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The Trump Administration does not recognize Muslim Americans

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by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* On May 26, President Trump released a statement on Ramadan, the lunar month that Muslims spend fasting from sun-up to sun-down every day. Unlike statements by other U.S. presidents who used the occasion to recognize the presence and contributions of Muslim Americans, Trump used it to denigrate them and stigmatize their Read more

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Will Erdoğan abandon Islamist armed groups now fighting in Syria?

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It is established that the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the party he founded, the AKP, are primary supporters of armed groups fighting the Syrian government. The AKP-led Turkish government opened its borders for Islamist fighters from all over the world to join the war against Assad’s forces.  It provided them with training, money, Read more

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#IslamicSocietiesReview : The end of political Islam starts in Tunisia

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#IslamicSocietiesReview Comment:   Adjusting to domestic, regional, and international challenges, Ennahda, the leading Islamist movement in North Africa, charted a new path that embraces pluralism and co-existence. Recalling that the rise of political Islam was necessitated by tyranny and oppression, Ennahda, now, embraces politics and honors Islam, but not mix them. Its leadership has chosen Read more

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Context and consequences of the resignation of the architect of Turkey’s zero-problem foreign policy

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By Rahmat Hajimineh* A recent decision by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, which was announced on May 5, to resign his post, can be considered as the outcome of a power struggle in Turkey’s political structure a review of which will not only be important in terms of typology of politicians’ behaviors, but also from Read more

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Why have many Syrians voted for Bashar al-Assad and what is the U.S. administration’s alternative to elections it does not particularly like?

ISR--Research TeamLeave a Comment on Why have many Syrians voted for Bashar al-Assad and what is the U.S. administration’s alternative to elections it does not particularly like?

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Syrians vote, June 3, 2014. Most Western governments and some observers argue that the elections that took place in Syria on June 3, 2014 were not legitimate because not all Syrians were able (or willing) to participate, they were held under war conditions, and Syrians were coerced into voting for the Read more

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Is Ukraine becoming for the West what Syria has been for Russia?

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by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Riding the wave of protests known as the Arab Spring, many Syrians rallied to demand more political and civil rights. Without the hesitancy that characterized their initial reaction to the protest movements in Tunisia and Egypt, Western administrations and some of the Persian Gulf regimes immediately threw their support behind the Read more

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Analysis: Recognizing the new Syrian National Coalition alone will not end the war in Syria

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  by Ahmed E. Souaiaia*   Those who doubt Lakhdar Brahimi’s assessment of the crisis in Syria ought to rethink their position. His ostensibly naïve initiative for a ceasefire over the Eid holidays might have been a brilliant maneuver that ended the existence of the Syrian National Council, the previously prominent face of the Syrian Read more

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