By James M. Dorsey Indonesia has emerged as a primary battleground between democratic and autocratic visions of Islam in the 21st century. The b
Read MoreBy James M. Dorsey Three scantily dressed samba dancers wearing traditional feather headdresses laid bare the limits of social liberalisa
Read MoreUsaama al-Azami’s Islam and the Arab Revolutions: The Ulama Between Democracy and Autocracy (Oxford University Press, 2022) focuses on the responses o
Read MoreBy James M. Dorsey Two diametrically opposed visions of moderate Islam have emerged as major Muslim powers battle to define the soul of their faith
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In a sign of the times, Turkish schoolbooks have replaced Saudi texts as the bull’s eye of criticism of supremacist and intolerant curricula in the Mu
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When Pope Francis sets foot in Iraq on Friday, he will be breaking historic ground while manoeuvring religious and political minefields. So will his f
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Demonstrating for the third week their determination to force the country’s military to return to its barracks, protesters in Myanmar appear to be lea
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Two decades of snail pace revisions of Saudi schoolbooks aimed at removing supremacist references to Jews, Christians, and Shiites suggest a willingne
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Saudi Arabia’s combustible mix of religion, nationalism, and tradition as well as contradictions in the kingdom’s projection of itself as a driver of
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On 12 December 2020, Iranian authorities had executed Ruhollah Zam, an Iranian dissident and journalist who was living in exile in Paris since 2009, o
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