Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
1 to 10 of about 18
Despite limited electoral success, Islamist movements in the Middle East have failed to influence policy and are criticized by their base for abandoning their religious commitments. Marina Ottaway and Amr Hamzawy explain that Islamist movements must convince their supporters that political participation is the best long-term means to affect government despite seemingly poor short-term gains.
Islamist women, increasingly restless with their subordinate status in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, are pushing for greater representation and a wider role. Their call for broader participation in decision-making bodies are not signs of a “rebellion of the Sisters,” but part of the normal dynamics of change.
Recent WTO rulings indicate an increasing willingness to restrict trade based on the environmental impact of goods production. The global community should incorporate trade-related measures into any post-Kyoto multilateral climate agreement.
Since the civil war of the 1990s, Algeria’s government has given moderate Islamist parties only a superficial role in politics. The resulting rise of Salafism, which rejects the country’s political system, reveals the need for Algeria to increase political transparency and participation and engage its citizens to discourage radicalization outside the political system.
The financial interdependence that sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) created between the West and the Arab world could help stabilize multilateral relations and promote economic development and political stability in the Middle East.
As globalization spread over the last twenty years, migration expanded less rapidly than either trade or foreign investment. Yet migration remains contentious. The net impact of migration is positive for the migrants and high-income countries, and more gains are feasible. Developing countries, however, may suffer from growing brain-drain.
Turkey’s increased engagement in the Middle East reflects its desire to become a self-confident regional superpower. Yet, Ankara’s fraught handling of the Kurdish issue has been reactive, alarmist, and insecure. Unless Turkey learns to balance its opposing priorities, the country will witness an increase in ultra-nationalism and isolationism.
The increasing use of unconventional, “soft” measures to combat violent extremism in Saudi Arabia is bearing positive results, leading others in the region, including the U.S. in Iraq, to adopt a similar approach.
This paper provides a historical overview of religious education in Central Asia, and assesses the efforts of the Uzbek government to define the content of Islam that has been presented in public life since independence was obtained in 1991.
The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted not only in new borders for Russia, but left millions of ethnic Russians in former Soviet republics. For these people, the Russian language remains a defining influence in their lives, even where local nationalist agendas seek to downplay and underestimate its prevalence.