Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush. Q: Dr Soroush! I’d like us to discuss the question of rationality. Would you be so kind as to begin by pointing out the different interpretations that there are of rationality and also mentioning your own chosen interpretation, so that we can go on from there? A: Let me first say that I don’t know what you mean by reas […].
Démocratie 45
Upbeat on democracy in Iran.
Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate, visited Indonesia last week. In her presentations she came across as a person who spoke out for what she believed in — the people’s fight for freedom, rooted in her conviction that this is the basic message of her religion, Islam. Ebadi’s conviction has brought her to odds with both authorities and acti […].
Democracy is Closer to Islam Than Other Models of Governance.
Summary: Mohammad Javad Ardeshir Larijani, has been one of the controversial personalities in Iran during the post-revolution years, always being under the spotlight of the press. His record of service include membership in the presiding board of the radio and television organization (IRIB), membership in the Supreme National Security Council, deputy minis […].
Sécularisation, Démocratisation et Monde musulman : Processus de changement
L’AFEMOTI a organisé les 25-26 novembre 2002, en collaboration avec l’Institut norvégien des relations internationales, et l’UNESCO dans le cadre du programme de ce dernier concernant “Gestion des transformations sociales” (MOST), un colloque international sur « Sécularisation, Démocratisation et Monde musulman : Processus de changement ». Un poi […].
Islam and liberal democracy
Of all the challenges facing democracy in the 1990s, one of the greatest lies in the Islamic world. Only a handful of the more than four dozen predominantly Muslim countries have made significant strides toward establishing democratic systems. Among this handful—including Albania,Bangladesh, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mali, Pakistan, and Turkey—not […].
Give us back our democracy
In a speech in the Senate on 19 March, the first day of war against Iraq, Robert Byrd, the Democrat Senator from West Virginia, asked: ’What is happening to this country? When did we become a nation which ignores and berates our friends? When did we decide to risk undermining international order by adopting a radical and doctrinaire approach to using our […].
Islamic Democracy and Islamic Governance.
A summary of remarks by Abdolkarim Soroush and Charles Butterworth at The Middle East Institute, November 21, 2000 On November 21, MEI gathered two scholars, the Iranian thinker Abdolkarim Soroush, visiting professor at Harvard University, and Charles Butterworth, Professor of Political Science at the University of Maryland, for a discussion on “Islamic […].
The forgotten dictatorship: Tunisia
The re-election on October 24 of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, with the Ceausescu-like score of 94.49%, was scarcely noticed in the Stateside news media. Even the New York Times only posted a brief dispatch from AP on its website. The re-election on October 24 of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, with the Ceausescu-like score of 9 […].
Tunisia’s elections : The long road to democracy
By Daniel Zisenwine Published by TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY The Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies & The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies through the generosity of Sari and Israel Roizman, Philadelphia. No. 113 | October 26, 2004. Tunisia’s October 24 presidential and parliamentary elections brought few surprises. As expected, Presid […].
