Opposition 40

Tunisian Prison Map

The map consists of a mashup work (a technique of mixing composite applications and services exposed on the web to form a new service). This map displays: An approximate listing of Tunisian prisons indicated on a Google Maps API + GMapEZ. In order to elaborate the list, I have pulled data from Human Rights NGOs report as well as a temporary list of Tunis […].

Tunisia : independent but not free

Tunisia celebrates the 50th anniversary of independence this month, but hopes raised by the end of French rule and early reforms have long evaporated. The country is governed and owned by General Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. But opposition groups have begun to suppress their divisions and make an attempt at collective resistance. […].

Political Islam

The contrasts between different varieties of Islam, and Islamism, are not trivial—either in their teachings or the behaviour they inspire. The western world needs to know about them, if only to know which outcomes and shifts of policy are conceivable, and which are not. But woe betide any western strategist who thinks the problems of the Muslim world can b […].

Islam and Power

There is a tension in the Islamic world between the desire for democracy and a respect for liberty. (It is a tension that once raged in the West and still exists in pockets today.) This is most apparent in the ongoing fury over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a small Danish newspaper. The cartoons were offensive and needlessly provoc […].

The Key To Arab Reform: Moderate Islamists

Before any significant political reform can take place in the Arab world, the United States and Europe need to begin engaging moderate Islamists, an action less thorny than it might seem because Islamists have embraced democratic procedures and have shown a strong commitment to the rule of law. For a long time Arab regimes have frightened the United States […].

Conceptualizing Islamic Activism

Since the late 1990s, a number of Islamic movement specialists have begun to bridge the gap between the study of Islamic activism and social science theories of collective action. The underlying premise is that Islamic activism is not sui generis. Since the late 1990s, a number of Islamic movement specialists have begun to bridge the gap between the stud […].

Democratic culture and extremist Islam

Are Islam and democracy incompatible? The evolution of a radical Turkish Islamic group in Germany suggests that the pursuit of ‘fundamentalist’ goals can itself create the space for a rational appraisal of tradition. By seeking truth in origin and scripture rather than history, successive generations of Islamists may be drawn – even despite themselves – t […].

“The Rise of Militant Islam”

Conversation with Ahmed Rashid. Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley. 3/26/02 1-Background Welcome to Berkeley. Thanks a lot. Where were you born and raised? I was born in Ravapindi in Northern Pakistan. After the Second World War, my family was based some of the time in Pakistan and some of the time in London. So I grew up in both places […].

“Islamic Societies”.

Conversation with Ira Lapidus. Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley. 1/14/03 1-Background Ira, welcome back to Berkeley. Thank you, Harry. Where were you born and raised? I was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised there. I went to high school there, and then I went to college and graduate school at Harvard. Looking back, how did your pa […].