The fragility of global solidarity
In my last post, I suggested that the religious communities of the world may have something to contribute to the strengthening of global civil society. If not for the commitments to human rights and...
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Parodic politics
It’s been called postmodern, high modern, late capitalist, postsecular. It’s been characterized as both fragmentation and pastiche, both individualism and the disappearance of the subject, both...
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The science of people power: An interview with Gene Sharp
Gene Sharp is the foremost strategist of nonviolent social change alive today. He holds a doctorate in political theory from Oxford and has had positions at Harvard University and the University of...
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The power of a new political imagination
With the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, a wall of fear has fallen in the Middle East. Since the self-immolation of Muhammad Bouazizi on December 17, 2010, history has taken a new turn. People...
View ArticleThe fragility of global solidarity
In my last post, I suggested that the religious communities of the world may have something to contribute to the strengthening of global civil society. If not for the commitments to human rights and...
View ArticleA new generation of Muslim activists
According to a recent story in Time magazine, there is a new type of Muslim activism brewing across the globe. It is nonviolent, antijihadist, and relatively uninterested in Islamic political parties....
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Parodic politics
It’s been called postmodern, high modern, late capitalist, postsecular. It’s been characterized as both fragmentation and pastiche, both individualism and the disappearance of the subject, both...
View ArticleReligion, elections, and civil society in Egypt
Amid the ongoing upheaval in Egypt, Clifford Bob discusses the U.S. Government perspective on Egypt’s future and the possibly—or, rather, probably—significant role to be played by religious...
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The science of people power: An interview with Gene Sharp
Gene Sharp is the foremost strategist of nonviolent social change alive today. He holds a doctorate in political theory from Oxford and has had positions at Harvard University and the University of...
View ArticleEgyptian revolution round-up
For the eighteen days that tens of thousands of Egyptians were rallying to push strongman Hosni Mubarak ever closer to abdication, time itself seemed to pass differently than usual. Something has been...
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The power of a new political imagination
With the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, a wall of fear has fallen in the Middle East. Since the self-immolation of Muhammad Bouazizi on December 17, 2010, history has taken a new turn. People...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The anatomy of a public square movement
Sociologist (and longtime TIF contributor) Nilüfer Göle assesses the emerging opposition movement in Turkey: The Gezi movement has united people in a square and around a tree against the polarizing...
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Preaching after the Trayvon Martin verdict
Saturday’s verdict in the case of neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, who stood trial for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, has ignited a renewed inquiry into...
View ArticleIs the “native” secular?
Headlines scream of burgeoning populism around the world, but the shift in politics today could also be described as a return of nativism, and perhaps even of a certain indigeneity. Politicians speak...
View ArticleCharisma and seduction
Producers, actors, politicians, businessmen, and professors: acclaimed men in these professions have recently been exposed as perpetrators of sexual violence. Powerful men abuse their power, and women...
View ArticleA crisis of political arrogance
“The work alludes to constellations that make up our collective differences but that are often bridged by the human experience: struggles, ethnicity, race, culture, spirituality, religion.”...
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Sharia Compliant—An introduction
This turned out to be a very different book than the one I set out to write. Between submitting the proposal and submitting the book I started to think I was missing the point on a lot of things, not...
View ArticleDoes the United States need a religious left?
Amid the global rise of the Christian right, some intellectuals and politicians have emphasized the need to affirm a stronger religious left in the United States. The Democrats’ downfall in 2016, this...
View ArticleThe religious left: Memory, trajectory, relevance
What is the “religious left” and what are its prospects for responding to the current moment of authoritarian populism? The short essays in this forum will probe the meaning, history, and relevance of...
View ArticleGandhi’s birthday and the American religious left
This fall there are events around the world to mark the 150th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth. For those of us in the United States, Gandhi’s birthday is also an opportunity to reflect on how lessons...
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