The National Muslim Forum Nepal: Experiences of Conflict, Formations of Identity

With Nepal\u27s recent transition to state secularism, the politicization of Muslim religious identity has emerged with increasing vitality. One particular pan-Nepali Muslim organization, the Rastriya Muslim Mane Nepal (National Muslim Forum Nepal), offers a window into the complex relationship between national and religious identity that animates this politicization. Through analysis of the National Muslim Forum\u27s earliest discourses, produced between 2005 and 2006, both immediately before and after the people\u27s revolution that resulted in the declaration of Nepal as a secular state, this essay highlights the ways that experiences of conflict coupled with a national political transition shape and contribute to this politicization. It also offers a picture of some of the ways in which conceptions of the nation and religious community come together to help define the forum\u27s call for a new Muslim religio-political identity across a diverse Nepali national population. [excerpt

The National Muslim Forum Nepal: Experiences of Conflict, Formations of Identity

With Nepal\u27s recent transition to state secularism, the politicization of Muslim religious identity has emerged with increasing vitality. One particular pan-Nepali Muslim organization, the Rastriya Muslim Mane Nepal (National Muslim Forum Nepal), offers a window into the complex relationship between national and religious identity that animates this politicization. Through analysis of the National Muslim Forum\u27s earliest discourses, produced between 2005 and 2006, both immediately before and after the people\u27s revolution that resulted in the declaration of Nepal as a secular state, this essay highlights the ways that experiences of conflict coupled with a national political transition shape and contribute to this politicization. It also offers a picture of some of the ways in which conceptions of the nation and religious community come together to help define the forum\u27s call for a new Muslim religio-political identity across a diverse Nepali national population. [excerpt

Empowering the Democratic Resistance in Syria

When the peaceful uprising in Syria started in spring 2011 turned into an armed resistance after a few months in the face of savage repression by the Assad regime. Since then, the activists who picked up arms became dependent on support in money and arms to be able to continue. Few other than the Assad regime question this narrative. Yet the consequences of this dependence are often overlooked. The sources of funding for the rebels and the strings attached to them have since shaped the landscape of the armed rebellion, not the other way round. What we have in Syria is not an Islamist revolution but a popular uprising that received funding primarily from Islamist sources. Acknowledging this is essential and has far-reaching implications for defining an effective policy in the Syrian conflict. As the United States, France and regional powers of the Middle East prepare for what appears to be an inevitable military strike on the Syrian regime of Bashar el Assad, questions are posed more urgently than ever: how to work with the armed opposition? who are the reliable forces? what are their capabilities? which groups can be part of the plan to replace Assad and how can the extremists be contained?This paper examines the circumstances and conditions that shaped the Syrian armed opposition and surveys the groups that remain committed to a democratic political system and a pluralistic society in Syria

Kontrak Sosial Dalam Pemikiran Politik Sunni

Society in the modern world is known as a group of individuals built on a social contract. In order to create a nation-state. Nevertheless, long before Europe imposed a social contract for the construction of a nation-state, Islam has long ruled its people in one state. The Madinah Charter has become the source of the law in the regulation of the early Islamic society. Political divisions in Islam do not erode the concept of social contract, but they are becoming stronger and more pervasive in existing political groups

Understanding al-Shabaab : clan, Islam and insurgency in Kenya

Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen has proven itself to be a highly adaptable organisation. Their most recent evolution has seen them transform from an overt, military and governmental force in southern Somalia to a covert, insurgent and anarchic force in Kenya. This article indicates how al-Shabaab has reinvented itself in Kenya. Both ‘clan’ and ‘Islam’ are often thought of as immutable factors in al-Shabaab's make-up, but here we show that the organisation is pragmatic in its handling of clan relations and of Islamic theology. The movement is now able to exploit the social and economic exclusion of Kenyan Muslim communities in order to draw them into insurgency, recruiting Kenyans to its banner. Recent al-Shabaab attacks in Kenya, launched since June 2014, indicate how potent and dangerous their insurgency has become in the borderlands and coastal districts where Kenya's Islamic population predominates

Employment Intensity of Growth in Italy A Note Using Regional Data

The aim of this paper is to provide a measure of the relationship between employment and output growth in Italy and to illustrate its dynamics across a relatively extended time-span (1970-2004). Given the well-known and persisting regional differences of labour market performance and dynamics in Italy, our analytical approach favours the exploitation of spatially disaggregated information, employing regional (NUTS 2) data. The availability of industry composition of employment and value added also allows light to be shed on sector employment intensity of output growth, and the estimation of sector elasticity to GDP describes structural change. The empirical analysis supplies quantitative information about the evolution of employment elasticity during the period considered, clearly depicting the well-known period of job-rich growth (observed since the mid-1990s), after a period of jobless growth. The outcomes also show how regional levels of analysis, together with industry breakdown, may provide very useful information, especially on policy grounds and the desirability of the extension of the study to European level.employment elasticity, growth, productivity, regions

Present and potential factors destabilizing Central Asia as a challenge to the European Union

Azja Centralna boryka się z różnymi wyzwaniami od konfliktów o wodę, po na tle etnicznym, religijnym. Kolejnym czynnikiem destabilizacyjnym jest rosnąca rywalizacja w regionie pomiędzy Rosją, Chinami i USA. O ile Rosja chce utrzymać swoją strefę wpływów, o tyle Chiny chcą zbudować swoją. Aktywność USA związana jest przede wszystkim ze stabilizacją Afganistanu. Na tym tle oraz wobec różnych problemów i wyzwań, aktywność UE jest niewielka. Przeważają instrumenty miękkie, ale działania UE nie są spójne, bowiem brakuje szerszej i długofalowej strategii wobec Azji Centralnej, która przedefiniowałaby zaangażowanie unijne wobec tego regionu.Central Asia is struggling with various challenges ranging from conflicts over water to ethnic and religious conflicts. Another factor destabilizing the situation is the mounting regional competition between Russia, China and the USA. While Russia is trying to maintain its zone of influence, China wants to build its own zone. US activities are mainly related to stabilization in Afghanistan. Given this background and the different problems and challenges, the EU’s activities in this region are negligible. Soft instruments prevail, but EU activities are anything but coherent, as the EU lacks a broad, long-term strategy of relations with Central Asia that could redefine EU involvement in the region

The historical regions of Europe: civilizational backgrounds and multiple routes to modernity

A systematic typology or comparative analysis of European historical regions does not exist and there is relatively little literature on the topic. The argument in this paper is that a six-fold classification is needed to capture the diversity of Europe’s historical regions and that these should be seen in terms of different routes to modernity and have broad civilizational backgrounds in common. The forms of modernity that constitute Europe as a world historical region correspond to North Western Europe, Mediterranean Europe, Central Europe, East Central Europe, South Eastern Europe, North Eastern Europe