Kuwait: At the Crossroads of Change or Political Stagnation
Though Kuwaitis have been striving for change, particularly since 2011, their country’s political structures remain more or less unaltered. Yet change is inevitable, writes Shafeeq Ghabra in this MEI Policy Paper. At issue is a semi-democratic system that has proven ineffective at dealing with problems such as government mismanagement, corruption, a lack of economic transparency, and inequality toward tribes and undocumented immigrants.
In 2001, there were only 34,000 Muslims living in Korea; today there are more than 150,000. Furthermore, there are over 45,000 ethnic Korean Muslims. In contrast to Europe, where over a thousand years of political, cultural, and religious interactions have shaped social attitudes toward Islam, Korea’s Muslim population remains relatively unnoticed, comprising only 0.3 percent of the total Korean population. However, Islam in Korea is in the midst of great change. With the continuing increase in international migration over the past decade from Muslim-majority countries, the Korean Muslim community is transforming into a significant social and religious force.
The Egyptian Military’s Economic Channels of Influence
Egypt’s new constitution grants the country’s generals greater autonomy and an increased formal political role. The draft authorizes military trials for civilians (Article 204) and ensures that the military’s budget be beyond civilian scrutiny. The most significant change is that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) will have the final say in choosing or dismissing the defense minister for two presidential terms (Article 234).
Geography alone should make the Arab world Iran’s key foreign policy focus. Of Iran’s 13 immediate neighbors, seven are Arab countries.[1] But Tehran’s approach to the Arab world, with its 22 states extending from North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, varies widely in intensity, and Iran’s objectives are equally varied depending on the country in question.
Civilianizing the State: Reflections on the Egyptian Conundrum
The military, though it has been the most powerful and influential actor during Egypt’s transition since 2011, is not the great deus ex machina of the Egyptian system. Rather, it is an actor that, since the fall of Mubarak, has managed to maintain some organizational coherence and legitimacy and has served as the convener for various and changing forces that are the crux of a new ruling coalition. Consequently, civilianizing the Egyptian state will require that security sector reforms be embedded in a broader set of political reforms.
Collection Spotlight: Modern Islamic Political Thought, by Hamid Enayat, 1982
In Modern Islamic Political Thought, Hamid Enayat discusses the major currents in twentieth-century Islamic political thought. Although the work is broad in scope, at its core is the assertion that the abolition of the Caliphate was “perhaps [the] most important controversy in twentieth-century Sunni political thought.” To prove this assertion, Enayat traces Islamic political thought from the abolition of the Caliphate to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.
Five Arab Elections in Search of a Democratic Transition
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika casts his ballot on April 17.
In the current two months between mid-April and early June, five Arab countries—Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, and even war-torn Syria—are holding key elections, with little sign that any is moving in the direction of meaningful democratic transition.
The Philippines is often described as having one of the most vibrant civil societies in Asia. In the last three decades, the country has been home to two mass mobilizations that led to regime change. These mobilizations and other robust civil society initiatives have been attributed to “both political and social [movements] that were nurtured by politicized sectors of society for almost half a century.”
