The paramount question in countries as disparate as Egypt, Pakistan, and Turkey is whether Muslim governments can free themselves from their powerful militaries. To do so, they will have to overcome a tradition of governance dating from Islam’s founding in the seventh century.
ISLAMABAD – Can Muslim governments free themselves from their countries’ powerful militaries and establish civilian control comparable to that found in liberal democracies? This question is now paramount in countries as disparate as Egypt, Pakistan, and Turkey.
To predict how this struggle will play out, it helps to understand the region’s past. Since Islam’s founding in the seventh century, it has maintained a tradition of deep military engagement in politics and governance. Indeed, Islam’s increasing military prowess helped it to spread rapidly around the world.
The military was responsible for Islam’s implantation throughout the Middle East, as well as in Persia, Southern Europe, and the Indian sub-continent. And once a Muslim state was established in newly conquered lands, the military became integral to its governance.
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A majority of developing countries are facing debt distress, and their financing problems are sure to grow worse as global financial conditions continue to tighten. The moment is quickly approaching when the world will have to decide between two futures for development finance.
see two options for addressing debt distress in developing countries now that financial conditions have soured.
Poor countries should not be significantly affected by the loss of Ukrainian agricultural products. While Russia’s war has undoubtedly caused real problems in global food markets, they are different and more complex than what most news coverage suggests.
thinks the headlines attributing shortages to Russia’s war are ignoring a raft of other factors.
An underground war is erupting in Ukraine's occupied cities, towns, and villages, as artillery duels between Ukrainian forces and Russia’s much larger army transform the Donbas into a wasteland.
As the war drags on, the history of armed resistance to Nazi occupation of Europe during World War II now reads like a prophecy of the partisan war under way.
draws a direct line from Europe's anti-Nazi underground armies of World War II to Ukraine's partisan war today.
After losing the Republican primary, and thus her US House seat, Liz Cheney announced the formation of a new political action committee and suggested that she might run for president, all part of her effort to keep Donald Trump out of the White House. She is channeling the oppositional zeal that political disillusion often fuels.
considers the implications of Liz Cheney’s primary loss for the GOP and American democracy.
ISLAMABAD – Can Muslim governments free themselves from their countries’ powerful militaries and establish civilian control comparable to that found in liberal democracies? This question is now paramount in countries as disparate as Egypt, Pakistan, and Turkey.
To predict how this struggle will play out, it helps to understand the region’s past. Since Islam’s founding in the seventh century, it has maintained a tradition of deep military engagement in politics and governance. Indeed, Islam’s increasing military prowess helped it to spread rapidly around the world.
The military was responsible for Islam’s implantation throughout the Middle East, as well as in Persia, Southern Europe, and the Indian sub-continent. And once a Muslim state was established in newly conquered lands, the military became integral to its governance.
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