How will the popular uprisings in the Arab world affect the future of states and regimes in the region? All possible outcomes are shadowed by the fate of the contending ideologies and movements - nationalism and socialism, secularism and Islamism, dynasticism and liberal constitutionalism - that have dominated the Arab political landscape in recent decades, says Sami Zubaida. His overview of their rise and fall both illuminates a complex history and indicates the scale of the challenge facing democratic reformers today.

The Salafi-jihadist movement is losing its recruitment pool in the Arab world, says Murad Batal al-Shishani, an Islamic groups and terrorism issues analyst. Al-Qaida and others' latest strategies look elsewhere, and the death of Osama Bin Laden will not affect these plans.

While the Middle East uprisings have not revolved around religion, faith has not been absent from Arab scenes of protest in the last two months, says Shatha Almutawa. God and scripture are invoked by revolutionaries and those who oppose them for the simple reason that Arab dialects and ways of life are infused with religion.

As frightened and angry Americans keep raising the temperature of Islam-versus-Everyone-Else controversies, Martin Marty examines some new material which shows how Christian ideology is used to justify killing too. No religion or ideology can claim innocence, he suggests.