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arab world

  • 1 Apr 2011
    Critical Arab thinking and cultural malaise

    Elizabeth Kassab is a scholar of philosophy, and taught for many years at the American University in Beirut and Balamand University in Lebanon. Here she is interviewed about the “Arab malaise” from a political, rather than cultural perspective, and in a post-colonial, rather than exceptionally Arab, context.

  • 21 Mar 2011
    The alternative to Libya bombing is not inaction, say Germans

    The German government has responded robustly to critics who say that it should endorse the current US, UK and French bombing raids on Libya.

  • 12 Mar 2011
    Libya: the prospect of war

    The military balance of Libya’s domestic conflict is raising debate about external intervention, says Professor Paul Rogers. But the strategy of the Gaddafi regime is also crucial to what happens next. If a long conflict follows, the resulting costs will be measured in human lives; but also in the prospects for deepening the 'Arab spring' that first bloomed in Tunisia and Egypt, the countries on either side of Libya.

  • 7 Mar 2011
    Arab uprisings: what kind of religion or irreligion?

    Religion changes and mutates. Some of these religious mutations can be positively harmful in a changing Middle East. But other religious innovations can help religion accommodate itself to modernity, says Ahmad Sadri. It doesn’t matter whether a society has or does not have religion per se. What is important is what kind of religion or irreligion pervades in that society.

  • 25 Feb 2011
    Analysing the Arab 'democratic revolutions'
  • 24 Feb 2011
    The Arab revolt: transformation to transition

    A hurricane of change is blowing through the Arab world. Even now, many Arab regimes are still in denial, says Nadim Shehadi. But this volatile situation also challenges the West to grasp a new political reality.

  • 22 Feb 2011
    Struggling for the Arab Soul?

    Despite the pernicious narratives of past decades, and despite dismissive Western attitudes towards the Middle East and North Africa, Arabs are showing that they can practise democracy after all, says Harry Hagopian. This moment in history is not just a revolt, it is a struggle for the Arab soul.

  • 9 Jun 2010
    Concern expressed for plight of Christians in the Middle East

    Leaders of The Centre for Jewish-Christian Understanding have expressed "distress" over the decline of Christian presence throughout the Middle East.

  • 24 Feb 2010
    Assessing contemporary Arab thought

    Elizabeth Suzanne Kassab's new book, published recently by Columbia University Press (CUP), is a timely assessment of the challenges facing Arab thought today, and contains some material which is unique in terms of research.

  • 20 Jan 2008
    Pope affirms concern for peaceful coexistence across the Arab world

    Pope Benedict says he shares "the concerns and hopes" of the people of the Arab world, noting how constant cycles of violence make coexistence difficult, and can give rise to fears for the survival of Christian communities there.