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41. KDP and PUK in Sadir’s Chess Game

Author:
Dlawer Ala'Aldeen
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Middle East Research Institute (MERI)
Abstract:
Muqtada Al-Sadir, the Shiite Cleric Grandmaster, is playing to win; whatever the expense. In the build-up to the game, the Sunnis got their act together and seized the opportunity to become the main winners of the first round. However, the Kurds entered the fight on one leg, lost sight of the bigger picture and intensified their internal power rivalry. This has already proven costly for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), and if they keep on as they started, the second round will be even dearer. Fortunately, it is not too late to minimise their losses or even end up winning future rounds. To do this, they need to take into account the complex power dynamics within not just the Shiite component of Iraq (Shiite House), but also the Shiite ‘Universe’ inside and outside Iraq.
Topic:
Religion, Conflict, Sunni, Identity, and Shiism
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

42. A New Middle East

Author:
Yaakov Amidror
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
Abstract:
Changing Israel’s relationship with Arab countries is vital for its regional legitimacy, but it is also in the best interests of the Arab world. Sunni Arab countries want relations with Israel to create a safer region and better tools to deal with the complex reality they face after the “Arab Spring,” in the face of Iranian aggression and American hesitancy.
Topic:
Democratization, Diplomacy, Regional Cooperation, Religion, and Arab Spring
Political Geography:
Middle East and Israel

43. The Growing Complexity of Farmer-Herder Conflict in West and Central Africa

Author:
Leif Brottem
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The rise of farmer-herder violence in Africa is more pernicious than fatality figures alone since it is often amplified by the emotionally potent issues of ethnicity, religion, culture, and land.
Topic:
Agriculture, Religion, Culture, Ethnicity, Conflict, Land, and Farming
Political Geography:
Africa

44. The Balkan Kettle: Russia’s policy towards the Balkans

Author:
Bogusław Jagiełło
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Security and Defence Quarterly
Institution:
War Studies University
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to identify the policy orientations of Russia in the Balkans. The historical aspects of Russia’s political and cultural ties with the Balkan region and Russia’s policy towards the Balkans during the USSR period will feature. As the Balkans are an important factor in Russia’s geopolitical game to retain influence in Europe, the author analyses Russia’s contemporary policy in the Balkans, its interests and the measures taken to achieve its specific goals. It can be concluded that Russian involvement in some Balkan countries is exhausting the elements of a hybrid war. Two possible models of geopolitical behaviour in relation to Russia can be distinguished. The first is to continue trying to stay as far away from Russia, the second is to build effective mechanisms for socioeconomic cooperation. It can be implied that Russia will not hesitate to repeat the hybrid war scenario from Ukraine in order to maintain its political influence in the region. Only the EU returning to a consistent policy of enlargement involving the Balkan countries and the economic strengthening of the Member States from the Balkan region can weaken Russia’s political influence in the region.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Politics, Religion, History, and Regional Integration
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Balkans

45. Mapping Religion, Space, and Economic Outcomes in Indian Cities

Author:
Sripad Motiram and Vamsi Valuabharanam
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
We deploy a socio-spatial approach and use a spatially representative survey that we conducted in Hyderabad and Mumbai to analyze the relation between city space and religion. After documenting the relative status of religious groups in urban India and different types of cities using secondary databases, we identify poor-ghettos and elite-enclaves in Hyderabad and Mumbai. In both cities, ghettos have a high proportion of Muslims, while enclaves are dominated by non-Muslim inhabitants. Ghettoization of Muslims is far more pronounced in Hyderabad than in Mumbai. A key finding on the relation between city space and religion is that compared to segregated neighborhoods, mixed (“grayer”) neighborhoods produce better economic outcomes like lower poverty. We argue that while Indian cities are becoming less integrated along religious lines over the last 3-4 decades, this process is far from complete, and needs to be reversed.
Topic:
Economics, Religion, Space, and Cities
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

46. Is Religious Liberty a Shield or a Sword?

Author:
PRRI Staff
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
PRRI: Public Religion Research Institute
Abstract:
Despite frequent disagreement on how to implement freedom of religion, the vast majority of Americans understand the basic religious protection offered by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Nearly nine in ten Americans (88%) agree that the U.S. government cannot establish an official religion or favor one religion over another, including 68% who completely agree with this statement. Only 11% of Americans disagree with the idea that the government cannot establish an official religion. Overwhelming agreement with this statement is consistent across all demographic groups. Large majorities of all religious groups agree that the U.S. government cannot establish an official religion or favor one religion over another, including white mainline Protestants (94%), white Catholics (90%), religiously unaffiliated Americans (88%), Protestants of color (84%), and white evangelical Protestants (82%).[1] All partisans are equally likely to agree with the statement that the U.S. government cannot establish an official religion or favor one religion over another, including 91% of Democrats, 88% of independents, and 86% of Republicans.
Topic:
Religion, LGBT+, Reproductive Health, and Freedom of Religion
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

47. Despite Partisan Rancor, Americans Broadly Support LGBTQ Rights

Author:
PRRI Staff
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
PRRI: Public Religion Research Institute
Abstract:
More than three in four Americans (76%) favor laws that would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans from discrimination in jobs, housing, and public accommodation. Less than one in five Americans (19%) oppose nondiscrimination protections for LGBT Americans. Around one-third of Americans strongly favor nondiscrimination protections (34%), compared to less than one in ten who strongly oppose them (6%). Majorities of nearly every subgroup of Americans favor LGBT nondiscrimination protections, across race, age, religious, and partisan lines. The present level of support is higher than any PRRI has recorded in previous years, and is a significant increase from 2019, when 72% of Americans favored nondiscrimination protections for LGBT Americans. Prior to 2019, support for nondiscrimination protections hovered around seven in ten Americans: 69% in 2018, 70% in 2017, 72% in 2016, and 71% in 2015. The increase in support for LGBT nondiscrimination protections since 2015 has largely come among Americans of color and white mainline Protestants. White mainline Protestants and Black Americans have grown 10 percentage points more likely to favor nondiscrimination protections for LGBT Americans from 2015 to 2020 (from 73% to 82% and 65% to 75%, respectively). Multiracial Americans (from 72% to 81%), Black Protestants (from 64% to 73%), Americans ages 30 to 49 (from 73% to 81%), independents (from 73 to 78%), and Democrats (from 78% to 85%) have all become more likely to favor protections than they were in 2015.
Topic:
Religion, LGBT+, Repression, and Protectionism
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

48. Religious Identities and the Race Against the Virus: Engaging Faith Communities on COVID-19 Vaccination

Author:
PRRI Staff
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
PRRI: Public Religion Research Institute
Abstract:
As the U.S. navigates evolving dynamics related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and access, there has been a dearth of hard data to understand the cultural dynamics of this problem, and even less rigorous data available to understand how faith-based interventions might mitigate vaccine hesitancy and resistance. The PRRI–IFYC Religion and the Vaccine Survey, the largest study conducted to date in this area, reveals that faith-based approaches supporting vaccine uptake can influence members of key hesitant groups to get vaccinated and thus can be a vital tool for the public health community as we work toward herd immunity. Faith-based approaches are influential among vaccine hesitant communities. More than one in four (26%) Americans who are hesitant to get a COVID-19 vaccine, and even 8% of those who are resistant to getting a vaccine, report that at least one of six faith-based approaches supporting vaccinations would make them more likely to get vaccinated.
Topic:
Religion, Public Health, Vaccine, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

49. Understanding QAnon’s Connection to American Politics, Religion, and Media Consumption

Author:
PRRI Staff
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
PRRI: Public Religion Research Institute
Abstract:
The far-right conspiracy theory movement known as QAnon emerged on the internet in late 2017 and gained traction throughout former president Donald Trump’s time in office. QAnon’s core theory revolves around Satan-worshipping pedophiles plotting against Trump and a coming “storm” that would clear out those evil forces, but the movement has also been described as a “big tent conspiracy theory” that involves a constantly evolving web of schemes about politicians, celebrities, bankers, and the media, as well as echoes of older movements within Christianity, such as Gnosticism. To understand how this loosely connected belief system is influencing American politics, religion, and media, we fielded three questions, each containing a tenet of the QAnon conspiracy movement.
Topic:
Religion, QAnon, Conspiracy Theory, and Political Extremism
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

50. Tracking Vaccination by Religion at the County Level

Author:
PRRI Staff
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
PRRI: Public Religion Research Institute
Abstract:
Previous research conducted throughout 2021 by PRRI and IFYC has shown that religious affiliation is correlated with vaccine acceptance, hesitancy, and refusal. This report explores the relationship between religious identity and vaccination rates at the local level. It combines county-level religion estimates from PRRI’s 2020 Census of American Religion with county-level COVID-19 vaccination data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state sources to examine those patterns at the county level.1 The report focuses on only the largest religious groups in the country—those comprising more than 10% of the population—in order to reliably analyze the relationship between vaccination and religious populations across counties in all regions of the country. That includes white evangelical Protestants, white mainline (non-evangelical) Protestants, white Catholics, and the religiously unaffiliated.2 In addition to their geographic dispersion, these religious affiliation groups represent some of the most likely—and the least likely—religious groups to get vaccinated. In June of this year, a PRRI–IFYC survey found that white evangelical Protestants were the least likely group to be vaccine acceptant: Only 56% said they had gotten vaccinated against the coronavirus or would get the vaccine as soon as possible. Other white Christian groups were much more vaccine acceptant, including 74% of white mainline Protestants and 79% of white Catholics. Additionally, 75% of religiously unaffiliated Americans say they have gotten vaccinated or will get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Topic:
Religion, Local, Public Health, Vaccine, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America