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2. Factsheet: Mouhanad Khorchide
- Author:
- Bridge Initiative Team
- Publication Date:
- 03-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
- Abstract:
- Mouhanad Khorchide is professor of Islamic pedagogy at the University of Münster in Germany. He has authored several books on Islam and is a frequent media commentator on Islam and Muslims. Khorchide is a member of several political initiatives calling for the reform of Islam and he supports discriminatory state policies, including the hijab ban. He heads the advisory board for Austria’s Documentation Center for Political Islam—a project that monitors movements that do not pose a security-related threat and is “part of the national strategy of extremism prevention and deradicalization.”
- Topic:
- Islam, Domestic Politics, Discrimination, Academia, and Muslims
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Germany
3. Factsheet: Tommy Robinson
- Author:
- Tommy Robinson
- Publication Date:
- 05-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
- Abstract:
- Tommy Robinson is a British anti-Muslim and anti-immigration activist. A co-founder of the racist English Defense League, Robinson believes Islam is a “disease” and Muslims are invading Europe. He has been connected to trans-national anti-Muslim activists and organizations, including PEGIDA. Robinson has had numerous criminal convictions and is currently serving time in jail.
- Topic:
- Islam, Far Right, Muslims, Tommy Robinson, and English Defense League (EDL)
- Political Geography:
- Britain, United Kingdom, and Europe
4. Factsheet: Cooperation Agreement of 1992
- Author:
- Bridge Initiative Team
- Publication Date:
- 10-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
- Abstract:
- The Cooperation Agreement of 1992 is a legal framework established by the Spanish government and the Islamic Commission of Spain to guarantee the rights of Muslims living in Spain. Included in the agreement were essential aspects of development and citizenship, such as the teaching of Islam to Muslim children and the regulation of worship places. Although almost thirty years have passed since the signing of the agreement, several issues key to Muslim life—such as the increasing need for Muslim cemeteries—have yet to be solved.
- Topic:
- Islam, Religion, Treaties and Agreements, and Muslims
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Spain
5. Factsheet: Saida Keller-Massahli
- Author:
- Bridge Initiative Team
- Publication Date:
- 03-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
- Abstract:
- Saïda Keller-Messahli is a self-described Islamic human rights activist of Tunisian-Swiss heritage who is among the most prominent voices mainstreaming Islamophobia in Switzerland. She is frequently featured as an interviewee by Swiss media and has often been invited to Austrian state agencies as a public voice and “expert” to support discriminatory policies against Muslims.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Islam, Islamophobia, and Saida Keller-Massahli
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Switzerland
6. Comparing the Governance of Islam in Turkey and Indonesia: Diyanet and the Ministry of Religious Affairs
- Author:
- Martin van Bruinessen
- Publication Date:
- 05-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- In spite of their overwhelmingly Muslim populations, Indonesia and Turkey are formally secular states though of different kind. However, both allocate a surprisingly high proportion of the state budget to the administration of Islam, considerably higher than most countries where Islam is the state religion. In Turkey during the years 1950-2000 and in Indonesia during the New Order period (1966-1998), the state invested heavily in the education of “enlightened” religious personnel and the dissemination of religious views that were compatible with the drive for modernisation and development. Turkey’s Directorate for Religious Affairs (Diyanet) controls a huge bureaucracy through which the state interacts with the pious conservative part of the population. Schools for the training of prayer leaders addressed the needs of the same segment of the population and were intended to facilitate the integration of these conservatives into the project of secular modernisation. However, these institutions had the unforeseen effect of enabling the social mobility of once marginalised conservatives, allowing them to gradually gain control of part of the state apparatus. Mutatis mutandis, very similar developments can be observed in Indonesia, where the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA) and the Council of Islamic Scholars (MUI) were expected to provide development-friendly religious guidance and prevent undesirable expressions of religiosity. After the fall of the Suharto regime, the MUI made itself independent of the government and instead became a vehicle through which various conservative religious groups strove to influence government policies, with various degrees of success.
- Topic:
- Islam, Religion, Social Movement, Secularism, and Modernization
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Indonesia, Turkey, and Asia
7. The Year of Our Discontent: A Snapshot From Berlin
- Author:
- Gary Soroka
- Publication Date:
- 10-2016
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI)
- Abstract:
- The European Union faces enormous challenges, including flows of refugees, economic stagnation, terrorism, xenophobia, anti-Muslim bigotry and the rise of the far right, the Brexit. Strong leadership is needed but it is in short supply. Germany is the most capable, but it too has domestic problems that are preoccupying the political class, not least the prospect of a federal election next year. Despite all this, the country has shouldered its growing responsibilities in recent years with a new confidence and no one should underestimate what they can achieve.
- Topic:
- Islam, Terrorism, Elections, European Union, Brexit, and Xenophobia
- Political Geography:
- Europe