Islamic radicalisation and violence in Liberia

In the last two to three decades, Liberia's image in Africa has oscillated from one extreme to the other. Historically, the country was seen as a beacon of hope as Africa's first Independent Republic and it played its role in the African liberation process. However, 14 years of civil war have punctured this image and the attendant political and economic difficulties have removed the country from the list of countries to be envied. Importantly, the country's political past is complex and its ethnic composition is diverse but what is often neglected as an identity issue is religion. Although Liberia is widely held as a ‘Christian nation’, largely because of the historical fact that those who established it were Christians, there is now emerging the critical dimension of Islamic concerns in the country. Such concerns could become critical to the national security of Liberia, especially if it connects to the wider sub-regional dimension of Islamic radicalisation. The central argument of this article is that the issue of Islamic radicalisation in Liberia is somewhat peculiar as it never manifested itself in the form in which others have in the sub-region. In this sense, what is referred to as radicalisation in Liberia is more the protests and advocacy of Muslims for their rights on a number of specific issues. While these can serve as triggers of radicalisation, they cannot be equated with it.     

Islamic radicalisation and violence in Ghana

This article examines the incidences of Islamic radicalisation and violence in Ghana. It explores socio-economic and political dynamics, doctrinal and interpretational differences as sources of Islamic radicalisation and violence among the three major religious groups, namely, Al-tijaniyya Movement, Ahlussunna Waljama'a and Ahmadiyya Movement. The paper further explores how diverse factors such as preaching methodologies, external financial support, the presence of a youth bulge and different doctrinal and interpretational approaches to the concept of jihad serve as drivers of radicalisation and possible mutation into violence. Based on extensive empirical research, it argues that, while identified trends, intensity and frequency of incidences of radicalisation and violence among the three religious groups are, first and foremost, motivated by a struggle for doctrinal pre-eminence, they also have the tendency to undermine national peace and security.     

Islamic extremism and the peace process

This article first discusses the negative attitude of Islamic radical groups toward Israel and the peace process. It then presents an assessment of the long run potential of the Islamic radicals, as well as their present politico‐military capabilities to harm the peace process. The article focuses on the capacity of Islamic radicals to subvert or intimidate the pro‐peace Arab regimes, wage war and develop nuclear capabilities. It ends with some observations on how the activities of Islamic extremists influence the ongoing political debate in Israel on the future of the peace process.     

Australia's security and the threat of Islamic extremism in southeast Asia

Australian foreign and security policy confronts a series of difficult challenges in coping with the emergence of an Islamic extremist threat in Southeast Asia. Australian policy makers are being drawn into unfamiliar linkages with moderate Islam, and into closer cooperation with Indonesia, the most populous Islamic nation in the world, in an attempt to offset Islamic extremists. Further, they must achieve those objectives at a time when important interests are at stake beyond Southeast Asia, when bipartisan agreement about the direction of foreign policy is waning, and when divisions over the appropriate trajectory of Australian security policy are intense. A delicacy almost unprecedented in Australian foreign policy will be required.     

Radicalisation and violent extremism in West Africa: implications for African and international security

This article interrogates emerging trends and patterns in the process of radicalisation and violent extremism in West Africa and the implications for regional and international security regimes, practices and thinking. It argues that there are real and imagined challenges of radicalisation and violent extremism. The overarching view is that the emergence of intra- and extra-African preoccupation with violent extremism alone, rather than alongside seriously addressing its structural undercurrents related to preventing and interrupting the process of radicalisation, distorts the security realities and further exacerbates the security situation in Africa. Radicalisation and violent extremism further integrates West Africa into global security assemblages, yet the absence or non-incorporation of an indigenous African (civil society) perspective or counter-narrative about radicalisation and violent extremism uncritically fuses and conflates the strategic interests of major powers with the local realities in Africa. Moreover, there is a huge potential that national governments could exploit local, regional and international interests in counteracting terrorism for domestic political advantages, such as mis-characterisation of subsisting conflicts, regular political opposition and other local grievances as cases of terrorism, thereby risking a deterioration in security conditions.     

The symbiotic relationship between Islamophobia and radicalisation

This article analyses the conditions of Islamophobia and radicalisation, and the nature of the symbiotic relationship between them. There is an exploration of the identity crises facing young Muslims in relation to endogenous factors, the role and function of various forms of structural and cultural Islamophobia as exogenous concerns and how these intersect in the context of contemporary multicultural societies, namely in Britain. The characteristics of violent extremism have been explained as driven by Islam by some, or the workings of majority society by others. These are often contradictory and incomplete narratives. This article provides a holistic multifaceted sociological framework to help facilitate the discussion of Islamic political radicalism, set in an historical and sociological context, and exploring a range of factors argued to be in play in determining the dynamics of extremism relevant to this group.     

浅析欧洲的"伊斯兰挑战"

欧洲的"伊斯兰挑战"集中反映了欧洲人面对大量外来族群和异质文化出现时的焦虑与困惑.这一问题的形成是多种因素长期作用的结果,如何使日渐庞大的穆斯林族群融入欧洲社会,是当前和今后较长一段时期内欧洲各国面临的一个重要问题.     

Islamic State in Focus

Islamic State has rapidly become a new threat to the international community.It is now staging terrorist attacks in a long list of Western countries including Canada,Australia and France.Compared to Al Qaeda,Islamic State is characterized by the following:1)Its ultimate goal is to find Utopia.This attracts jihadists from around the world;they are following a call to settle the historical feud between Islam and Christianity.It is also stirring up sectional strife between Sunnis and Shiites.Its demagogy has thus far recruited 15,000Jihadists from over 80 countries;2)It has been competing with Al-Qaeda in trying to launch terrorist     

Militancy and violence in West Africa: reflecting on radicalisation,comparing contexts and evaluating effectiveness of preventive policies

By 2000, ‘radicalisation’ had become a major global issue. Although ‘9/11’ was still a year away, the American Embassies in East Africa had been bombed in 1998 and violent conflicts simmered in many parts of the world. At just about the same time, bitter civil wars, resource-centred conflicts and intra-ethnic strife raged in West Africa. Against the background of research being undertaken at King's College London,1 1. For example, Dr Olonisakin was researching into the civil wars in the region and was completing her book on the politics of United Nations involvement in the Sierra Leone war, while Dr Alao Alao, Abiodun. 2007. Natural Resources and Conflict in Africa: The Tragedy of Endowment, Rochester: University of Rochester Press.  [Google Scholar] was looking at the politics of natural resource conflicts in the region and was also completing a book on the subject. The Conflict Security and Development Group (CSDG), King's College London, was awarded a grant from the UK Department for International Development (DfID) to undertake a research project on youth vulnerability and exclusion in West Africa, with Dr Olonisakin Olonisakin, 'Funmi. 2008. Peacekeeping in Sierra Leone: The Story of UNAMSIL, Boulder: Lynne Reinner.  [Google Scholar] as principal investigator. the mutually reinforcing links between ‘radicalisation’ and ‘violence’ (potentially sensitive terms, discussed below) in West Africa became clearly obvious and a successful application to investigate this was submitted to the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).2 2. ‘Militancy and Violence in West Africa: Reflecting on Radicalisation, Comparing Contexts, and Evaluating Effectiveness of Preventive Policies’. Dr F. Olonisakin and Prof A.J.W. Gow. ESRC Award No. RES-181-25-0024. This Special Issue contains articles emerging from that work, with a set of country studies complemented by overarching synthetic analysis.     

Animal rights and violent protest

The arguments for the better treatment of animals underwent a dramatic change in the 1970s with the publication of Peter Singer's Animal Liberation and the work of Tom Regan. These new works challenged the previous moral orthodoxy which had suffused the animal welfare/protection movement and espoused the view, in the case of Regan, that animals had rights or, according to Singer, that they should be granted ‘equal consideration’. The 1970s also saw the emergence of new groups, such as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), who were not only willing forcibly to free animals from laboratories, but also to employ violence in the fight against animal abuse. This article seeks to show that the appearance and development of such groups is related to the growth of the demand for animal rights/liberation at a philosophical level.     

伊斯兰法渊源的整合机制

伊斯兰文化在最终形成体系的过程中，始终以伊斯兰原则与精神为价值取向和指导方针，并以兼容并蓄、广泛继承的开放态度把阿拉伯、波斯、印度、希腊等东西方古典文化融为一体，以伊斯兰文化的形式出现。在这一历史进程中，伊斯兰法渊源作为筛选净化、整合定型机制，是伊斯兰文化体系得以绵延千余年，保持纯洁性、主体性、独特性不变的根本原因和成为独立形态的基本要素。如若不是伊斯兰法学家从《古兰经》、“圣训”中创制演绎出的伊斯兰法渊源，伊斯兰文化体系是难以建立的。     

俄罗斯的伊斯兰极端势力

俄罗斯穆斯林有2000多万,多数居住在9个共和国内:巴什基尔有250万;达吉斯坦有220万;鞑靼斯坦有200万;车臣有100万;达巴尔达—巴尔卡尔有70万;卡拉恰耶夫—切尔斯克有40万;印古什有30万;北奥塞梯有20万;阿迪格有10万。其中北高加索地区集中了穆斯林聚居的9个共和国中的     

东南亚伊斯兰势力现状

公元7、8世纪,随着阿拉伯商人来到东南亚海岸,逊尼派伊斯兰教在东南亚传播开来,并成为一些国家的国教。目前东南亚10国都有穆斯林族群,其中在马来西亚、印度尼西亚、文莱属主体族群,在其他国家均为少数族群。随着1979年伊朗发生伊斯兰革命以及80年代初伊斯兰复兴运动在中亚一些国家、尤其是在阿富汗开始立足,对“伊斯兰认同”及其价值观的重新认知与肯定浪潮波及东南亚,于是清真寺、宗教学校和宗教项目如雨后春笋般增多,伊斯兰书刊、报纸有了巨大的需求市场,尤其是马来西亚、印尼、菲律宾、泰国伊斯兰势力不断发展。1997年亚洲金融危机后,这些国家的伊斯兰极端势力更是发     

土耳其伊斯兰极端组织概述

土耳其的伊斯兰极端组织是伴随着伊斯兰复兴运动的兴起和意识形态的分化而出现的,是极端伊斯兰势力对伊斯兰教的工具性解读和对伊斯兰教暴力面的无限放大,对土耳其的政治和社会变革产生了较大影响。土耳其的伊斯兰极端组织互不统属,社会基础、斗争纲领复杂多样,而且许多组织犹如昙花一现。本文主要通过对土耳其伊斯兰极端组织的概述、对颇具代表性的土真主党与卡普兰社团的简介,来阐释土伊斯兰极端组织的基本特征。     

中亚伊斯兰极端主义

中亚是伊斯兰极端主义非常活跃的地区,目前它已成为宗教反对派的一个重要组成部分.近年来,以伊扎布特为代表的极端势力越来越多地介入社会生活的各个方面,参与总统和议会选举,积极获取政治权力.极端主义已对地区稳定、国家安全造成了新一轮冲击.     

中亚的伊斯兰极端主义

乌兹别克斯坦的伊斯兰极端主义分子在塔吉克斯坦反对派联盟和阿富汗塔利班的支持下,于1999年夏天在吉尔吉斯斯坦南部制造了震惊中亚的"巴特肯事件".对付宗教极端主义既要开展国际合作,更应从根本上解决国内的社会经济问题.     

伊拉克伊斯兰极端势力及其影响

2007年2月，驻伊拉克美军及伊拉克政府军联手开始实施代号为“法律与秩序”的安全行动计划，加大反恐力度，力图扭转自2003年伊拉克战争以来持续动荡的安全局势，摆脱困难处境。计划实施后，巴格达局势出现短暂的缓和，暴力袭击事件有所减少。但是近期来，巴格达市区却连续发生了几起严重的袭击事件。伊拉克伊斯兰极端势力在掀起新一轮恐怖浪潮，未来伊拉克安全形势不容乐观。     

The Islamic challenge in North Africa

This article analyzes and compares the growth of Islamist movements and regime responses in the three core Maghrib states — Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. In spite of the many points of commonality and their geographical proximity, the particular sociopolitical and historical circumstances of each of the three states have varied widely, producing a different state‐society/regime‐opposition dynamic in each case, resulting in very different political outcomes. Algeria has been, and remains, in many ways, sui generis in the Arab world. Consequently, even if the Islamists do eventually come to power there, one should avoid adopting any simplistic Islamic ‘domino theory’ for the region.     

纳格拉鼓及其伊斯兰文化渊源

纳格拉(naqara)鼓作为一种膜鸣打击乐器,广泛分布与使用于西亚、北非、西欧的许多国家和地区,在中国新疆的广大地区也很常见,展现出各地不同的音乐文化特征.