Interview: Ismail Abu Shanab

Mr. Abu Shanab is a founding member and a current leader of Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement. The following interview was conducted on November 18, 1997, at his home in Gaza City by Roger Gaess, a free-lance journalist based in New York.     

A Purist Jihadi-Salafi: The Ideology of Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi

This article deals with the prominent contemporary Jihadi-Salafi ideologue Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi. In what follows, three major tenets of his ideology (al-walā? wa-l-barā?, kufr and jihad) are discussed. These concepts show that al-Maqdisi more or less transcends the boundaries of Quintan Wiktorowicz's division of Salafis into purists, politicos and jihadis. I contend that al-Maqdisi is relatively close to purist Salafism and can thus be seen as a ‘purist Jihadi-Salafi’. This implies that his ideas may resonate more easily with purists than the rhetoric of the likes of Osama bin Laden. At the same time, jihadis may take him more seriously because of his religious authority based on his close adherence to the purist creed. Although this article does not focus on explaining al-Maqdisi's popularity, it seems obvious that his specific combination of purist and jihadi Salafism may account for at least some of his standing among Salafis.     

The Abe Administration: Beyond 100 Days

The second Abe administration, inaugurated on December 26, 2012, has been called a repudiation of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) rather than a strong endorsement of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). However, in the intervening months, public support has risen. Going forward, the Abe administration faces three serious challenges, namely the economy, security and foreign policy, and a strategy to win in the Upper House elections expected in July 2013. This article analyzes each of these challenges and explores possible courses that the administration could take.     

Land Reform: Unfulfilled Obligation in Southern Africa and Beyond

ABSTRACT

Land reform remains a relevant but contentious issue in southern Africa. It nearly caused the collapse the Southern African Development Community (SADC) after its tribunal ruled against the Zimbabwe land reform programme (which resulted in the removal of white settlers from land they had occupied for decades and, in some cases, for over a century). The major challenge for southern Africa and most of the African continent is to untangle itself from the provocative and salient legacy of social, economic and psychological apartheid on its territory for almost a century without disrupting development endeavours (Chigara 2012). This article exposes the theoretical foundations influencing the powers at play that compromise most of the efforts that have been directed at trying to facilitate transitions from colonialism and its legacies to societies egalitarian. Land rights have suddenly become very important and it appears that these rights only apply to those whose ownership of land has been legitimised by colonialism. The article recommends the application of already existing legal frameworks at domestic, regional, continental and global levels to meaningfully engage land reform challenges that confront SADC and the continent of Africa as whole as a consequence of the general non-compliance to the rule of law and justice itself.