Sacral Defense of Secularism: The Political Theologies of Soroush, Shabestari, and Kadivar

This paper discusses three post-revolutionary dissident political theologies in Iran. They all question the absolutist theology of the ruling clerics and utilize indigenous sources of scholarship to oppose the clerical hegemony. They have complementary emphases: whereas Soroush highlights the variable nature of religious knowledge, Shabestari and Kadivar underline its limited and multiple nature. They represent the maturing of the dialogue of the Iranian-Islamic thought with Western social and political philosophy, and as the coming of age of the indigenous Islamic political theology reclaiming its pluralistic and democratic elements. Together, they attack the totalitarian Islam, and call for a guarded and objective secularism, while preserving Islam's spiritual and cultural identity.     

Opposition visions for preserving Syria’s ethnic-sectarian mosaic

The excessive violence that has spread across virtually all of Syria since the 2011 uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Asad has so far prevented a serious debate about feasible solutions. Together with internal power struggles and the intervention of external actors, ideational factors and identity construction are playing a key role in shaping the dynamics of the Syrian conflict. Fear of exclusion in a future order dominated by radical Islamist forces is keeping the minority groups and some secularists close to the regime. However, there are also grounds for cautious optimism: as this paper shows, most actors from the moderate opposition acknowledge the need to take the minorities’ fears seriously and to provide them with guarantees of participation in a future political order, while stopping short of the option of a power-sharing arrangement between community representatives.     

Author Index of Volume 16

Authors Index

Author Index of Volume 16     

Negotiating the Draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism: Major Bones of Contention

Negotiating a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorismhas been a long and intense process. The legal regime to becreated by this instrument has significant legal and politicalconsequences. The main issues, which would frame such consequences,are how to define the crime and decide the scope of applicationof such a Convention. These have proven to be problematic, asnegotiators have revisited issues that have been a source ofdebate for years, even centuries. Who has the right to participatein an armed conflict without being described as a terroristby the Convention? To what extent do we allow the overlap betweeninternational humanitarian law and the Convention's law, ifany? Do military forces have the right to be outside the scopeof the Convention even in peace time? These are the main questionsthat the negotiators have been trying to answer in order toreach a compromise that will satisfy all parties. If genuinepolitical will exists to conclude the Comprehensive Convention,there is no absence of legal answers that can guarantee an effectivelaw enforcement instrument against international terrorism,without infringing on legal rights and positions under internationallaw.