Is Islam a Religion of Peace?

Larry Diamond's presentation explores the question of why there are no Arab democracies in the Middle East and North Africa. He shows us the relatively stagnant levels of democratic freedoms that have been the norm in the region for the past several decades. Diamond gives us a multitude of potential explanations for the absence of a sustainable democracy.

The religion of Islam has become a controversial issue in today’s 21st century. In spite of excessively negative representations by Western propaganda, increasing numbers of the population are pursuing to learn more about the wonderful religion of Islam. More frequently than not, these people are becoming more pleasantly startled by the product of their exploration. In fact, increasing numbers of people are embracing Islam nowadays then they did prior to the horrific attacks on September 11th, 2001; which evoked much attention to misconceptions about Islam and Muslims. Yet, there does endure an abundant amount of misconception and misinterpretations about Islam, frequently invigorated by political policies which reckon their interest’s to patronage Islam 's enemies. Islam is a religion which elucidates the way of life and is the second largest religion after Christianity, with approximately one-fifth of the world 's population and is currently the fastest growing religion. Muslims are existent all around the world and come from diverse nationalities, cultures and races. However, Islam instills that all people are principally equal no matter the differences (colour, class, culture, etc.) as long as they are peaceful and law-abiding citizens. The behaviour of particular erroneous groups or individuals outside mainstream Islam cannot be accredited to Islamic beliefs and practices as correspondingly hostility in North Ireland or illegal mafia activities being attributed

The United States was the first successful democracy in modern. Why democracy has worked well in the United States. Why Iraq cannot become a democracy? Why Judaism is not compatible with democracy? What true democracy requires a time commitment? Proponents of democracy believe it is the best political system, although opponents believe it is more complicated, particularly in Mid-East nations.

In this essay, after defining some crucial concepts, such as peace, liberal and democratic governments, I’ll present arguments that support the idea that liberal democratic states are not inherently more peaceful then other states, but that they are, in fact,

Throughout the depths of recorded history Muslims have constantly committed mass murders upon innocent people in the name of Islam. According to long established conventional Islamic views, Muhammad’s revelations start the Qur’an off in 610. Dating back to as early as 627, the Prophet Muhammad’s followers have been recorded of murdering large numbers of “non-believers” and even believers for that matter (Ye 'or, 1985). While researching wars declared in the name of Islam, the words “convert” or “die” (more often than not they surfaced together making the claim “convert or die”) surfaced exceedingly often. Despite the common belief imprinted into the minds of nearly every United States citizen/civilian whom attended or is attending public school with the U.S., oppressing a people based off of their religious beliefs has the ability to be beneficial to the world on a global scale. Muslims should not be allowed to act as political advocates considering Islam gives approval of segregation, provides obligations of the religions followers to commit senseless acts of violence, and because of the fact that Islam allows systematic lying as a religious policy. Throughout this research essay we will discuss facts in regards to traditional and modern Islamic ideology while deciding whether someone of such beliefs has a place in a position

Maintaining theocratic governments revolves around utilizing religion as the main decision maker for political affairs. Over time, groups of individuals grow indignant with opposing ideologies of how theocracies are enforced. This then creates difficulty for a country to disregard public beliefs of theocracy being portrayed as rule of religion over the state, which results in pressure on governments. Islamic Wahhabism has ultimately led to both of these countries becoming subjected to projecting influence to the Arab world. Many terrorist organizations take advantage of unreliable governments in order to overturn their powers. If these countries support these organizations to prevent revolutions and corruption, other countries becoming judgmental of theocracies is not surprising. Need therefore arises to investigate why conflict and terrorism are viewed as benefactors within the theocratic regimes of these two

‘Temptations OF Power’ is an impressive scholarly work that illustrates the contemporary circumstances of Islamist and Illiberal, uprising movements in the Middle East and North Africa. The book packs Hundreds of interviews with officials of Islamist and illiberal organizations, to advance a new understanding of their political ideologies. Nevertheless, the book gives many stories and details about the political movements in the Arab Nations encountering repression by totalitarian regimes. Moreover, it analyzes the reasons of democratization consequences on other parts of the world excluding Arab Nations. Also, explains various challenges met by the Muslim Brotherhood through different political epochs.

The idea that democracies do not fight each other can be traced back to the writings of Immanuel Kant over two hundred years ago in essay ‘On Perpetual Peace’, however, only in the early 1980s and with the writings of Michael Doyle was the idea consolidated. According to Doyle and other advocates of the democratic peace theory, liberal democratic states have been able to maintain peaceful relations amongst themselves, but are prone to wage war against non-democratic regimes. In order to prove this theory, vast databases have been constructed of historical dyadic relationships between states as well as detailed breakdowns of incidents of inter-state war. The conclusions reached are best shown in the work of Bruce Russett who has argued that

Primarily, if one looks at the variants of the democratic peace theory that argues democracies are not likely to pursue one another in a violent manner resulting in conflict or war, they can clearly see that democracies are generally peaceful in relations with one another. The rational public thesis states that democracies show the peaceful tendencies of people who are aware of the destruction that war will bring upon them. Also, the culture thesis makes evident the fact that democracy

There’s no reason why the hand of friendship must be extended to the small, yet identifiable groups which plot our destruction. Also, it’s not unreasonable to explicitly oppose specific ideas within Islam – ideas such as the subjugation of women, martyrdom, apostasy, blasphemy, hard-line sharia law, and jihadism - and to insist that members of our democracy ascribe to the broad values of western liberalism which define it.

Ever since September 11, 2001 Americans along with the majority of the world’s population have been skeptical of Muslims. It’s a sad reality but it’s hard for people to think of a Muslim without linking them directly to terrorism. But these assumptions aren’t totally out of the blue—the Muslim’s religion, Islam, teaches a low tolerance for other religions and the Islamic government has no separation of church and state, so it’s only normal to assume that their government shall have a low tolerance as well—some however, immediately translate this into terrorism. Through the Islamic government and religion, relations with foreign countries, and separation amongst themselves it can be concluded that Islamic Fundamentalism is clearly a threat

The purpose of this comprehensive exam is to give me an opportunity to demonstrate mastery over relevant debates, theories, and empirical findings in the major issues of political sociology. I will also examine theoretical and empirical approaches to classic and contemporary fundamental questions of political sociology. My primary goal here is to learn how to think critically like a political sociologist and be able to understand and use the major concepts, frameworks and representatives of political sociology for my doctoral project. Political sociology is a very broad and multi dimensional discipline. Thus, to examine the mentioned issues, I will primarily look at the various cases and hot debates around the intersection of Islam and politics in the modern world.

The purpose of this memo is to discuss the internal debates between Muslim scholars, both inside and outside the Islamic World, regarding Islam and its compatibility with democracy. Are Islam and democracy compatible? Support for democracy is just as frequent as resistance in these developing nations with both sides pitching adequate arguments but in all traditions there are intellectual and ideological resources that can provide justification for an absolute monarchy or for democracy. Many argue that Islam has all the ingredients of modern state and society and many Muslim intellectuals and Western scholars alike seek to prove that Islam enshrines democratic values. John L. Esposito, founding director of the Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University and the author or editor of more than thirty books about Islam and Islamist movements argues that "Islamic movements have internalized the democratic discourse through the concepts of shura [consultation], ijma ' [consensus], and ijtihad [independent interpretive judgment]" ¹ and concludes that democracy already exists in the Muslim world, "whether the word democracy is used or not." ² For example, in Islam and Democracy,³ Esposito and co-author John Voll, associate director of the Prince Alwaleed Center, question Western attempts to monopolize the definition of democracy and suggest the very concept shifts meanings over time and place. They argue that every culture can mold an

Fukuyama and McFaul make strong arguments for the importance of democracy promotion, but it is not without its flaws. The world is fragmented by ethnic, linguistic and religious differences, and as such, the notion that there exists 'moral universals' is viewed as dangerous (Dunne 2001, pp. 179). Gray (1995, pp. 146) aptly articulated that "the universalizing mission of liberal values such as democracy, capitalism and secularism undermine the traditions and practices of non-Western cultures." And that may illustrate the rejection of Liberalism thus far. Democracy, when promoted by Western states, is inextricably tied in with other Western ideals such as capitalism and secularism. These ideals often do not mesh well with prevailing cultural practices, resulting in dissent and potential military conflict, results contrary to Liberalism's ultimate goal. This leads to the second rationale: national security.

Over the last century, the Middle East has been the location of ethnic rivalry, political and economic instability, religious conflict, territorial dispute and war. Much of this tension in the Middle East comes from the various interpretations of Islam and how the religion should be applied to politics and society. Over the last ten years, the United States and their allies have pushed to promote democracy in the Middle East. However, they too have many obstacles they must overcome. They face problems such as the compatibility of Islamic law and democracy, the issue of women’s rights, and there is always the problem of how to go about implementing a democratic reform in these countries. Many initially would assume that it is only the