Publications

I want to say, first of all, that you are the saints of your profession. Most of you are high school teachers. This is the most important period of education in the life of a young person—13 to 17,...

On May 11, 2011 hardliner cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, held a meeting with members of the conservative Islamic Coalition Party. Mesbah-Yazdi warned his audience against the strengthening of deviant religious thought in Iranian society. He claimed that it jeopardizes...

Introduction Major Nidal Hasan’s killing of his fellow soldiers at Ft. Hood, Texas undermines the common trust binding America’s all-volunteer, multi-ethnic military force. Hasan’s violence forces all service personnel to take an introspective look at their organization and persistently...

Now that the results are known from Turkey’s June 12 general election, it is an appropriate time to discern this strategically important nation’s state of affairs. Turkey-watching is never an easy matter, especially given the current government’s fluctuating ways...

With the world riveted by Chinese aggressiveness against Japan and Southeast Asian states in recent months, one country has not been surprised: India. After all, New Delhi has been grappling with the challenge of China’s rapid rise for some...

CASABLANCA—Across the Arab world, we see mass demonstrations, armed revolts or messy, uncertain transitions to democracy — except in Morocco. That North African Arab country was thunderstruck when its king, in a June 17 speech, calmly called for a...

China’s remarkable economic boom, now in its fourth decade, has spawned numerous discussions of “China’s Rise.” Beijing’s self-congratulatory slogan “China’s peaceful rise” has advanced this theme. From a historical perspective, however, this terminology seems misplaced. Both the Ming...

If you examine the panoply of former British colonies, the case of India is exceptional for its liberal and democratic institutions. The vast majority of British colonies either did not emerge as democratic states or quickly succumbed to the...

The Religious Origins of Religious Tolerance Philosophy is looking for a black cat in a coal mine. Metaphysics is looking for a black cat in a coal mine, but there’s no cat. Theology is looking for a black cat...

Democracy Digest However much President Obama wants to support the democratic thrust of the Arab spring, strategic considerations place real constraints on his policy options, writes Sean Yom. But there is scope for shifting the threshold of what is...