Topic of Current Interest in the Middle East

How is religion organized and mobilized in the political life in the Middle East?

This seminar will look at the relationship between state and religion, religio-political movements, the debates around religion, and public religion – with a special focus on the majority religion in the Middle East, namely Islam.

This will include competing Islamic ideologies. Islamism, Salafism and Jihadism are concepts often used interchangeably. The course will discuss definitions and developments of these ideologies and read central source texts related to them.