Search

Begin New Search Political Geography Arabia Content Type Journal Article

261. An essay on an Islamic thanatocracy. The case of the Arab and Islamic combatants of suicide

Author:
Bruno Etienne
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
Western media often use the word "kamikaze" to designate suicidal combatants. The latter however use a quite different vocabulary referring to the Islamic culture and the status of death, suicide and martyrdom within the historiography used by "Islamists". The latter word is also polysemous and in order to explain suicidal operations we have first to make distinctions between groups having different aims but the references of which might be common: the Hamas is neither the Algerian GIA, the Lebanese Hizbollah, and even less Al-Qaeda. Misperceptions of these differences often characterise the analysis of these groups. Our duty is therefore to try to explain and understand the unacceptable.
Political Geography:
Arabia and Algeria

262. Are Events in Iraq after the Occupation an Ordinary Security Problem?

Author:
Nihat Ali Özcan
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
The US carried out the Iraqi occupation quickly, easily and with few casualties. It put an end to the security bureaucracy in the name of building new Iraq after the war. After a short while it faced unexpected resistance in the regions where Sunnite Arabs live. Insurgents have proved by their choice of targets and use of methods that they have a long-term and systematical resistance strategy. The insurgents could organize quickly because of effective tribal order, power of old security bureaucracy which kept its integrity after the war and refusal of foreign occupation. Insurgents want to control the public in order to get rid of weakness. Therefore, the keypoint of contention is who will control the public. While insurgents commonly use "terror" and "violence", occupiers try on the one hand to make insurgents ineffective, on the other, to win the "heart and brain" of the public. Security questions may spread to whole country in Iraq where there are ethnic and religious struggles. Iraqi Shiites may be involved in the conflict. Kurdish claims on Kirkuk may bring an ethnic conflict to the agenda. If the US administration can't provide stability in Iraq as soon as possible, Iraq may drift into a civil war.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Arabia, and Kirkuk