Religion and Politics in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

   

 Ethnic and religious identities have been at the center of national formations and international conflicts as long as we can remember. The Arab-Israeli conflict has been one of the longest, most complicated and also the most violent ones the world has ever dealt with. This paper will elaborate on the complex interconnectedness of religion and politics in this conflict. Firstly, it will show close relation between all three Abrahamic religions.  Secondly, the research will explain concepts of Zionism and national identity, as crucial elements in the struggle between Arabs and Israelis, and discuss the issue of secularism within the conflict. Ultimately, explaining the concept of Zionism, legitimacy of the Holocaust and creation of Hamas, the essay will argue that it is rather Israel’s legacy of the past and aversion towards the Arabs that is the crux of the problem rather than religion itself.

If we think about all three Abrahamic religions, we can clearly see common virtues and values. The Abrahamic myth of a loving Patriarch and a loving God who care for all people has created a sense of unity between millions of human beings, in all three Abrahamic faiths for centuries. Even The Jerusalem Religious Peace Agreement, also known as Islamic/Jewish treaty, calls for peace and emphasizes unity: “Jerusalem is the city of the prophets, a city of love, compassion, and peace. The message of God came out from Jerusalem to the whole world. This message is shared by Jews, Christians and Muslims” . It also stresses common values between Islam and Judaism: “Both the Torah and the Qur’an are expressions of faith which speak of the divine revelation of the oneness of G-d. […] Islam and Judaism both take pride in being a Divine instrument of enlightenment of the world. As such, they teach their faithful to honor every human being as the living image of G-d. […] The Holy Torah revealed to Moses, peace be upon him, the prophet of the Jewish people, calls for the respect and honor of every human being regardless of race or creed”. As we can clearly see, taking into account the pure religious aspect, there is far more that bonds together the Abrahamic faiths than what drives them apart. Jews and Muslims emphasize both the inherent value of caring for all human beings and also the permission or obligation in each culture to especially love fellow believers in the Abrahamic God. 

 

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Securitization of Iraq

Intensive war-fighting in Iraq lasted only twenty one days, but these twenty one days have redesigned and changed the format and nature of the armed conflict. The transition from fighting to reconstruction of the state is in progress, however it is not an easy tasks and a secure nation-state will not be established as soon as many U.S. officials would hope so. Conflicts between groups of Iraqis and coalition forces, external authorities and NGOs, ethnic groups and individual authorities certainly do not make the process any easier. In addition, integration of the US-trained Iraqi military with the coalition forces revealed an enormous difference of capabilities between the two, which, along with other structural, technical and social obstacles discussed further in this study, creates a huge ground of dissimilarities making it extremely hard to bring peace and stability to the region. The essay will critically evaluate the securitization process conducted by the coalition forces led by the United States. First part of the research will be devoted to present historical background of the conflict providing information about colonial legacy and cruel doctrine of Saddam Hussein as well as his cooperation with the U.S. government. Next, the study will focus on series of situations that led to losing peace, deepening the war and destabilizing situation in the country. Based on number of evidence and studies the essay will argue that the securitizing actor (coalition forces led by US) is not in a position to make the securitizing move, proving that the situation in Iraq has not yet been securitized enough. Taking into consideration fragmented population, weak political institutions, Sunni/Shi’ite divide, Kurds and tendency for rule by violence, the research will prove that establishing political stability and peace in Iraq is extremely difficult. 

 

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Future of Iraq, Iran and Israeli-Palestinian conflict

In an age of economic recession, rising oil prices, the growing danger of nuclear proliferation and resurgence of terrorist organizations, the Middle East has become an issue of central importance in American elections. The aim of the essay is to compare and critically assess the candidates’ positions on the main issues in the Middle East: Iraq, Iran and Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The research will provide a concise presentation of their policies concerning the securitizing situation and withdrawal of forces from Iraq, dealing with nuclear Iran and future prospects for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This study also includes an overview of the potential internal and external consequences of the candidates’ positions, if executed after elected as president.

 

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Religious prominence in the political world

In today’s age of science and modernity we often ask ourselves, “Do we still need religion?” If so, what do we need it for? Science and development of modern rationalism has shown a clear path towards answering transcendental questions that once were the pure domain of religion. Can we argue that religion is simply the domain of ignorance and fools who believe in fairy tales purely based on what they refer to as “Faith”? A lot of modern rationalists arguing the obsolescence of religion and the concept of God identify themselves with Nietzsche’s declaration that God is dead. But If it is not, what role does it have in the social and political life? If religion influences politics, where are the limits of such action? There are many questions and even more answers. Religion itself is a very fluid and undefined concept, therefore it creates a lot of space for interpretation. The essay will argue that religion is not only visible in political structures but it also actively shapes both social and political spheres. On the basis of theoretical concepts, recent affairs and case studies the essay will prove huge importance of religion in current political discourse.

In such controversial matter, it is crucial to understand the background of the relationship between the church and the state before we realize its importance and influence. Religion in modern world is often linked to secularism. It plays a very important role because it not only determines the state of the society is in but also creates social norms according to which people interact with each other. Moojan Momen rightly argues that there is an interdependent relationship between religion and authority in most societies simply because religion has, over the course of history, been one of the most dominant and persistent forces in society. Just as the religious world looks to the secular authorities for support, they in turn look to religious leadership to legitimate their authority. For secular leaders, he argues, the support of the religious hierarchy “gives their rule the appearance of being part of the supramundane order of things” . Even though most modern states and societies have long tradition of separating church from state, they have a tendency to combine religion and politics. Throughout the history, great political and social movements – from abolition to civil rights to struggles over abortion and same-sex marriage – have drawn upon religious institutions for moral support and motivating leadership .

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The media and public perception: US Elections 2008

We live in an age where media and technology are commonly and easily absorbed by civilization. Most parts of our society are the targets of technological propaganda. The media is shaping our opinions and changing our lives in ways we cannot even notice. Being involved in a world full of wires and colorful advertisements on every step, we are becoming simpler and more vulnerable for media manipulation; we are losing the context and perspective from which we used to look at the surrounding environment which is nowadays nothing more than a product of human ideology. Politics is one of many spheres of social live that seems to take advantage of technological advancement. Presidential campaigns use every possible format of media including satellite broadcasting, magazines, radios, newspapers, books, films, even and probably most importantly, internet and television, to get people to vote. Candidates spend millions of dollars employing lobbyists and media specialist to create their positive media image because they are aware of the fact that average person in North America sees 30 thousand commercials a year (including presidential campaign spots). There is a strictly political purpose in addicting people to new technologies, advertisements and commercials. Such knowledge combined with effective media campaign guarantees huge public support.

 

The aim of this essay is to show how close and fluid the connection between media and public opinion concerning presidential candidates and their position on most crucial issues is. To reveal the distinction and variety of conceptions, the sources used within this essay include both online and offline recourses, news coverage and opinion-based articles as well as Democratic-based and Republican-based think-tank excerpts from different periods of time. To provide a more academic approach to the issue of media-manipulation, the ideas of Jerry Mander (Four Arguments for The Elimination of Television) and Arthur Kroker (Life in the Wires) will be presented throughout the essay. Divided in two parts, the essay will show how media is shaping public perception of senators McCain, in the first part, and Obama, in the second, and will show different views on major issues in their presidential campaigns with specification on the Iraq war, healthcare and the economy. 

 

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Russian Democracy

Russia has found itself in a difficult period of redefinition of its status and identity. The process of redefining Russia’s identity has been troubling for the society at large and, in particular for the ruling elites. Indeed, much as been at stake in this redefinition process in terms of the self-esteem of the political leadership and reconstruction of the national spirit. The essay will critically evaluate Russian transition towards democracy in particular indicating its weaknesses.

Taking into consideration changes that occurred in Russia over the last decade, we may undoubtedly say that democratization did occur and electoral democracy did emerge. Even though the trajectory has continued in an antidemocratic direction for several years, especially lately, we also posit that the political system still retains some democratic features. Whether these democratic traits are significant enough to label Russia a democracy is debatable. I however would risk a statement that Russia has not made a successful transition to democracy. Furthermore, as I will try to prove later in the essay, even though Russia is not a dictatorship, it is certainly moving towards an autocratic direction.

Unfortunately two and a half millennia after Athens, democracy still remains a complex concept and a subject of debate for scholars and students all over the world. To assess whether country has made a democratic transition it is necessary to define what democracy is. Therefore, the starting point of the essay will be a definition of democracy and criteria that country should meet to be considered a democracy. The first part of the essay will also shortly explain different types of democracies. The second part will examine Russian transition to democracy taking into consideration: firstly – 10 democratic criteria initially created by Larry Diamond and secondly – some of the main democratic features: legitimate constitution, fair elections, role of political parties and freedom of media. 

 

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Failure of intelligence at 9/11

The first few years of the twenty-first century have witnessed a transformation in the role of secret intelligence in international politics. Intelligence and security issues are now more prominent than ever before in Western political discourse as well as the wider public consciousness. Public expectations of intelligence have never been greater, and these demands include much greater disclosure of hitherto secret knowledge. Much of this can be attributed to the shock of the terrorist attacks of September 11. These events drove home the vulnerability of Western societies and the importance of reliable intelligence on terrorist threats (Scott and Jackson, 2004). For the sake of the arguments and understanding failure of intelligence I will focus my essay mostly on the US intelligence structure particularly stressing role of the CIA. As the dust from the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was still settling, the chants began: The CIA was asleep at the switch! The intelligence system is broken! Reorganize from top to bottom! (Hoge and Rose, 2001) The biggest intelligence system in the world spending upward of $30 billion a year could not prevent a group of fanatics from carrying out devastating attacks. The question: what the intelligence services have to change to fight this war? The short answer is: almost everything.

As Charles Cogan states (Scott and Jackson, 2004), we face the greatest threat to our homeland in the history, following on the greatest humiliation in our history: 3,000 people killed by 19 Arab terrorists with box cutters whose sponsors had repeatedly told the world over the previous years that they were going to carry out an attack. Without the shadow of a doubt, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11 involved the worst intelligence failure since Pearl Harbor in 1941. In this essay, I will argue that it was a failure at all phases of intelligence cycle, starting from the setting of priorities and tasking , through the wide range of collection activities, to the analytical assessment and dissemination process which should have provided some warning of the event. At the same time I will propose solutions as to how the intelligence system can be improved to work efficiently.

The first part of the essay will critically evaluate – as far as I’m concerned – two biggest issues that had a major influence on intelligence failure before 9/11. That is: decentralization of intelligence agencies along with their politicization and indecisiveness and lack of cooperation both internally and externally, or in other words – within and outside the US. Following paragraphs will be mainly focused on changing existing concept of intelligence and will provide examples of failures and solutions to specific aspects such as stereotyping terrorists, easy processes of obtaining visa, role of Human Intelligence and so on.

 

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Critical assessment of SAPs

Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) are economic policies which countries must follow in order to qualify for new World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans and help them make debt repayments on the older debts owed to commercial banks, governments and the World Bank. Although SAPs are designed for individual countries but have common guiding principles and features which include export-led growth, privatization and liberalization and the efficiency of the free market.

The essay questions whether the adjustment policies are consistent with long-term development needs. To answer this question we can take a look on the subject within two dimensions: first is the issue of whether introduced policies succeeded to restore non-crisis conditions, in terms of the balance of payments and the domestic economy so that growth of investment, public expenditure and imports can be resumed without causing a critical foreign exchange shortage. Secondly, there is a question of whether the policies moved countries towards an appropriate structure for long-term development objectives. (G.A. Cornia and G.K. Helleiner, 1994)

Despite considerable controversy over the issue of Structural Adjustment Programmes, the evidence suggest that the policies are not succeeding in restoring viable conditions and do not help poor and indebted countries to restore normal economical and political order. Over 15 years since its inception, the Third World debt crisis remains unsolved. The fiscal deficit continued to be large. Debt continued to accumulate. Current account deficit remained very large. Therefore in my opinion, term “short term pain for long term gain” is highly inappropriate.

In the first part of the essay, short theoretical explanation of SAPs failure will be examined. The next paragraph will show the effects of three random policies introduced in SA programmes: Trade Liberalization, Liberalization of Financial sector and reform of labour market. Next paragraph will examine the outcomes of adjustment policies in both: Latin America and Africa proving their inadequacy.

 

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