Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Islamism and Political mobilization

Four new DIIS papers, edited by Manni Crone and Mona Sheikh, grapple with the question of how to understand the relationship between religion and violence. The four most recent contributions are now published.

Don Rassler from the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point contributes with the paper ‘How does Religion Matter for al Qaeda and the Taliban?’ which provides insights into the question of the role religion plays for the Taliban and al-Qaida in the Afghanistan and Pakistan region and highlights some of the challenges researchers face in studying this issue.

In ‘Sectarianism and Conflict: the View from Pakistan’, Shehryar Fazli, Senior Analyst at the International Crisis Group, Pakistan, uses Pakistan’s experience with religious violence, given the country’s centrality in the global discussion on terrorism, radicalisation and extremism, to illustrate the shape that this kind of violence assumes, and the urgent tasks for often fragile governments confronting it.

Stephane Lacroix, Asssistant Professor at Sciences Po, looks in his paper ‘Islamism and Religious Authority’ at both peaceful and violent strands of Sunni Islamism and the different political and societal causes of their respective popularity, as well as the theological basis for their disagreements with the ulama.

Stig Jarle Hansen, Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, exemplifies in ‘Religion and Violence in Different Versions’ a few of the many faces that religion, and the processes of political mobilization based upon it, may have.

Earlier titles published in this series include:
Joshua T. White: Understanding the Taliban: Assessing Religious Categories of Analysis
Max Taylor: Conflict Resolution and Counter Radicalization: Where do we go from here?
Pauletta Otis: Religion and Violence. Relearning the fundamentals

The Religion and Violence papers are based on the presentations given at the international conference “Ten years after 9/11: What did we learn about religion?” hosted by DIIS 22-23 September 2011. The conference was organized by the Centre for Advanced Security Theory at the University of Copenhagen and the Danish Institute for International Studies.