Tag Archives: islam

Syria: A new destination for only al-Qaida’s Foreign Fighters?

Syria has become a magnet for foreign fighters coming from Iraq, the rebel forces of the Libyan city of Misrata, from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Lebanon. International media and many experts have attributed this massive affluence of foreign fighters to al-Qaida’s call on Muslims to join the Syrian revolution and fight against al-Assad’s regime. However, not all foreign fighters seem to be al-Qaida driven: another transnational Islamic democracy-based ideology is “recruiting” its combatants to help in the Syrian struggle.
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What drives Islamic suicide bombers?

From a Westerner’s point of view it seems nearly incomprehensible how someone can commit suicide in order to kill others. When planning suicide attacks, Islamic terrorists use religion to motivate volunteers by promising them Paradise filled with pleasure. The preparation of the volunteers is a carefully scrutinised process.
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EU democratization policy: less is more

The EU’s democratization policies in the southern Mediterranean and particularly in Egypt during the dictatorship have been severely criticized. However, this article aims to show that the political change achieved by the people of Egypt has many more possibilities to evolve into a democracy than it would have if the EU had been actively pursuing full democratic reforms.
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