Political and Religious Issues in the Contemporary Arab World

The real unrest in the Arab world is a result of severe political problems, some of which have occasionally escalated into tense and unwinnable military scenarios. A religious component appears to be significant among all the causes of these crises, in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. In contrast, in Southeast Asia, political disputes have mostly been resolved by discussions and accords, i.e., through pragmatism and at a distance from sectarian differences, even though authoritarianism still rules in many areas, with occasional outliers like the Rohingya tragedy in Myanmar. The comparison between these two regions, with a particular emphasis on the Arab world, is intriguing when there is an attempt to gauge the role of religion, that is Islam, in the political domain, even though the picture is not entirely clear. At appropriate points, this study will compare Southeast Asia to the entire Arab world. From a novel theoretical perspective, the analysis will attempt to relate religious-cultural processes to social-political events by looking into the potential connections between Islam in the Arab world and violence. Traditions, sectarianism, social homogeneity, external variables, etc., all require analysis since they may promote peaceful political transitions or, conversely, violence and anarchy, depending on the situation.