This week we continued to release memos from our Islam and International Order series:
Amitav Acharya of American University examines how Samuel Huntington’s clash of civilizations thesis and Francis Fukuyama’s end of history thesis, the two big ideas of the post-Cold War era failed;
Bruce B. Lawrence of Duke University reviews “Iranian Identity and Cosmopolitanism: Spheres of Belonging, Suspensions,” and critiques its take on Iranian identity at home and abroad;
Muqtedar Khan of the University of Delaware suggests five reforms for the Muslim Brotherhood in light of recent events in Egypt and the region; and
Jocelyne Cesari of the University of Birmingham and Georgetown University shows why ISIS is not all of political Islam and what it means for democracy.
Also on the Monkey Cage this week:
POMEPS director Marc Lynch compares the dilemmas of working with Iraqi militias from the Bush administration’s cooperation with Sunni militias during the 2007-08 surge to the Obama administration’s less direct cooperation with Iranian-supported Shiite militias in the fight against the Islamic State today;
Laurie Brand of the University of Southern California looks at how the use of a new Jordanian flag challenges ISIS and demonstrates the regime’s shifting priorities; and
Marc Lynch examines how leaked Saudi documents might really matter for current and future regional politics.
For context on today’s mosque bombing in Kuwait City, revisit Madeleine Wells’s article on sectarianism and authoritarianism in Kuwait, Toby Matthiesen’s piece on sectarianism after the Saudi mosque bombings and our collection of relevant background reading.