Arab Region Archives

Dossiers

Arab Region

America’s embarassing retreat from its “longest war” in Afghanistan has damaged so heavily its international credibility, that the questions being asked this month by world governments – as well as non-State actors and movements – may well redefine their strategies for years to come. Here’s a first comparative glance.

International Affairs, Political Theory
French Laïcité, Freedom of Speech and the Return of the Islamist Threat

The terrorist murder of French professor Samuel Paty in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in autumn 2020 has re-opened a heated debate concerning the liberty of teaching, freedom of expression, and the role of secularism in a pluralist society. What is the specific nature of French laïcité, and how has it changed over time since its juridical establishment in 1905? How does it compare with other Western approaches to secularism and, most critically, with Muslim perspectives on the matter? Why has this provoked a diplomatic dispute between France and Turkey, and more broadly the boycott of French products in many Muslim countries?
International Affairs, Society
The Square is Back

Contrary to all predictions of an era dominated by digital agorà, especially for the youngsters, the square is back as the primary place and instrument of protest. A comparative enquiry.
Society
The Trust State: A Theoretical Debate Around a New Form of State in the Arab World

The Arab world has been debating the question of the form of the state for the last two centuries, and division as well as diversity in the debate is visible both theoretically as well as politically. The situation of turmoil in that part of the world testifies to the vitality and disagreements on the future of such a state.
Society
Tunisia’s Transition

Six years after the 2010-2011 uprising, the so-called Arab Spring, that started in Tunisia and spread across the Arab region, the country is actually going through a difficult phase of transition to democracy. In our dossier we focus on three aspects: the political one with an analysis of Al-Nahda’s political evolution (Longo), the economical recovery (EL Houssi) and the lasting social tensions (Mbarek).
International Affairs
The Rise of Illiberal Trends

From India to Russia, the world is experiencing a new rise of illiberal trends and the return of strongmen. Reset DOC ‘s articles try to analyze this ongoing process and its actors.
Philosophy
Al-Azm: the awakening of critique from within Muslim theology

Sadiq Jalal al-Azm was born in Damasus in 1934 and died in Berlin on December 11th 2016 following a battle will illness. He was one of the most prominent and influential Muslim philosophers and thinkers of the last century. His books, articles and essays inspired a whole generation of liberal scholars, “good liberals”, as defined by Mohammed Hashas, that are not blind to external hegemony and internal state oppression. He has lived in changing societies and he continued to critically analyse them till the end, Reset Doc have had the honor to publish some of his thoughts and to host him as a speaker at the Istanbul Seminars in 2010. In this dossier we present both new analysis and testimonies from our archive of his work.