Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

Democracy assistance still on the agenda

In this respect at least, public opinion seems to chime with the positions of both presidential campaigns. As president of the International Republican Institute, John McCain has long been committed to democracy promotion. Similarly, as analyst Amy Zegart notes, Barack Obama also “advocates democratization, the spreading of American values and American moral leadership”, albeit through a “kinder, gentler freedom agenda, but a freedom agenda nonetheless.” His leading foreign-policy advi..

Democracy assistance - new world, new challenges

Timothy Garton Ash is similarly troubled by the challenge of authoritarian capitalism, or capitalist authoritarianism - “the biggest potential ideological competitor to liberal democratic capitalism since the end of communism” - which, unlike radical Islamism, has a potential mass appeal because, as the opening of the Beijing Olympics vividly demonstrated, it can “plausibly claim to be associated with economic, technological and cultural modernity.” ..

Egypt: regime targets activists, NGOs

Islamist NGOs tend to be more effective than their secular counterparts, yet tend to be excluded from external funding. “The result is two categories of organizations, she notes, “secular ones with limited effectiveness, a weak social base, and access to outside aid; and Islamist ones with greater efficiency, a stronger social base, and no outside aid.” The two groups rarely cooperate and thus are unable to act as a catalyst for pressuring the government. ..

Digital democracy: women activists making IT their own

New paradigms of democratic solidarity are emerging as a result of new technology, a meeting at the National Endowment for Democracy heard today. Information technologies, from Facebook to Wiki, are changing the face of democracy activism, allowing more participatory, dialog-based approaches to cross-border work, women’s ..

Turkey’s AKP escapes ban, tensions disguise ‘Islamo-secular convergence’

Turkey’s ruling AK Party will not be banned, the head of the Constitutional Court decided today. But the party will be denied state funding. There had been speculation that Turkey’s highest court could decide as soon as today whether to ban the ruling AK Party following the public prosecutor’s charges that the party is undermining the secular constitution..

Islamists gain from Mideast turmoil and democratic deficit

The Arab world is “a juxtaposition of many ideologies, identities, and governance Systems,” a new report from the Henry L. Stimson Center suggests. To understand current political trends it is essential to employ “a multi-level analysis that encompasses the wide range of identities and ideologies, from personal and tribal identity to concepts of statehood and nationhood.”..

Egypt’s bloggers and labor activists make common cause

Over a dozen Egyptian “Facebook activists” were arrested last week, as authorities continued to suppress a network resulting from a recent textile workers’ strike. ..

Egypt’s Brotherhood: Hard Line Platform Belies Reformist Veneer

A controversial draft platform from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is prompting a rethink amongst advocates of engaging the Islamist movement. Women and non-Muslims would be barred from becoming president and a Majlis Ulama, akin to Iran’s Council of Guardians, would have the final say on legislation, according to the draft. The platform proposes that "every article" of Egypt’s constitution be revised to replace civil law with sharia in "material, spiritual, financial, economic, psychologi..