Has the ‘Ground Zero’ Mosque given Republicans a cultural issue to clobber Democrats with in the coming election? No. I doubt this will be a defining issue in the midterms or 2012 presidential election. The economy by far remains the dominant political narrative. If and when the Republicans do well in November, it will because of the economy. There’s a fair amount of research to show that the economy (or the rate of improvement/slowdown thereof) has a significant electoral effect. And the economy looks like it’s going through a post recovery slowdown, so that bodes even worse for democrats. And the situation looks really bad for democrats: FiveThirtyEight shows that polls even 200 days before an election are a good predictor of election outcomes.
Continue Reading... That Mosque Issue…
That Mosque Issue…
Dreaming of a World without Interest
When historians sit down to write the history of this decade, they will pay great attention to the global financial crisis of 2008. The prosperity of the preceding decades came to naught. Fuelled by debt, excess risk-taking and greed, unfettered global capitalism died the day Lehman Brothers fell and we all came to bear the immense burden of over-borrowing and greedy risk-taking. However, one aspect of finance stands alone claiming victory amidst the rubble. Based on the now saintly principles of shared risk and avoiding debt, Islamic finance is now yelling ‘I told you so!’, to all those left to listen. But Islamic finance seeks a fundamental shift in the way we do business; it wants to make banking and finance interest-free.
The Abrahamic religions hold usury as immoral and as an especially heinous kind of sin. While usury is usually defined as excessive interest, Islamic finance seeks to completely eradicate the concept of interest from finance. In this effort, religious scholars have compiled a set of compelling arguments that appeal to both disillusioned financiers and anti-corporatism intellectuals.
According to Paul Mills, author of Islamic Finance: Theory and Practice
Continue Reading... Dreaming of a World without Interest
Iran’s Foundation: The Vilayat-e-Faqih Doctrine
Iran’s current system represents the culmination of centuries of religious thought and a turbulent political history
Iran attempts to balance popular sovereignty with divine authority (1). Iran’s constituion was designed to give more power to its theocratic element. But over time, this element has accumulated much more power and has come to dominate Iran’s democratic institutions. This trend has created an enduring tension within the country – tension that came to a head last month over claims of electoral fraud. Now, the political crisis has progressed into a new phase where the very legitimacy of the system itself is in question. Specifically, the foundation of its theocratic element is being reexamined.
While theories of popular sovereignty and democracy have been studied well, the basis of Iran’s theocracy has not; it is the Vilayat-e-Faqih doctrine (VEF). To understand VEF, we must go back to the very beginnings of Islam and the original Sunni-Shia divide.
Continue Reading... Iran’s Foundation: The Vilayat-e-Faqih Doctrine
