The Americans and other mediators are trying to bring together the conflicting parties in Sudan, Libya, Palestine, and other countries. In fact, we have long complained about the interventions and formation of militias in several countries, to seize and weaken the authorities. However, in the cases of Sudan and Libya, the usual party cannot be accused of forming militias. Thus, we must start from another place: the file of the nation state, and why it has been affected by the cracks in several Arab countries. In 5 or 6 countries, militias were formed alongside the armies or the armies formed them, then they resisted them and the states, and established relations and resources internally. Because the experience was repeated in several countries, it can no longer be explained by the weakness of political will or existing structures. In fact, in one country, the military administration was the one that supported the establishment of a militia to fight the rebels against it, and then here it is clashing with it ten years later and is unable to subdue it. What I mean is that there are several reasons for the emergence of armed militias alongside armies and political administrations. It is therefore a matter of the phenomenon of cracking in the experience of the nation state.
It is a file that we should not stop researching, questioning and thinking about critically, to correct or renew the experience of the nation-state. The second file is the file of international relations. The international system has shown major cracks, and due to division, it has become unable to make decisions and enforce them in the Security Council, nor in talks between major countries. The Arab and Islamic countries that used to complain about dependence on this or that international party, no longer accept or want that: How can interests be preserved without allies or friends? Then, what is the interest that has priority now in this enormous turmoil of international relations? The file of international relations, analysis, reconstruction and identification of the appropriate or possible place in it is the second file, if the expression is correct, for thinking and planning if possible, and contemplating possible and effective policies.
The third file, which is also dangerous, is the file of following the rapid developments in the world of Islam, and relations with the public in the shadow of war, as well as relations with the world that is suspicious of the new movements called political Islam movements. Whenever we think that the tension created by extremists has subsided or diminished, a crisis or war erupts and enthusiasts and professionals rush to ignite the fires in the name of Islam. This phenomenon or phenomena have been going on for several decades, turning the emotional and idealistic forces in religion into tools in the hands of extremists. These are things that can no longer be tolerated by states, thinkers, or religious institutions.
Therefore, there must be mixed research teams to study the phenomena, and not to limit themselves to the issue of renewing religious discourse. In any case, most of what is new is tension, stress, risks, and suicidal or opportunistic adventures.
There are three files, then: the file of the critical review of the experience of the nation-state in all its dimensions, from the side of politicians and thinkers. The second file is the file of international relations and the problems of the global system, to clarify interests and estimate expectations. As for the third file, it is the file of the religious phenomenon in its tensions and its exhaustion of states, societies and the world.
*Professor of Islamic Studies – Mohammed bin Zayed University for Humanities.
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