Students: Online Resources

Useful websites for the study of Islam and politics

1. Dataset of electoral participation by Islamic parties

http://kurzman.unc.edu/islamic-parties
Prof. Charles Kurzman (University of North Carolina) maintains a dataset covering the participation of Islamic parties in parliamentary elections since 1970.

2. The World Values Survey (WVS)

www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSOnline.jsp
The WVS seeks to help scientists and policy-makers understand changes in the beliefs, values, and motivations of people throughout the world. Thousands of political scientists, sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, and economists have used these data to analyze such topics as economic development, democratization, religion, gender equality, social capital, and subjective well-being. These data have also been widely used by government officials, journalists and students, and groups at the World Bank have analyzed the linkages between cultural factors and economic development.

3. Survey studies focused on Islam & Muslims by the Pew Research Center

www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-overview
Overwhelming percentages of Muslims in many countries want Islamic law (sharia) to be the official law of the land, according to a worldwide survey by the Pew Research Center. But many supporters of sharia say it should apply only to their country’s Muslim population. Moreover, Muslims are not equally comfortable with all aspects of sharia: while most favor using religious law in family and property disputes, fewer support the application of severe punishments—such as whippings or cutting off hands—in criminal cases. The survey also shows that Muslims differ widely in how they interpret certain aspects of sharia, including whether divorce and family planning are morally acceptable.

www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-beliefs-about-sharia
According to the survey findings, most Muslims believe sharia is the revealed word of God rather than a body of law developed by men based on the word of God. Muslims also tend to believe sharia has only one, true understanding, but this opinion is far from universal; in some countries, substantial minorities of Muslims believe sharia should be open to multiple interpretations.

www.pewforum.org/2013/06/11/iranians-views-mixed-on-political-role-for-religious-figures
As Iranians prepare to elect a new president on June 14, a survey by the Pew Research Center shows that just 40 percent think religious figures should play a large role in politics. An additional 26 percent of Iranians say religious figures should have some influence in political matters, while three in 10 believe they should have little or no influence.

www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/03/19/religious-police-found-in-nearly-one-in-ten-countries-worldwide
As of 2012, at least 17 nations (9 percent worldwide) have police that enforce religious norms, according to a new Pew Research analysis of 2012 data. These actions are particularly common in the Middle East and North Africa, where roughly one-third of countries (35 percent) have police enforcing religious norms.

www.pewglobal.org/2013/09/10/muslim-publics-share-concerns-about-extremist-groups
More than two years after the death of Osama bin Laden, concern about Islamic extremism remains widespread among Muslims from South Asia to the Middle East to sub-Saharan Africa. Across 11 Muslim publics surveyed by the Pew Research Center, a median of 67 percent say they are somewhat or very concerned about Islamic extremism. In five countries—Pakistan, Jordan, Tunisia, Turkey, and Indonesia—Muslim worries about extremism have increased in the past year. Against this backdrop, extremist groups, including Al-Qaeda, garner little popular support.

www.pewforum.org/2010/09/15/muslim-networks-and-movements-in-western-europe-muslim-brotherhood-and-jamaat-i-islami
The Muslim Brotherhood and Jama’at-i Islami are separate movements that tend to draw the bulk of their members from different ethnic groups (Arabs and South Asians, respectively). Nevertheless, both groups are rooted in a political ideology, frequently described as “Islamist,” that calls for the establishment of a distinctly Islamic system of government.

4. The Mapping Militants Project (Stanford University)

http://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin
The Mapping Militants Project identifies patterns in the evolution of militant organizations in specified conflict theatres and provides interactive visual representations of these relationships. Relationships are traced in interactive maps, which provide visual representations of how those relationships change over time. The maps are also linked to profiles, which compile open-source news and data on militant organizations to provide a comprehensive, fully cited report on each group.