PUBLICATIONS
AP Photo
March 13, 2012
"Afghanistan Atrocity Prompts Rethink of US Policy"
GlobalPost
By Aisha Ahmad, Former Research Fellow, Initiative on Religion in International Affairs/International Security Program, 2011–2012
"The great folly of this long-term plan is that propping up such a corrupt regime will necessarily generate insurgency. No Afghan will stay at home while local strongmen engage in rape, murder and extortion. Therefore, the international community's plan is to support a weak central government that is corrupt enough to incite rebellion against it, but strong enough to at least partially suppress that rebellion. In other words, the international community is on course to maintain a low-intensity civil war in Afghanistan, ad infinitum."
AP Photo
September 17, 2011
"The 'Glocalized' Roots of Religious Politics: Extremism from Below, Not Abroad"
The Huffington Post
By Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs
"What the Arab uprisings revealed is that today's people, in the Arab world assuredly but not only there, desire less a unified ideology around a single leader or leadership that touts triumphalism over some form of evil and more a system of governance that promotes accountability, transparency and protects every individual's needs and interests."
AP Photo
August 11, 2011
"The Dangers of Secularism in the Middle East"
Christian Science Monitor
By Daniel Philpott, Timothy Samuel Shah and Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs
"...[W]e find that religious groups are most likely to be peaceful and supportive of democracy when they live under regimes that respect their autonomy. Islamic countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mali, Senegal, and Turkey demonstrate that when Islamic parties participate in politics they not only operate by the rules of the democratic game but also, in time, become more moderate."
AP Photo
May 20, 2011
"God and Terror"
Public Discourse
By Timothy Samuel Shah, Daniel Philpott and Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs
"...[R]eligion has made a political comeback, abetted by globalization, democratization, and technological development. Those religious actors who are most closely integrated with state authority and who hold a political theology that calls for state sponsorship, the subordination of minorities, and the use of violence are most likely to be violent. Those who have remained independent of state authority and carry a political theology that prescribes democracy, peace, and reconciliation are most likely to be peaceful and democratic."
AP Photo
May 18, 2011
"God and Democratic Diplomacy"
Public Discourse
By Timothy Samuel Shah, Daniel Philpott and Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs
"Democracy, with its open debate and its popular control, was supposed to have exposed religion as a crutch for primitive people. Surprisingly, though, religion has profited precisely from the open debate and room to operate that democracy affords. The best squelchers of religion are, in fact, secular dictators."
AP Photo
May 16, 2011
"God and Political Science"
Public Discourse
By Timothy Samuel Shah, Daniel Philpott and Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs
"...[T]he success of these political enemies of God helped to make it seem that secularization was the wave of the future. They made it seem that religion was a dying supernova, enjoying its penultimate glow before disappearing from history. They made it easily forgivable to think of the 20th century as the 'Godless Century,' at least as far as politics was concerned, making it increasingly common to ask whether God was dead, as Time magazine famously did on its cover in April 1966. They made it possible to view religion as absolutely defenseless in the face of modernity."
AP Photo
April 17, 2011
"God's Partisans Are Back"
The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs, Daniel Philpott and Timothy Samuel Shah
"But if American foreign-policy makers want to promote democracy and stability, they must come to realize that secularism is a poor analytical tool. The great surprise of the past generation has been the resurgence of religion's influence. Despite a powerful array of secularizing regimes, ideologies, and social trends, religion has not only outlasted its most ferocious 20th-century rivals, but in many cases, it also appears poised to supplant them. The Brotherhood is a perfect example: An organization that survived decades of harsh repression is now in a position to wield considerable influence in Egypt."
AP Photo
April 6, 2011
"Does the U.S. Have a Responsibility to Protect the Libyan People?"
The Huffington Post
By Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs
"...[T]he question that should have stopped the intervention in the first place: Are there reasonable prospects for success? Or might the use of force produce more harm than good?"
AP Photo
December 22, 2010
"Working Toward a Russia For All"
Moscow Times
By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs
The show of force by ultranationalists across Russia should serve as a wake-up call for the authorities, write Simon Saradzhyan, a Belfer Center research fellow, and Monica Duffy Toft, associate professor of public policy. "While [the authorities] took some steps over the past few years to dismantle violent ultranationalist groups, more needs to be done — and soon," they argue.
AP Photo
December 16, 2010
"Is Africa Losing its Taste for Democracy?"
The Huffington Post
By John F. McCauley, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program/Initiative on Religion in International Affairs, 2010–2011
"The wave of democracy that swept across sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s rested largely on promises of favorable loan conditions and peace-driven prosperity, but the dividends to leaders themselves proved to be only temporary. What is more, the process of democratization in Africa often included reforms of the political party system and elections, yet institutions to constrain the power of political leaders in an environment accustomed to "Big Man" rule never fully materialized. Thus, with notable exception in places like Ghana, the incentive to remain in office at all costs once again appears greater to many African leaders than do the incentives to relinquish power peacefully. At worst, those leaders calculate, international observers will justifiably accept a power-sharing arrangement to avert potential violence."
