Joseph Alagha Joseph Alagha is a professor of Political Science at Haigazian University, Beirut, Lebanon. He is the author of Hizbullah’s DNA and the Arab Spring (2013); Hizbullah’s Identity Construction (2011), Hizbullah’s Documents (2011), and The Shifts in Hizbullah’s Ideology (2006). Alagha is a prolific writer on Islamic movements and the democratisation and liberalisation processes in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). His current research deals with political mobilisation and the performing arts in the MENA region. Abdullah Al-Arian Abdullah Al-Arian is an assistant professor of History at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar. In 2014…

Political Islam: Conceptualising power between 'Islamic states' and Muslim social movements Conference programme The Muslim, and especially the Arab, world has, since the 2011 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) uprisings, experienced a series of tumultuous events. These events are likely to leave an indelible mark on the pages of Islamic, Middle Eastern, and world history. The massive changes in the region began with the initial uprisings in 2011 that led to the downfall of ‘presidents for life’ in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen, and included the rise of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. The group aims…