Maghreb
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The Arab world
Arabic: the last tie that binds
In terms of politics, economics, religion and culture, the paths of the Arab states diverge. The once proclaimed unity between them has been consigned to the history books. Only one thing still binds them together: the Arabic language. By Kersten Knipp
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Victims of the Tunisian Revolution
The slow and painful search for the truth
Three years have passed since Tunisians took to the streets in protest against their ruler, Ben Ali. The country is now slowly moving towards democracy, but the victims of those early revolutionary days are still waiting for justice. Hopes that the truth will come to light and that relatives will discover who killed and injured their loved ones during the unrest are diminishing by the day. By Sarah Mersch
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Third anniversary of the revolution in Libya
Nothing to celebrate
Three years have passed since the overthrow of Muammar al-Gaddafi. Yet despite celebrations to mark the event and the election of a 60-member national assembly to draw up Libya's new constitution, prospects for a more stable future look grim: the people have largely lost faith in the country's deeply divided parliament. By Valerie Stocker in Tripoli
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Social media and the Arab Spring in Tunisia
Not as soft as jasmine
Social media did not topple Tunisia's dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, but they certainly played an important role. According to the Tunisian blogger Aya Chebbi, cyber activism is now an important tool for democratisation in this North African country
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Interview with writer Kathleen Göbel
Symbols of human strength and weakness
The Islamic tradition is rich in stories about animals. Kathleen Göbel has published a collection of fantastical tales, parables and stories of wisdom with entertainment value for both young and old. Suleman Taufiq spoke to the Islam scholar and writer about her book
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Boualem Sansal's essay on Islamisation
Fighting Islamists with conspiracy theories
Bitter disappointment at the outcome of the Arab Spring oozes from every page of "Allahs Narren. Wie der Islamismus die Welt erobert" (Allah's Fools. How Islamism is Conquering the World) by the Algerian writer and winner of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade Boualem Sansal. Joseph Croitoru read the polemic work
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Global history
Playing with the relativity of perspectives
A new six-volume work entitled "A History of the World" is the high point of a historiographical boom in the discipline known as "global history". The project attempts to overcome the eurocentrism of traditional writings of history. By Andreas Pflitsch
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Three years after the Arab uprisings
Tyranny has gone unpunished
The revolutions that swept across the Arab world in 2011 could have failed for any number of reasons. However, the fact that their consequences now threaten to drag entire nations into chaos and rehabilitate tyrannous rulers three years after they were unceremoniously ousted is almost worse than if there had been no uprisings in the first place. By Günther Orth
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Interview with Hélé Béji
"Ennahda has an unbelievable capacity to adjust"
Hélé Béji is an independent Tunisian writer and literary scholar. She is related to Habib Bourguiba, the founder of the Tunisian republic and its first president, and is part of a rather progressive intellectual scene. Béji has been watching the Islamists closely since they took power two years ago and is one of the few people who considers Ennahda capable of learning and becoming a major democratic people's party. Christina Omlin spoke to her about recent developments in Tunisia
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Tunisia three years after the Jasmine Revolution
Learning how to deal with freedom
Three years after the overthrow of President Ben Ali, Tunisians are still waiting for their new constitution. Quite a few empty promises have been made since 2011, but there has also been some progress. By Ute Schaeffer in Tunis
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Georges Corm on the conflicts in the Arab world
Forget religion!
In his new book, the Lebanese historian Georges Corm criticises the tendency in the West to see the conflicts in the Arab world almost exclusively in a religious context. In reality, he says, the struggles in the states of the Arab Spring are for the fair distribution of economic power and democratic participation. By Kersten Knipp
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Tunisia and the European Union
Last chance
The Arab Spring seems to be over, but democracy could yet prevail in Tunisia. The EU should promise privileged trade relations on the condition that the country does not return to authoritarian rule. By Markus Loewe