Berkley Center

In this piece, Vish Sakthivel writes about how U.S. foreign policy shapes Islamist contention, using the example of Algeria.

Ansgar Jödicke argues that as Iran and Turkey do not by and large wield hard power in the South Caucasus, their policies fall largely under the category of soft power, and that specific conditions are key to understand how religiously based soft power operates in the region.

Alix Philippon writes that Sufism has been brought to the fore in U.S. policymaking circles as an ideological bulwark against extremism. She argues that the idealization of the category of Sufism in public policy might have serious counterproductive effects as far as curbing violence is concerned.