Despite today’s gridlock, there are grounds for hope in the widespread embrace of democratic ideals by young people.
About the Author
Ramin Jahanbegloo is head of the Department of Research on Contemporary Thought at the Cultural Research Bureau in Tehran. His books include Conversations with Isaiah Berlin (1991), Gandhi: Aux sources de la nonviolence (1998), and Iran and Modernity (2000). During 2001–2002 he was a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the International Forum for Democratic Studies in Washington, D.C.
Whether ethnic, sectarian, or some combination of the two, communalsim is one of the massive realities of Middle Eastern life and politics. It is usually seen as an obstacle to…