Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Bethesda, Maryland A native of Pakistan who served as his country’s high commissioner to Great Britain, Akbar Ahmed offers the unique perspective of an anthropologist who has lived in and studied both Islamic and Western cultures. The BBC has described him as “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam.” He is the principal investigator for […]
Summary of Findings The public is paying a great deal of attention to major overseas events – the reported terrorist plot against U.S. trans-Atlantic jet liners, the war in Lebanon, as well as the ongoing violence in Iraq. However, there is little indication that these dramatic stories have materially changed public attitudes. Worries about another […]
Is France Doing a Better Job of Integration than Its Critics?
Summary of Findings Most Americans believe that Iran wants to possess nuclear technology in order to develop nuclear weapons, not energy. But there is broad public opposition to launching U.S. air strikes against military targets in Iran, with multilateral sanctions by far the preferred option approach for dealing with the situation. More than eight-in-ten Americans […]
Washington, D.C. For much of the 20th century, social scientists and policymakers argued that democratization and modernity would render religion insignificant and irrelevant. They were wrong, says Timothy Shah, senior Pew Forum fellow in religion and world affairs, who contends religion is booming in many countries and democracy has given religious leaders a growing political […]
Public attentiveness to major global events and issues is typically higher in major industrialized countries than in less developed countries. But awareness of news developments varies widely, by country and by issue. The German public consistently expresses broad familiarity with events and issues. While attention to reports of abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo is […]
Summary of Findings Americans are now more positive about the way things are going in Iraq than in the past few months, following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and President Bush’s brief visit to the country. Optimism about the U.S. achieving its goals in Iraq, which sagged in the spring, has rebounded. But this […]
Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts A reviewer of political scientist Samuel P. Huntington’s first book compared him unfavorably to Mussolini. A reviewer of his 19th and latest book dubbed him “Patrick Buchanan with footnotes.” But those reactions were mild compared with the controversy over the international political paradigm advanced in Huntington’s most influential book, The Clash of […]
Remarks of Andrew Kohut to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing