Research of Arab contemporary topics of religion, politics, and media is extensive and engages with diverse Islamic and Middle Eastern issues of the last hundred years, starting with the abolition of the caliphate in the first quarter of the twentieth century and on to present times. These issues include shifts in Islam’s standing in the states of the region, Islamic political thinking, conceptual streams in modern Islam, religion-state relations, the rise and fall of the Arab Spring, the power and impact of traditional and new media (including online and social media), antisemitism, the relations of Israel with its neighboring countries, and more. All of these we study through reading relevant texts in Arabic and comprehending their political-social context.
