This is a personal account of a mediation or conflict resolution project (2005–2013), funded by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (Political Division IV) in which the author took part as an adviser. The aim of this exercise in "track two diplomacy" was to help remove unjustified obstacles from Islamic charities. It did not succeed in surmounting all the challenges it faced, partly as a result of political turbulence in the post 9/11 years. In particular, not enough trust was generated between the US Treasury and the charities of the Gulf states to facilitate mediation. The chapter concludes, however, by forecasting that future efforts of a similar kind will be made to bring Islamic charities fully into the international aid system. Materially well-off Muslims have the resources to alleviate poverty and suffering, while the overseas aid budgets of the major Western nations are under pressure. Moreover, a "humanitarian vacuum" is created in complex zones of conflict such as Syria, when bona fide Islamic charities are absent for political reasons and the field is left open for extremist groups. The growth of research on Islamic charities will help give substance and credibility to future interventions.

This chapter, originally published in a law journal (the UCLA Journal of Near Eastern and Islamic Law), follows up the issue of the Palestinian zakat committees which was discussed in Chapter 5. It describes a civil action launched in the US courts by the family of David Boim, a boy of seventeen, who was killed by Palestinians in a drive-by shooting in the West Bank in 1996. The family, being unable to sue either two alleged murderers or Hamas (as the presumed instigator of the attacks) sued the Holy Land Foundation on the grounds that it had remitted funds to zakat committees, held to be façades for Hamas. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit found in favour of the Boims, by a majority. The majority decision was written by Judge Richard Posner. The controversial principles in US law of "material support for terrorism" and "fungibility" (i.e. transferability) of assets are discussed here. It is argued that the Court did not give enough attention to making clear its commitment to fairness, while the minority opinion was unimpeachable.

This part of the book contains texts on the topic of political ideas and ideologies, translated from the original Hungarian by Adam Fabry: The crisis of our ideologides (Nézeteink válsága), The test of socialism (A szocializmus próbája), Law and violence (Jog és erőszak), Civil war (Polgárháború), Believing and unbelieving politics (Hivö és hitetlen politika), The constitution of socialist Britain (szocialista Nagybritánnia alkotmánya), H. G. Wells, the socialist (H. G. Wells, a szocialista), Karl Kautsky and democracy (Karl Kautsky és a demokrácia), Guild socialism, (A gildszocializmus), Guild and state (Gild és állam), and The historical background of the social revolutionaries (A szociálforradalmárok pörének történelmi háttere).

In this chapter we borrow concepts developed by economists, time-based ideas during the initial phases of a protracted struggle as a means of making ‘agitation’ ‘propaganda’; or armed groups may employ terrorism concurrently with other tactics throughout the course of the war. Thirdly, challengers may treat terrorism as a ‘trailing indicator’, useful following some tactical defeat.

The documents in this chapter describe the relations between Normandy and England and the Norman Conquest of 1066.

This chapter outlines the tradition of the epigram in the Classical, Medieval and Renaissance periods, with particular focus on the influence of Martial, Catullus, and the Greek Anthology. Despite the genre’s reputation for licentiousness and cynicism, it came to be used for a wide variety of subjects. However, a commitment to brevity and sharpness of wit distinguished the genre regardless of subject and was often noted by Renaissance theorists. The chapter also explores some more limited influences, such as the medieval proverbial epigram, on the Renaissance use of the genre.