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an ideal community, not away from it. Such ideas of revival or imminent salvation have given the Shia sect a messianic and emotional quality that is not enjoyed by the traditionally more sober Sunnis. Shia Islam has also traditionally been more political than Sunni Islam. It has proved especially attractive to the poor and the downtrodden, for whom the re-emergence of divine wisdom into the world has represented the purification of society, the overthrow of injustice and liberation from oppression. The politico-religious propensities of Shia Islam were particularly clearly illustrated by the popular demonstrations that in Iran precipitated the overthrow of the Shah and prepared the way for the creation of an Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Khomeini. The Iranian’s system of government is a complex mix of theocracy and democracy. The Supreme Leader (currently Ali Khamenei) presides over a system of institutionalized clerical rule that operates through the Islamic Revolutionary Council, a body of 15 senior clerics. Although a popular elected president (currently Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatic conservative) and parliament have been established, all legislation is ratified by the Council for the Protection of the Constitution, which ensures conformity to Islamic principles. Sharia law continues to be strictly enforced throughout Iran as both a legal and moral code. Iran is engaged in a regional power struggle with Saudi Arabia, which increasingly threatens to divide the Middle East on Sunni/Shia lines, its standing being bolstered by its association with groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and its influence over Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Moderate or conservative Islamism Not all forms of Islamism are militant and revolutionary, however. Although much confusion surrounds the idea of ‘moderate’ (as opposed to ‘radical’) Islamism, there is a school of Islamist thought that is distinguished by the attempt to reconcile political Islam with democratic elections andparty pluralism.The issue of democracy has beenparticularly problematic in this respect, since it appears to place popular sovereignty ahead of the will of God, a possibility that has encouragedmost democratic Islamists to insist those core Islamicprinciples are entrenched in constitutional law. Political developments in modern Turkey provide a particularly telling exampleof the relationshipbetweenIslamismanddemocracy in the sphereof practical politics. This is because tensions have existed between the military, committed to the strict secular principles on which the state of Turkey was established, and a growing Islamist movement. The Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has been in power since 2003, attempts to balance a moderate conservative politics based on Islamic values with an acceptance of Turkey’s secular democratic framework. Critics have nevertheless warned the AKP plans to overturn the secular nature of the Turkish state, possibly establishing any Iranian-style Islamic republic through a process of ‘Islamification’. In 2016, deepening tension between elements in the military and the AKP government headed by President Tayyip Erdogan resulted in a failed coup. In the aftermath of the coup, over 4,000 institutions were shut down and tens of thousands of public servants were removed, as the Erdogan government solidified its control over the police, the military, the judiciary, the media and the education system. Christian fundamentalism Although all Christians acknowledge the authority of the Bible, three main divisions have emerged: the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches. Roman Catholicism is based on the temporal and spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome, seen as unchallengeable since the promulgation of the doctrine of papal infallibility in 1871. Eastern Orthodox
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