Speaker(s): John Sidel | Today’s on-going conflicts in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere and recurring terrorist incidents have helped to reproduce and reinforce the conventional wisdom about Islam as an increasingly powerful force in world politics. In this lecture, by contrast, Professor John Sidel suggests a contrary – and contrarian – perspective: that the apparent increase in violence is a reflection more of the diminishing strength and solidity of Islam as a collective basis for social identity and political unity.