Authority without Territory

"The Ismaili imamate's in the 21st century is particularly characterized by a shift in authority and its style of leadership. This shift is specifically embodied in the institutionalization of the office of imamate, most visibly reflected in the activities of the Aga Khan Development Network, a bifocal leadership of the Imam, which focuses on both the faith and the world without abandoning or downplaying one for the sake of the other. The Ismaili imamate and Community have been decoupled from territorial nation-state and they are not defined or directed by nationalistic or narrow…