Michael Karlberg, associate professor of communications at Western Washington University, is the author of Beyond the Culture of Contest, which includes an examination of the Bahá’í system of governance.

Arash Abizadeh, an assistant professor of political science at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, has written on the topic of governance in the Bahá’í faith. His research focuses on democratic theory.

The Bahá’í site has resources on the topic of governance.

M. Hakan Yavuz is an assistant professor in the political science department at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He has written about Islamic movements in Turkey and Kurdish nationalism in Turkey.

Joel Gordon is a history professor at the University of Arkansas. He is an expert on religion and politics in the Arab world.

Andrew March is an assistant professor of political science at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. He is at work on a book about Islam and citizenship in liberal democracies and is an expert on Islam and democracy.

Stephen Schwartz is executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, which says it promotes moderate Muslim views. Schwartz has taken credit for coining or popularizing the term.

The Rev. Patrick Howell is vice president for mission and ministry at the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University. He co-edited the book Empowering Authority: The Charisms of Episcopacy and Primacy in the Church Today. He has frequently written about Pope Benedict XVI for the Seattle Times.

Hussein Rashid is a visiting professor of Islam at the religion department at Hofstra University and a prolific blogger and commentator on Islam in America. He has written about Islamophobia, for example in this June 3, 2009, column for the website Religion Dispatches.