Another sign of Islam's strengthening grip is the turn towards stricter censorship of books, films and entertainment in one or two countries, again led by Egypt, which had seemed to be growing freer.
Robinson has always understood how women throughout history have contrived to exert power within even the strictest patriarchies, behind closed doors — "the Kegel grip of uterine law," he calls it in "Blue Mars".
Fears are growing for residents in northern Mali as separatist rebel fighters tighten their grip on key strategic towns, imposing strict Islamic rule.
As for her mother, she'd been a strict Presbyterian with a mouth like a vise grip, who despised poetry and was unlikely to have been influenced by anything softer than a granite wall.
However, thanks to strict capital controls, the bank will retain its tight grip on the yuan.
A number of Saudis are pushing for religion to have less of a grip on the public sphere, the results of which are strict laws on blasphemy and a ban on cinemas.
Florida adopted stricter gun control measures earlier this month, despite the NRA's strong grip on the state legislature.
Pointlessly strict secrecy rules lock up official foreign-affairs documents for good.Some even wonder how much of a grip the national government in Delhi is able to keep on foreign policy.
