Islam and Democratization

Compatibility of democracy and Islam has remained a contestable issue. On the one hand, it has been argued that Islamic culture propels civic and egalitarian values, which makes Islamic cultures democratic. On the other hand, it has been argued that Islam is secularization-resistant, intolerable to individual liberties and thereby incompatible with democracy. Critically assessing the essentializing tendencies of both of these arguments, we will shift the question from compatibility to the dynamics of state-Islam interaction. By studying the diversity of Islamic forces and states, we will explore wide-ranging patterns of interaction that are pivotal to democratization in the Middle Eastern context. The class will discuss pro-democratic voices, actors and their movements as well as their various opponents. The major theoretical goal of the course is to introduce competing approaches to democracy and democratization as well as state transformation by using case studies from the Middle East. MCP, PRS, REA, WRI