The topic of this paper is the relationship between Islamic political culture and democratic transtion in the Middle East. It scrutinizes the question of the salience of Islam as an explantory variable for political and institutional outcomes – in this case a country’s regime type. The setting of Islam in quotations marks in this paper’s title indicates the author’s conviction that Islam is a complex phenomenon that prohibits simple definitions or conceptualizations. Like Christianity, Islam is a term that works in a certain distance: at close range, finer distinctions are necessary. Of course, there is a common core to the diverse expressions of Islam, but what is at the core, its size and halo varies considerably. In making this issue explicit, I hope to mitigate negative impacts of manifest generalizations in this paper. The reader has to be aware of the fact that for reasons of analytical clearness the complexity of the topic has been notably reduced. Due to restrictions in space (course director B. Frolic: “I have to read all the stuff”) and the author’s relative ignorance of the subject (notwithstanding extensive discussions about the subject matter on a five hour taxi drive from the ranges of the Atlas-mountains to Marrakesh, and contacts to Islamic fundamentalists in Granada, Al-Andaluz) this paper sketches only some relevant topics of the debate. Another issue to mention here is that my approach is normative: The spread of “democracy” (as a form of government) is viewed as desirable for human beings, independent of their socio-cultural background. I try to take a pragmatic approach, being aware that there is no such thing as true “objectivity” – “knowledge” and “facts” are what socially is agreed on (Berger and Luckman 1966). Thus, I agree very much with Edward Said’s remark: “No production of knowledge in the human sciences can ever ignore or disclaim its author’s involvement as a human subject in his own circumstances” (1978, 11). As always, I am deeply indebted to my fabulous housemates and neighbours, being at the same time valuable proofreaders and good friends.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Political Culture in the Islamic Context
- The Compatibility Debate
- Monolithism: The Pessimistic Outlook
- Mosaicism: The Optimistic Outlook
- Rethinking the Compatibility Debate: Some Suggestions
- Rethinking the Political Culture Approach: More Suggestions
- Beyond Compatibility Debate and Political Culture: Lessons for Transitology
- Conclusion
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This paper examines the relationship between Islamic political culture and democratic transition in the Middle East. It analyzes the significance of Islam as an explanatory factor for political and institutional outcomes, specifically focusing on a country's regime type. The paper emphasizes the complexity of Islam and cautions against simplistic definitions.
- The influence of Islamic political culture on democracy in the Middle East
- The Compatibility Debate: whether Islam and democracy are compatible
- Monolithism and Mosaicism: two contrasting perspectives on Islam and democracy
- The limitations of the political culture approach in understanding democratization
- The relationship between power, knowledge, and truth in analyzing democratization in the Islamic context
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
- Preface and Acknowledgements: Introduces the paper's focus on the relationship between Islam and democratic transition in the Middle East. The author stresses the complexity of Islam and acknowledges the limitations of the paper due to space restrictions and personal knowledge gaps.
- Introduction: Provides background information on the lack of democratic progress in the Middle East and the prominence of Islamic culture as an explanatory factor. The paper proposes analyzing the debate on the impact of Islamic political culture on democracy through the lens of two contrasting positions: Monolithism and Mosaicism.
- Political Culture in the Islamic Context: Offers an overview of the political culture approach and its relevance to understanding the relationship between Islam and democracy in the Middle East.
- The Compatibility Debate: Introduces the Compatibility Debate, which encompasses two contrasting positions: one arguing for the mutual commensurability of Islam and democracy, and the other opposing this view.
- Monolithism: The Pessimistic Outlook: Explores the core arguments and features of the Monolithism perspective, which contends that Islam and democracy are inherently incompatible.
- Mosaicism: The Optimistic Outlook: Analyzes the core arguments and features of the Mosaicism perspective, which posits that Islam and democracy can be compatible.
- Rethinking the Compatibility Debate: Some Suggestions: Offers suggestions for revisiting the Compatibility Debate and examining its limitations in providing a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between Islam and democracy.
- Rethinking the Political Culture Approach: More Suggestions: Presents further suggestions for reconsidering the political culture approach and its applicability to understanding democratization in the Islamic context.
- Beyond Compatibility Debate and Political Culture: Lessons for Transitology: Explores the shortcomings of the Precondition Paradigm and argues for a shift in focus from the compatibility of Islam and democracy to the political utility of religion in different contexts.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The key concepts and themes explored in this paper include: Islamic political culture, democratic transition, Middle East, Compatibility Debate, Monolithism, Mosaicism, political culture approach, Transitology, Precondition Paradigm, power, knowledge, and truth.
- Quote paper
- Patrick Haack (Author), 2005, Prospects of Democratic Transition in the Middle East, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/89171
