Description
According to diverse indices of political performance, the Middle East is the world's least free region. Some believe that it is Islam that hinders liberalization. Others retort that Islam cannot be a factor because the region is no longer governed under Islamic law. This book by Timur Kuran, author of the influential Long Divergence, explores the lasting political effects of the Middle East's lengthy exposure to Islamic law. It identifies several channels through which Islamic institutions, both defunct and still active, have limited the expansion of basic freedoms under political regimes of all stripes: secular dictatorships, electoral democracies, monarchies legitimated through Islam, and theocracies. Kuran suggests that Islam's rich history carries within it the seeds of liberalization on many fronts; and that the Middle East has already established certain prerequisites for a liberal order. But there is no quick fix for the region's prevailing record of human freedoms.
Table of Contents
Preface; Part I. The Modern Middle East's Authoritarian Face: 1. Islam and political development; 2. Explaining illiberalism, identifying opportunities for liberalization; Part II. Persistent Social Atomization: 3. Non-governmental organizations under Islamic law; 4. The political impotence of Islamic Waqfs; 5. Waqf corruption and its degradation of civic life; 6. The Islamic Waqf's long civic shadow; Part III. Religious Repression: 7. Religious freedoms in Islamic history; 8. Marginalization of Islam; 9. Resurgence of assertive Islam; 10. The absence of liberal schisms; Part IV. Economic Hindrances: 11. Unshackled states, shallow economic governance; 12. Politically powerless entrepreneurs and enterprises; 13. Islamism's missed opportunity to strengthen rule of law; Part V. Conclusion: 14. Islam and Muslim freedoms; References.
