• ISBN13: 9780761935667
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: Sociology and Anthropology
• Publisher: Sage Publications
• Publisher Imprint: SAGE India
• Publication Date: January 1, 2007
• Pages: 272
• Original Price: INR 1095.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 425 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): General

Democracy in Muslim Societies: The Asian Experience explores the character of the political transformation and democratic transition in the Asian Muslim world. It asks whether democracy is appropriate and desirable as a political system for non-Western societies, and assesses the extent of actual democratization in each of the countries studied, namely, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey.

The book questions the widely held view that the socio-political ethos of Islam as a religion, and of Muslim countries as societal units, prevents Muslims from adopting democracy as a form of government. The contributors argue that this perception comes from post-9/11 studies of Arab states and that non-Arab Muslim populations in Asia and Africa do not fit the same mould. At the same time, it is clear that a single model of democracy cannot work across these six countries because each country has a different history and has tread on a different path in the quest for democracy.

Ultimately, this book concludes that there is no fundamental incompatibility between Islam and democracy in the Asian Muslim societies.

Zoya Hasan is Professor, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is the author and editor of eleven books and has published over two dozen articles. Her recent books include Quest for Power: Oppositional Movements and Post-Congress Politics in Uttar Pradesh; Unequal Citizens: A Study of Muslim Women In India(co-authored); Party Politics in India (edited), India’s Living Constitution: Ideas, Practices and Controversies (co-edited); Transforming India: Social Dynamics of Democracy (coedited); and In a Minority: Essays on Muslim Women in India (co-edited). She has also edited the third book in our ‘Readings in Indian Government and Politics’ series, Politics and the State in India (Sage, 2000).