Islam and democracy : state-society relations in developing countries, 1980-1994 / Ali Reza Abootalebi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abootalebi, Ali Reza, 1958-

Series:

Comparative studies in democratization

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democracy--Developing countries.

Democracy.

Developing countries.

Developing countries--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Democracy--Islamic countries.

Islamic countries--Politics and government.

Islamic countries.

Physical Description:

xiii, 249 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Garland Pub., 2000.

Summary:

"Islam and Democracy" deals with the pertinent issues of democracy, state-society relations, civil society, and Islam in developing countries and attempts to integrate the recent literature on civil society in the Middle East with the mainstream political science debate on democracy. This study makes use of political science theory and methodology as well as an area-study approach to draw conclusions on the prospects for democratization in developing countries in general. The study further challenges explanations of prospects for the democratization of state grounded on the cultural traits of each society, arguing that culture becomes an important factor in the struggle for democracy only when it contributes to either concentration or dispersion of social, economic, and political resources. (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona, 1993; revised with new preface, bibliography, and index)

Contents:

Chapter 2 Democracy 33

Democracy and Its Evolution 33

Democracy and Its Prerequisites 38

Economic Development and Democracy 43

Democracy and Economic Inequality 46

Culture and Democracy 49

Sociopolitical Variables and Democracy 53

Religion and Democracy 55

The Role of Ideology 58

Islam and Democracy: Some Misconceptions 60

Chapter 3 Theories and Measures of Democractization 77

Society-State Relations and Democratization 78

External Factors 79

Measures for the Explanatory Variables in This Study 82

Democracy and The Quality of Human Development 83

Democracy and the Human Development Index (HDI) 84

Democracy and Economic Inequality or Poverty (AP) 85

Quality of Development and Poverty 86

Organizational Unity of Labor (OUL) 87

State-Society Power Resources 89

State Power 89

State-Society Relations 92

Measures of State Power 93

Measures of Society-State Power Relations 94

Measures of Democratization in this Study 95

Chapter 4 Islam, Civil Society, and Democracy 115

Current Studies of Islam in Politics: A Critique 117

Why Resurgent Islam? 120

Ideological Currents in Islam 126

Islam in Power 129

Current Ideological Struggle Within Islam 133

Islam and the Debate on Civil Society 135

The Imperative of Institutionalized Participation for Democracy 140

Islam in Electoral Politics 142

Conclusion: Prospects for Democratization 147

Policy Implications for Islamic Leaders 150

Chapter 5 Empirical Analysis and Alternative Explanations of Democratization 163

Islam and Empirical Findings of Previous Studies 165

Alternative Hypotheses: GNP Per Capita, and Knowledge Distribution 169

The Variables and Their Correlations 174

Should-Be Democracies (Predicted Scores Between 2.3 and 2.9) 189

The Near-Democracies in Less-Developed Countries 192

More-Plausible Near-Democracies (Predicted Scores Between 3.0 and 3.9) 193

Less-Plausible Potential Near-Democracies (Predicted Scores Between 4.1 and 4.7) 199

Least-Plausible Potential-Democracies (Predicted Scores Between 5.1 and 5.8) 206

Appendix I.A Measures of Organizational Unity of Labor in Selected Less-Developed Countries, Circa 1987 223

Appendix I.B Measures of Organizational Unity of Labor in Selected Less-Developed Countries, Circa 1992 229

Appendix II Central Government Expenditures as Percentage of GNP for Selected Years (Average) 233

Appendix III Selected Less-Developed Countries' Vital Statistics 237.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0815337353

OCLC:

43520904

Online:

Table of Contents