Making Islam democratic : social movements and the post-Islamist turn / Asef Bayat.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bayat, Asef.

Series:

Stanford studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic societies and cultures

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democracy--Religious aspects--Islam.

Democracy.

Islam and social problems.

Social movements--Iran.

Social movements.

Social movements--Egypt.

Egypt.

Iran.

Physical Description:

xxi, 291 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, [2007]

Summary:

Whether Islam is compatible with democracy is an increasingly asked question, but ultimately a misguided one. In this book Asef Bayat proposes that democratic ideals have less to do with the essence of any religion than with how it is practiced. He offers a new approach to Islam and democracy, outlining how the social struggles of student organizations, youth and women's groups, the intelligentsia, and other social movements can make Islam democratic.

Focusing on events from Iran's 1979 islamic revolution to the current day, Bayat explores the highly contested relationship between religion, politics, and everyday life in the Middle East. He provides a fresh analysis of the Iranian revolution, how it has evolved into the pervasive, post-Islamist reform movement of the early 2000s, and how it has differed from Egypt's religious "passive revolution." His book provides an important understanding of the great anxiety of our time-the global march of "Muslim rage"-and offers a hopeful picture of a democratic Middle East.

Contents:

Islam and democracy : the perverse charm of an irrelevant question

Revolution without movement, movement without revolution : Islamist activism in Iran and Egypt, 1960s-1980s

The making of a post-Islamist movement : social movements and sociopolitical change in Iran, 1979-1997

Post-Islamism in power : dilemmas of the Reform Project, 1997-2004

Egypt's "passive revolution" : the state and the fragmentations of Islamism, 1992-2005

The politics of presence : imagining a post-Islamist democracy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-273) and index.

ISBN:

9780804755948

0804755949

9780804755955

0804755957

OCLC:

74964725