Introduction

This introduction presents the key concepts discussed in the subsequence chapters of the book. There are forty-seven countries in the world in which people of the Muslim faith are in the majority. In 2013 Freedom House survey of global governance, only one is rated 'free'. Twenty-one achieve the ranking of 'partly free', and twenty-five are listed as 'not free'. It is not surprising that some observers consider the phrase 'Muslim democracy' an oxymoron. The struggles to replace the fallen dictators in Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia and Libya have rekindled interest in those Islamic countries, Indonesia and Turkey in particular, whose steps toward democratization have been successful. 'Islamic society' thus becomes a generality constructed by others to describe Muslims and their cultures. This chapter provides a history of governance in the Islamic world from the days of the Prophet to the Arab Spring. It attempts to examine the general determinants of democratization, with particular reference to the role of religion in the process.