ABSTRACT
During the political upheavals of the past decade in the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan and what is often called the ‘Muslim world’, the attention of politicians, diplomats and policy-makers has turned ever more to the conundrum of the relationship between Islam and democracy. The question is not confined to the imperatives of realpolitik, but appears also on the agendas of scholars of social science, political philosophy, theology, Islamic history and even anthropology. A number of conferences on the topic have been added to the international circuit, such as those sponsored by the recently formed Indonesian International Centre for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP), which cover both theoretical and practical concerns of democratization and Islam in particular states. Most recently, concerns with symptoms of an ‘authoritarian democracy’ have emerged in some states, which this chapter addresses.
