ABSTRACT
Muslim politics or the politics of Islam has come to dominate much of the discourse regarding state–society relations in the Arab and Islamic worlds, as well as the relationship between Islam and the West. This dominance had never been so prevalent before the tragic events of 11 September 2001, which have come to accentuate rather than attenuate existing differences within and without the Arab-Islamic region. Alternative analytical and historical frameworks have been put forth that compete with deeply felt ideological assumptions in attempting to explain the enormous chasm operating on both sides of the ‘civilisational’ divide. In particular, two sets of relationships have taken centre stage in the debate about Islam, democracy and the state in the Arab world: the compatibility or incompatibility of Islam and democracy and the violent or nonviolent nature of Islamist politics.
