Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T14:20:13.829Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Religious Regulation and the Muslim Democracy Gap

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2012

Ani Sarkissian
Ani Sarkissian*
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ani Sarkissian, Michigan State University, Department of Political Science, 368 Farm Lane S303, East Lansing, MI 48824. E-mail: asarkiss@msu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article argues that high levels of government regulation of religion help to explain the “democracy gap” in majority Muslim countries. Controlling for previously hypothesized determinants of democracy, it finds that as levels of regulation increase, levels of democracy decline. Examination of specific types of religious regulation in Muslim-majority countries uncovers a pattern of repression of religious expression that may be used to mobilize citizens politically. These regulations are targeted more often at Muslims who seek independence from state-controlled religion or who wish to challenge authoritarian governments, rather than at non-Muslim minorities or at religious worship more generally. Thus, authoritarian and semi-authoritarian regimes in Muslim-majority states successfully use policies toward religion to restrict political competition and inhibit democratic transition.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , December 2012 , pp. 501 - 527
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alesina, Alberto, Devleeschauwer, Arnaud, Easterly, William, Kurlat, Sergio, and Wacziarg, Roman. 2003. “Fractionalization.” Journal of Economic Growth 8:155–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barro, Robert J. 1999. “Determinants of Democracy.” Journal of Political Economy 107:S158–S83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barro, Robert J., and McCleary, Rachel. 2004. “Which Countries Have State Religions?” In NBER Working Paper. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Bruce, Steve. 2003. Politics and Religion. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Çarkoğlu, Ali, and Toprak, Binnaz. 2007. Religion, Society and Politics in a Changing Turkey. Translated by Fromm, Ç. A.. Istanbul: TESEV Publications.Google Scholar
Chaney, Eric. 2008. “Tolerance, Religious Competition, and the Fall of Muslim Science.” http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/chaney/papers_chaney (Accessed on July 21, 2011).Google Scholar
Chaves, Mark. 1994. “Secularization as Declining Religious Authority.” Social Forces 72:749–774.Google Scholar
Donno, Daniela, and Russett, Bruce. 2004. “Islam, Authoritarianism, and Female Empowerment: What are the Linkages?” World Politics 56:582–607.Google Scholar
Driessen, Michael D. 2010. “Religion, State, and Democracy: Analyzing Two Dimensions of Church-State Arrangements.” Politics and Religion 3:55–80.Google Scholar
Esposito, John L. 2003. “Islam and Civil Society.” In Modernizing Islam: Religion in the Public Sphere in the Middle East and Europe, eds., Esposito, J.L., and Burgat, F.. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Fetzer, Joel S., and Soper, J. Christopher. 2005. Muslims and the State in Britain, France, and Germany. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fish, M. Steven. 1998. “Democratization's Requisites: The Postcommunist Experience.” Post-Soviet Affairs 14:212–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fish, M. Steven. 2002. “Islam and Authoritarianism.” World Politics 55:4–37.Google Scholar
Fox, Jonathan. 2006. “World Separation of Religion and State into the 21st Century.” Comparative Political Studies 39:537–569.Google Scholar
Fox, Jonathan. 2007. “Do Democracies Have Separation of Religion and State?” Canadian Journal of Political Science 40:1–25.Google Scholar
Fox, Jonathan. 2008. A World Survey of Religion and the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, Jonathan, and Flores, Deborah. 2009. “Religions, Constitutions, and the State: A Cross-National Study.” Journal of Politics 71:1499–1513.Google Scholar
Fox, Jonathan, and Sandler, Shmuel. 2005. “Separation of Religion and State in the Twenty-First Century: Comparing the Middle East and Western Democracies.” Comparative Politics 37:317–335.Google Scholar
Gill, Anthony. 2008. The Political Origins of Religious Liberty. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Grim, Brian J., and Finke, Roger. 2006. “International Religion Indexes: Government Regulation, Government Favoritism, and Social Regulation of Religion.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion 2:1–40.Google Scholar
Heston, Alan, Summers, Robert, and Aten, Bettina. 2009. Penn World Table Version 6.3. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P. 1993. “The Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs 72:22–49.Google Scholar
Karatnycky, Adrian. 2002. “Muslim Countries and the Democracy Gap.” Journal of Democracy 13:9–112.Google Scholar
Khalid, Adeeb. 2007. Islam after Communism: Religion and Politics in Central Asia. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Kuran, Timur. 1993. “The Economic Impact of Islamic Fundamentalism.” In Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economics, and Militance, eds., Marty, M., and Appleby, R.S.. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kuru, Ahmet T. 2006. “Reinterpretation of Secularism in Turkey: The Case of the Justice and Development Party.” In The Emergence of a New Turkey: Democracy and the AK Parti, ed., Yavuz, M.H.Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arend. 1977. Democracy in Plural Societies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Linz, Juan J., and Stepan, Alfred. 1996. Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Lipset, Seymour Martin. 1959. “Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy.” American Political Science Review 53:69–105.Google Scholar
Marshall, Monty G., and Jaggers, Keith. 2010. Polity IV Project: Dataset Users' Manual. http://www.systemicpeace.org/inscr/p4manualv2007.pdf (Accessed on March 10, 2010).Google Scholar
Mayer, Ann Elizabeth. 1991. Islam and Human Rights: Tradition and Politics. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Mazie, Steven V. 2004. “Rethinking Religious Establishment and Liberal Democracy: Lessons from Israel.” The Brandywine Review of Faith & International Affairs 2:3–12.Google Scholar
Midlarsky, Manus I. 1998. “Democracy and Islam: Implications for Civilizational Conflict and the Democratic Peace.” International Studies Quarterly 42:485–511.Google Scholar
Monsma, Stephen V., and Soper, J. Christopher. 1997. The Challenge of Pluralism: Church and State in Five Democracies. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Munson, Ziad. 2001. “Islamic Mobilization: Social Movement Theory and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.” The Sociological Quarterly 42:487–510.Google Scholar
Noyon, Jennifer. 2003. Islam, Politics, and Pluralism: Theory and Practice in Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia, and Algeria. London: The Royal Institute of International Affairs.Google Scholar
Przeworski, Adam, Alvarez, Michael, Chiebub, Jose Antonio, and Limongi, Fernando. 2000. Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950–1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ross, Michael L. 2001. “Does Oil Hinder Democracy?” World Politics 53:325–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, Michael L. 2008. “Oil, Islam, and Women.” American Political Science Review 102:107–123.Google Scholar
Rotar, Igor. 2006. “Kyrgyzstan: Imam's Killing Seen as Attack on Independent Isla.” www.forum18.org (Accessed on June 19, 2011).Google Scholar
Rowley, Charles K., and Smith, Nathanael. 2009. “Islam's Democracy Paradox: Muslims Claim to Like Democracy, So Why Do They Have So Little?” Public Choice 139:273–299.Google Scholar
Roy, Olivier. 2000. The New Central Asia: The Creation of Nations. New York, NY: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Stark, Rodney. 1999. “Secularization, R.I.P.” Sociology of Religion 60:249–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stepan, Alfred. 2001. Arguing Comparative Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stepan, Alfred, and Robertson, Graeme B.. 2003. “An ‘Arab’ More than ‘Muslim’ Electoral Gap.” Journal of Democracy 14:30–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tamadonfar, Mehran. 2002. “Islamism in Contemporary Arab Politics: Lessons in Authoritarianism and Democratization.” In Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective: the One, the Few, and the Many, eds., Jelen, T.G., and Wilcox, C.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of State. 2005. “Annual Report on International Religious Freedom.” http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/index.htm (Accessed on March 18, 2010).Google Scholar
Warner, R. Stephen. 1993. “Work in Progress toward a New Paradigm for the Sociological Study of Religion in the United States.” The American Journal of Sociology 98:1044–1093.Google Scholar
Yildirim, Mine. 2011. “Turkey: Can a New Constitution Solve Religious Freedom Problems?” www.forum18.org (Accessed on June 19, 2011).Google Scholar
Yousif, Ahmad. 2000. “Islam, Minorities, and Religious Freedom: A Challenge to Modern Theory of Pluralism.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 20:29–41.Google Scholar