The Search for Arab Democracy: Discourses and Counter-Discourses

by Larbi Sadiki

Overview

How to be a "democrat" and a "Muslim" at the same time is the subject of ongoing contests. This book maps out the variety of voices contesting "Islam" and "democracy" in the Arab world, insisting that neither category can be taken as unitary or fixed.

In the Arab Middle East, the contest is over "which", "whose", and "how much" democracy takes place within an existing contest over "which", "whose", and "how much" Islam must be given pre-eminence in the political and cultural sphere. There is a "Democracy" and there are "democracies." There is an "Islam" and there are "islams."

Larbi Sadiki deploys the conceptual tools of contemporary Western political philosophy and theory to articulate and defend some provocative theses. The book challenges Eurocentric conceptions of democracy that all-too-frequently display a lack of concern for specificity and context; analyzes and interrogates Orientalist and Occidentalist discourses on democracy; and considers some of the justifications for democracy in the global arena, giving space for self-representation by women and Islamists, among others. Using interviews with Muslims from every social and economic stratum, the book shows how Arabs themselves understand, imagine, and view democracy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231125802
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	03/03/2004
Pages:	457
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.19(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Larbi Sadiki is lecturer in Middle East politics at the University of Exeter, England.

Table of Contents

1. Contesting Democracy: Discourses and Counter-discourses
2. Defoundationalizing Democracy and the Arabo-Islamic Setting
3. Democracy as an Occidentalist Discourse
4. Democracy as an Orientalist Discourse
5. Contemporary Arab Conceptions of Democracy
6. Arab Women and Democracy: Breaking Out
7. The West and the Sponsoring of Arab Authoritarianisms: Islamist Narratives
8. Discoursing Islam and Democracy

What People are Saying About This

Juan Cole

Larbi Sadiki's The Search for Arab Democracy avoids the simplistic black and white thinking that characterizes most public discourse on this issue. He interrogates in a wide-ranging and subtle way a whole range of Muslim thinkers, from medieval philosophers to nineteenth century modernists to contemporary feminists and Islamists. This book is a key intervention in an increasingly central public debate about Islam and democracy, and should be read by anyone concerned with the issue.

— Juan Cole, University of Michigan

Editorial Reviews

Sadiki provides the reader with an invaluable work of reference for those seeking to understand Arab thought concerning democracy and reservations about accepting the western brand.

— John A. S. Abecasis-Phillips

International Affairs

[A] perceptive account of the status of and the varied possibilities of Arab democracy.

— Bezalel Stern

Jerusalem Post

Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

Choice

[A] perceptive account of the status of and the varied possibilities of Arab democracy.

Jerusalem Post - Bezalel Stern

Sadiki provides the reader with an invaluable work of reference for those seeking to understand Arab thought concerning democracy and reservations about accepting the western brand.

International Affairs - John A. S. Abecasis-Phillips