Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
1-2003
Abstract
What is the relationship between Islam, democracy, and civil society? This is thequestion which supplies the topic of this essay, Its purpose, more particularly, is to explore theplace of Islam in the modern world-a world which contemporary writers increasingly try tounderstand by invoking the notions of democracy and civil society. But the occasion for thisexploitation has a more precise origin still. The issue of the place of Islam in the modernworld is raised, more often than not, by writers and commentators for whom Islam is, aboveall, a danger, in geo-political terms, it is a danger to the West; in world-historical terms, it is adanger to modernity; and in philosophical terms it is a danger to democracy. For many, then,Islam stands in a relationship of tension with-if not complete antagonism to-democracy andmodernity. It is a religion, and a philosophy, which is a throwback to the middle ages, and anobstacle to human progress.(1) It is, in the end, incompatible with any kind of liberal politicalorder.
Discipline
International Relations | Religion
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
journal des economistes et des etudes humaines
Volume
13
Issue
2
First Page
325
Last Page
340
ISSN
2194-5799
Identifier
10.2202/1145-6396.1098
Citation
KUKATHAS, Chandran.(2003). Islam, democracy and civil society. journal des economistes et des etudes humaines, 13(2), 325-340.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2931
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.2202/1145-6396.1098