Foreword; Fawaz A. Gerges -- 1. Introduction: The Role of Religion in Politics -- 2. The Complexity of Political Islam -- 3. Theoretical Framework: Democratization and Islamists -- 4. Participatory Islamists: The Case of the Muslim Brotherhood -- 5. Conditionalist Islamists: The Case of the Salafis -- 6. Rejector Islamists: al-Qaeda and Transnational Jihadism -- 7. Rejector Islamists: Taliban and Nationalist Jihadism -- 8. Participatory Shia Islamism: The Islamic Republic of Iran -- 9. Arab Shia Islamism: Hezbollah and Iraqi Shia Islamists -- 10. Post-Islamism: The Case of Turkey's AKP -- 11. Conclusion: Prospect for Muslim Democracies
Summary
As a wave of popular unrest toppled autocratic rulers across the Middle East and North Africa, many in the West watched with growing concern as Islamists came to power. The continued prominence of Islam in the struggle for democracy in the Muslim world has confounded Western democracy theorists, who largely consider secularism a prerequisite for democratic transition. In Political Islam in the Age of Democratization, Kamran Bokhari and Farid Senzai offer a comprehensive view of the complex nature of contemporary political Islam and its relationship to democracy. With a useful theoretical framework, classification of Islamists, and rich historical context, this book is a compelling and insightful analysis of Islamism and the role that religion is likely to play in any future Muslim democracy
