Modernization, Democracy, and Islam

The Islamic world has a poor record in terms of modernization and democracy. However, the source of this situation is not religion, but factors including colonialism, international economic and trading systems, and the role of the military, among others. Recognizing these themes allows the consideration of possible remedies for change in the Muslim world.

The Islamic world has a poor record in terms of modernization and democracy. However, the source of this situation is not religion―Islam―but rather factors including colonialism, international economic and trading systems, and the role of the military, among others. Recognizing these themes allows the consideration of possible remedies for change in the Muslim world.

The distinguished scholars contributing to this volume identify key factors―some intrinsic to the Muslim world, and some external―that contribute to Islam's current predicament. Contrary to much prevailing thought and opinion, Islam is neither monolithic nor impervious to change. It is neither anti-democratic nor inherently anti-modernization. Islam itself, as this book shows, is not the root cause of the malaise of the Islamic world.

Shireen T. Hunter is Director of the Islam Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Her areas of expertise include the Middle East―especially the Persian Gulf region―and Islam―particularly in Russia, Europe, and the United States. She is the author of The Future of Islam and the West: Clash of Civilizations or Peaceful Coexistence? (CSIS/Praeger, 1998) and editor of Islam: Europe's Second Religion (Praeger, 2002).

Huma Malik is a fellow in the CSIS Islam Program. Her research focuses on ethnic and sectarian conflicts in South Asia. She is the co-editor of two reports for CSIS, Islam in Europe and the United States: A Comparative Perspective and Integrating Muslim Communities in Europe and the United States (2003).