Religious Revivalism, Political Power and Democracy in the Muslim World

• In Event: The Politics of Belonging: How Identity Informs Inclusion and Exclusion

Abstract

Revivals in religious identity worldwide have had varied and dramatic effects on domestic, regional, and international politics. The rise of Islamic revivalist movements led to transformative events in the Muslim world. From the start of the late 19th century, Muslim revivalist movements emerged and engaged with modernity in varying ways. When secular nationalist politics gained ground in most of the Muslim world, the Islamist movements went underground or were marginalized. However, starting in the 1970s, Islamists gained ground in several Muslim contexts and became holders of or contenders for political power. The rise of Islamist revivalism dramatically influenced politics in the Muslim context. The religious revivalist movements, though, are not only resurrections of the traditionalist religious values that were suppressed by secular nationalists but also the carriers of new types of nationalism underwritten by religious eschatology. Islamists' engagement with pluralism created mixed results and questioned their compatibility with liberty and democracy. In this paper, I examine Islamist movements and their engagement with democratic governance in Muslim-majority countries of Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Iran, and Indonesia. Based on the analysis, I discuss how religious revivalist movements transform the political field in Muslim-majority countries and the debates on religion, secularism, and democracy. I specifically ask if Islamist revivalist movements are deemed to ascertain illiberal authoritarianism or if they can offer a democratic alternative.

This study compares the Islamists' involvement in politics in five Muslim-majority countries to identify the parameters of their engagement with liberalism and democracy. Islamists' engagement with power created mixed political outcomes. The Islamist movements in these five Muslim-majority countries both supported and suppressed liberalism and democracy. Justice and Development Party in Turkey facilitated the democratic process in the 2000s but became the representative of authoritarian politics in the 2010s. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Tunisia joined the calls for democratic politics in the early years of the Arab revolutions of 2011 but contributed to authoritarian politics afterward. Islamists in Iran led a democratic populist movement against the police state of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi before the Iranian Revolution of 1979, but they established a new authoritarian state after they took control of political power. Nahdatul Ulama in Indonesia played a vital role in ending the tyrannical rule of General Suharto in 1998. Still, its corporatist relationship with the state afterward led many to question its liberal credentials.

In this paper, I compare the experiences of Islamists to identify the conditions under which religious revivalism leads to authoritarian or democratic outcomes. The study aims to identify religious, social, and political conditions influencing the engagement between religious revivalism and political power. Specifically, it attempts to answer if there is a democratic alternative in the religious revivalist movement's relationship with political power.

Author

• Ramazan Kilinc, Kennesaw State University