Islam, Islamists , and the Electoral Principle in the Middle East

James Piscatori

Those who argue that Islam and democracy are antithetical build their analysis on the supposed uniqueness of Muslim societies – they are not like other societies or, perhaps more to the point, not like Western societies – and on what Leonard Binder has called “the cluster of absences.” In this view, the absence of a concept of citizenship and of a legal-political culture of compromise and flexibility marks a critical deficiency. In some accounts, the absence of fair and free elections is also seen as a prime indicator of the lack of democratic development…

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