Andrew March - On Muslim Democracy: A Book Talk

CSI Monday Majlis (19th February 2024) with guest speaker Andrew March on 'On Muslim Democracy: A Book Talk'
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Abstract:
For almost a century, Islamist parties and social movements were considered to be a potentially anti-democratic force in Muslim societies. The practical political impact of such parties and movement presents a mixed record. Under authoritarianism, Islamist movements often represented a countervailing movement within civil society pressuring governments on rule of law, accountability, and free elections. During the democratic experiments following the Arab Spring (in Egypt and Tunisia) Islamist parties were often situated in between the entrenched authoritarian state and more popular revolutionary forces.
Perhaps the most symbolic figure representing the Islamist reconciliation with democracy is the Tunisian political theorist, politician and (once again) political prisoner Rached Ghannouchi. Before 2011 he was widely known as a theorist of a democratic Islamic state. After 2011 he was known for his party’s reconciliation with the reconstituted Ancien Régime forces and a grand bargain that kept Tunisia’s democracy afloat between 2014 and 2021. Notably, he and his party publicly declared that they had abandoned the ideology of Islamism and embraced a new ideology of “Muslim Democracy.”
This book is unique in presenting both primary source essays in translation by Ghannouchi himself, and a philosophical dialogue between Ghannouchi and a Western political philosopher (March), who also provides an analytic introduction. In this talk, I will discuss my interpretation of the problem of Islamic political theory and democracy, and my experiences engaging Ghannouchi as a political philosopher and politician responsible for his country’s democratic transition.
Bio:
Andrew F. March is Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Visiting Professor, Harvard Kennedy School. He is the author of The Caliphate of Man: Popular Sovereignty in Modern Islamic Thought (Belknap, 2019), and Islam and Liberal Citizenship: The Search for an Overlapping Consensus (Oxford, 2009).
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In the spirit of the label 'Majlis' and also to make the talks even more interesting, our speakers present the topic discussed as embedded in their journey. You can watch the previous Majlises here:
• Monday Majlis series (...
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Nahda's failure in tunisia is a the final blow to Democracy in the Arab World IMO. Since it basically became a secular party and give up all its islamic values yet a coup happened against them which proves the Arab Expectionalism theory which states that Democracy wont work their due to these countries rich resources so the armies their have no interest in Democracy. So Arabs have no other choice to get rid of these secular dictators than following the Iranian Model instead of the Turkish Model.