"A challenging postmodern meditation on the possibilities for democratization in the Arab world. Sadiki's richly textured analysis of Islamist discourse, Arab conceptions of democracy, and competing Orientalist and Occidentalist narratives makes this book both original and provocative. Particularly valuable is his discussion of Arab women and democracy."
-Michael Hudson
"Larbi Sadiki's The Search for Arab Democracy avoids the simplistic black and white thinking that characterizes most public discourse on this issue. He interrogates in a wide-ranging and subtle way a whole range of Muslim thinkers, from medieval philosphers to nineteenth century modernists to contemporary feminists and Islamists. This book is a key intervention in an increasingly central public debate about Islam and democracy, and should be read by anyone concerned with the issue."
-Juan Cole, University of Michigan
How to be a "democrat" and a "Muslim" at the same time is the subject of ongoing contests. This book maps out the variety of voices contesting "Islam" and "democracy" in the Arab world, insisting that neither category can be taken as unitary or fixed.
In the Arab Middle East, the contest is over "which", "whose", and "how much" democracy takes place within an existing contest over "which", "whose", and "how much" Islam must be given pre-eminence in the political and cultural sphere. There is a "Democracy" and there are "democracies." There is an "Islam" and there are "islams."
Larbi Sadiki deploys the conceptual tools of contemporary Western political philosophy and theory to articulate and defend some provocative theses. The book challenges Eurocentric conceptions of democracy that all-too-frequently display a lack of concern for specificity and context; analyzes and interrogates Orientalist and Occidentalist discourses on democracy; and considers some of the justifications for democracy in the global arena, giving space for self-representation by women and Islamists, among others. Using interviews with Muslims from every social and economic stratum, the book shows how Arabs themselves understand, imagine, and view democracy.
Contents
1. Contesting Democracy: Discourses and Counter-discourses
2. Defoundationalizing Democracy and the Arabo-Islamic Setting
3. Democracy as an Occidentalist Discourse
4. Democracy as an Orientalist Discourse
5. Contemporary Arab Conceptions of Democracy
6. Arab Women and Democracy: Breaking Out
7. The West and the Sponsoring of Arab Authoritarianisms: Islamist Narratives
8. Discoursing Islam and Democracy
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