Islam and democracy: Beyond 'compatibility' and toward cross-cultural democratic dialogue

• Author / Creator

  Gordner, Matthew

• In this thesis I address the topic ‘Islam and democracy.’ I argue that rather than asking whether Islam and democracy are compatible, Western theorists should be seeking out how Muslims practice democracy. The ultimate aim of this thesis is to present a groundwork for meaningful and inclusive cross-cultural democratic dialogue to use as a basis for a global discourse on democracy. My main argument is that the ‘Islam and the West’ paradigm has occluded dialogue by miring the topic ‘Islam and democracy’ in debate over whether the two are compatible. Accordingly, the contents of this work are dedicated to (1) deconstructing the ‘Islam and the West’ paradigm and demonstrating its inadequacy as a viable approach to the topic ‘Islam and democracy,’ and (2) presenting arguments for, and exploring sites of, “Muslim democracy” and “post-Islamism” as starting points for cross-cultural dialogue between Muslim and Western societies and theorists.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Islam
  • the West
  • democracy
  • end of history
  • clash of civilizations
  • beyond culture
  • Islamism
  • new world order

• Graduation date

  Spring 2010

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3TT0K

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.