After Jihad : America and the struggle for Islamic democracy / Noah Feldman. [print]

Includes bibliographies and index.

The revolution that wasn't -- Islam and democracy in contact -- The idea of Islamic democracy -- Islamic democracy, not Islamist democracy -- Islam, the West, and the question of opposition -- Islam and democracy as mobile ideas -- The resilience of Islam -- God's rule and the people's rule -- Islamic equality -- Islamic liberty -- The universality of mobile ideas -- Varieties of Islamic democracy -- Democratization and Muslim reality : an overview -- Iran : Islamic democracy in the balance -- Turkey : the outlier -- Islam and democracy in South and Southeast Asia : mobility and possibility -- Pakistan : the Islamic state and the struggle for stability -- The diversity of the Arabs -- Monarchies with oil : the Rentier state in action -- Kings without oil -- The dictators and the Islamists : the puzzle of Egypt -- Regime change and its consequences : dictators with oil -- The big picture : Islam, democracy, and the contact of mobile ideas -- The necessity of Islamic democracy -- Why democracy? The pragmatic argument -- Neutralizing anti-Americanism by refuting it -- Doing the right thing -- How to do it -- Democracy's Muslim allies -- Imagining an Islamic democracy -- After Jihad -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index.

A lucid and compelling case for a new American stance toward the Islamic world. What comes after jihad? Outside the headlines, believing Muslims are increasingly calling for democratic politics in their undemocratic countries. But can Islam and democracy successfully be combined? Surveying the intellectual and geopolitical terrain of the contemporary Muslim world, Noah Feldman proposes that Islamic democracy is indeed viable and desirable, and that the West, particularly the United States, should work to bring it about, not suppress it. Encouraging democracy among Muslims threatens America's autocratic Muslim allies, and raises the specter of a new security threat to the West if fundamentalists are elected. But in the long term, the greater threat lies in continuing to support repressive regimes that have lost the confidence of their citizens. By siding with Islamic democrats rather than the regimes that repress them, the United States can bind them to the democratic principles they say they support, reducing anti-Americanism and promoting a durable peace in the Middle East. After Jihad gives the context for understanding how the many Muslims who reject religious violence see the world after the globalization of democracy.

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