Religion, Democracy & Political Change

The Democracy and Islam Programme at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster is a unique, multifaceted programme that seeks to deepen understanding of democratic politics (or their absence) in Muslim countries, and of participation in democratic politics by Muslim minorities elsewhere. The programme was founded in 1998, three years before the attacks of 11 September 2001 in New York and Washington made the programme’s core concerns the focus of urgent international attention and activism.

The programme integrates research, teaching and public events with the aim of stimulating debate and fresh thinking about competing practices of social and political self-organisation in Muslim communities, both at home and in the diaspora. The programme charts the evolution of and changes in these practices; and examines how these practices promote or hinder democratization and political stability (in Muslim societies and with other communities). It also analyzes the institutional and intellectual frameworks within which these practices occur, including the modern democratic state and its philosophical and ethical justifications and the contemporary international order. The programme takes nothing for granted and regards no dogma as being beyond question.

Research

Pages turning in a bookWith an international reputation for high-quality scholarly work, the Democracy and Islam Programme is one of the world’s leading research initiatives in the field of democracy and Islam. Current research projects include:

Islam, multiculturalism and the future of democracy

This project will offer an international perspective the current debate on multiculturalism in Britain, enquiring about whether the claims that Muslim minorities in Britain fail to integrate rest on similar premises to the claim that Muslim majority societies are resistant to democratisation.

Terrorism, democracy and religious reform in the Muslim world

This project looks at the current debate on the alleged links between, on the one hand, the absence of democracy and extremist interpretations of Islam, and, on the other, the intensification of political violence in some key Muslim countries and regions. The research questions the prevalent assumptions in this area, seeking to look beyond the religious rhetoric of the insurgents and the analyses which focus on religious and cultural factors so as to paint a more coherent picture of the conflict and the factors driving it.

The role of western Muslims in religious reform

Muslim minorities in the West remain embattled and face numerous challenges of survival. Yet the West has also become the source of innovative religious thinking. This research examines the phenomenon of activist reformism in exile, and assesses this reformism’s impact – actual and potential – on religious thought in the wider Muslim world.

Women and Islamic resistance in the Arab world

In 2007-08, Maria Holt obtained funding from the United States Institute of Peace to conduct ethnographic research in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories on the effects of Islamic resistance on women.  In November 2008, she held a one-day conference at the University of Westminster to consider the findings of her research; the conference included guest speakers from Lebanon and the West Bank.  She is now writing a book  on women and Islamic resistance in the Arab world with Dr Haifaa Jawad of the University of Birmingham, focusing on Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq.

Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon

In 2006 – 07, Maria Holt received funding from the Arts & Humanities Research Council to conduct an ethnographic research project on Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon in terms of memory, identity and change.

Public Events

Following the successful series, ‘Muslims in Britain’, and meetings on Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, Bangladesh, Palestine, India and Lebanon, future public events will focus on the following themes:

Europe and Islam

This series will focus on Muslim communities in Europe. An important and increasingly dynamic component of Europe’s multicultural scene, these communities are increasingly confident about their European identity. Yet sections of these communities have also experienced fragmentation, crisis and alienation from wider society.

Liberalism, democratisation and religious reform in the Muslim world

These meetings will look at current debates about obstacles to democratization in the Muslim world in general and the Middle East in particular. Scheduled events include workshops on the Future of Egypt, Islamism and Political Violence and Obstacles to Democracy Promotion in the Muslim world.

Conflict and peace-building in the Middle East: new ways of thinking

These events will consider the attempts to resolve the numerous interlinked conflicts in the Middle East, from the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to the American and British occupation of Iraq, and the struggle in various Muslim states to contain “Islamic fundamentalism” or deal with ethnic or regional insurgencies. The meetings will evaluate these efforts separately and also investigate the links between them.

In addition, regular research seminars and ad hoc workshops take place throughout the year.

Intellectuals & the challenge of Islamic Religious Reform

Western Muslim Intellectuals and The Challenge of Islamic Religious Reform

17 February 2011
University of Westminster

For details and registration, please download the flyer

Teaching

The programme’s teaching component includes taught modules and short courses:

The well-established ‘Democracy and Islam’ and ‘Islam and Modernity’ modules, part of DPIR’s Masters courses in International Relations & Contemporary Political Theory.  A new MA module, “Islam and Politics in the Middle East” will start in October 2010.

A new undergraduate module, “Politics of the Middle East”, will start in October 2010.

Short courses (including a summer school) offered to university students and staff, as well as to people from outside the University of Westminster, including schoolteachers, policy-makers and journalists.

Current PhD topics include: PhD theses on (1) Hassan Turabi and the Idea of Islamist Democracy ; (2) Islamist Participation in Democratic Politics: a case study of Jordan; (3) The Brain Drain in Libya: Implications for Human Development; (4) Explaining the Democracy Crisis in the Arab world:; and (5) The Rise of Formal Muslim Organizations in Britain

Personnel