Political Islam & democracy in the Muslim world /

This excellent, if hardly definitive, study by Kubicek (Oakland Univ.), an East European specialist whose interest extended to the Islamic world when he took a teaching position in Turkey, provides an innovative analysis of the relationship between Islam and democracy. Kubicek demonstrates an admirable understanding of the theoretical literature and the political evolution of seven primarily Muslim countries (Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mali, Indonesia, and Senegal) deemed to have considerable experience with democracy. He challenges the notion that Islam is incompatible with democracy but keeps an open mind. He suggests five variables that affect the success of democracy, starting with whether the country was originally Islamicized by conquest (which he considers less characteristic of areas in the "periphery" of the Islamic world), the degree of centralization of religious authorities, the strength of secularism, whether democratization preceded Islamist mobilization, and whether Islamist groups are incorporated into the system. In a short final chapter, he asks how these variables apply to the Arab Spring. Although there is much room to question some of the author's analysis, this is an important book for students of the Islamic world and of democratization. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. --Glenn E. Perry, emeritus, Indiana State University