Democracy in Modern Iran: Islam, Culture, and Political Change
Ali Mirsepassi
Abstract
Can Islamic societies embrace democracy? This book maintains that it is possible, demonstrating that Islam is not inherently hostile to the idea of democracy. Rather, it provides new perspective on how such a political and social transformation could take place, arguing that the key to understanding the integration of Islam and democracy lies in concrete social institutions rather than pre-conceived ideas, the everyday experiences rather than abstract theories. The book provides a rare inside look into Iran, offering a deep understanding of how Islamic countries like Iran and Iraq can and will ... More
Can Islamic societies embrace democracy? This book maintains that it is possible, demonstrating that Islam is not inherently hostile to the idea of democracy. Rather, it provides new perspective on how such a political and social transformation could take place, arguing that the key to understanding the integration of Islam and democracy lies in concrete social institutions rather than pre-conceived ideas, the everyday experiences rather than abstract theories. The book provides a rare inside look into Iran, offering a deep understanding of how Islamic countries like Iran and Iraq can and will embrace democracy. It challenges readers to think about Islam and democracy critically and in a far more nuanced way than is done in black-and-white dichotomies of Islam versus Democracy or Iran versus the West. The book contributes important insights to current discussions, creating a more complex conception of modernity in the Eastern world and, with it, offers to a broad Western audience a more accurate, less clichéd vision of Iran's political reality.
Keywords:
democracy,
Islamic society,
Islam,
Iran,
Iraq,
Eastern world
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2010 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780814795644 |
| Published to NYU Press Scholarship Online: March 2016 |
DOI:10.18574/nyu/9780814795644.001.0001 |
