Islam Beyond Conflict: Indonesian Islam and Western Political Theory

by Hudson,Wayne; Azra,Azyumardi

• ISBN13: 9780754670926
• ISBN10: 0754670929
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-06-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The geography of Indonesia hints at the reasoning behind its special blend of Islam. The world's biggest island chain, it stands both at the crossroads of the Pacific and Indian oceans, and in a political sense it inhabits a crossroads between Islam and Western political theory.Politically, Islam in Indonesia is part of a rich multi-cultural mix. Religious tolerance is seen as the cornerstone of relations between different faiths - and moderation is built into the country's constitutional framework. However, the advent of democracy, coupled with the impact of the South-East Asian economic collapse in 1997, and the arrival of a tough new breed of Middle Eastern Islamic preachers, sowed the seeds of the current challenge to Indonesia's traditionally moderate form of Islam.This volume explores the extent to which moderate Indonesian Islam is able to assimilate leading concepts from Western political theory. The essays in the collection, explore how concepts from Western political theory are compatible with a liberal interpretation of Islamic universals and how such universals can form the basis for a contemporary approach to the protection of human rights and the articulation of a modern Islamic civil society.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Political modernity and Indonesian Islam

Islamic perspectives and the rule of law and constitutionalism

Constitutional values and an Islamic state

The ambiguities of the rule of law

Western and Islamic conceptions of the rule of law

Democracy and Islam

Islam and democratisation in Indonesia

Islam and the claims of democracy

Democratic leadership

Islamic perspectives on citizenship and statehood

Towards a conceptual framework for citizenship

Liberal and communitarian approaches to citizenship

Problems with citizenship

Religious pluralism in Indonesia

Nationalism and liberalism

Pluralism and universalism

Human rights and duties in Islam

Human rights and pluralism

Civil society and tolerance in Indonesia

Civil society and the media in Indonesia

Indonesian Islam and democracy: ways ahead

Index

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