NEW BOOKS FALL 2021
ISLAM, JUSTICE, AND DEMOCRACY SABRI CIFTCI
Explores the connection between Muslim conceptions of justice and democratic orientations
POLITICAL SCIENCE & PUBLIC POLICY | RELIGION | MIDDLE EAST STUDIES Religious Engagement in Democratic Politics series
221 pp. | 6 x 9" 19 tables | 12 figures $32.95 | £24.99 paper 978-1-4399-2150-0 $104.50 | £83.00 cloth 978-1-4399-2149-4 DECEMBER
also in the series
HOW POLITICAL PARTIES MOBILIZE RELIGION Lessons from Mexico and Turkey LUIS FELIPE MANTILLA 978-1-4399-2016-9 $34.95 £26.99 paper
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Justice (al-‘adl) is one of the principal values of the Islamic faith. In Islam, Justice, and Democracy, Sabri Ciftci explores the historical, philosophical, and empirical foundations of justice to examine how religious values relate to Muslim political preferences and behavior. He focuses on Muslim agency and democracy to explain how ordinary Muslims use the conceptions of divine justice—either servitude to God or exercising free will against oppressors—to make sense of real-world problems. Using ethnographic research, interviews, and public opinion surveys as well as the works of Islamist ideologues, archives of Islamist journals, and other sources, Ciftci shows that building contemporary incarnations of Islamist justice is, in essence, a highly practical political project that has formative effects on Muslim political attitudes. Islam, Justice, and Democracy compares the recent Arab Spring protests to the constitutionalist movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the Middle East to demonstrate the continuities and rifts a century apart. By putting justice at the center of democratic thinking in the Muslim world, Ciftci reconsiders Islam's potential in engendering both democratic ideals and authoritarian preferences. SABRI CIFTCI is a Professor of Political Science and Michael W. Suleiman Chair at Kansas State University.
