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Civil Society (Islamic Studies)

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  1. Introduction
  2. The most general definition of “civil society” that is widely accepted in the early 21st century describes it as the realm of associational life between the individual or family and the state. The concept of civil society is often regarded as a specifically western European construct that can be applied only with difficulty, if at all, to regions outside western Europe and the United States or only to societies where civil liberties, such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, are guaranteed; where the rights of minorities are protected; or where democratic institutions of governance are established. Other scholars argue that the term can be reinterpreted to describe the essential dynamics of public deliberation, interest-group formation, and demands for government accountability that exist in various forms in a broad spectrum of societies and polities. With regard to the Muslim world in particular, the debate over the concept’s universality is especially sharp, as many of the works cited below will illustrate.
  3.  
  4. General Overviews
  5. The concept of civil society has its modern origins in Western social philosophy of the 18th and 19th centuries. The most prominent early developers of the concept include John Locke, Adam Ferguson, Immanuel Kant, Charles de Montesquieu, G. W. F. Hegel, and Alexis de Tocqueville. Since then, Habermas 1989 has made significant contributions to the understanding of civil society, and scholars such as Cohen and Arato 1992, Berman 1997, Putnam 1993, and Seligman 1995 have given the concept renewed scrutiny.
  6.  
  7. Berman, Sheri. “Civil Society and the Collapse of the Weimar Republic.” World Politics 49 (April 1997): 401–429.
  8.  
  9. DOI: 10.1353/wp.1997.0008Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  10.  
  11. This seminal article raised alarm bells about social capital and civil society, suggesting that they could promote authoritarian rather than democratic regimes by displacing and weakening centrist parties, as in the Weimar Republic.
  12.  
  13. Find this resource:
  14.  
  15. Cohen, Jean L., and Andrew Arato. Civil Society and Political Theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992.
  16.  
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  18.  
  19. This widely cited work provides a comprehensive introduction to the historical concept of civil society and argues that, despite the social and political specificity of it origins, it can be “reconstructed” as a modern concept that is relevant to all types of societies.
  20.  
  21. Find this resource:
  22.  
  23. Gellner, Ernest. Conditions of Liberty: Civil Society and Its Rivals. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1994.
  24.  
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  26.  
  27. Gellner argues that “modularity,” that is, the ability to separate oneself from ascriptive or traditional identities, associations, and occupations, is the defining feature of civil society, whereas “segmentalism” defines a traditional society, where a person cannot be involved in associations except for those determined by his or her traditional occupation or ascriptive identity.
  28.  
  29. Find this resource:
  30.  
  31. Habermas, Jürgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1989.
  32.  
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  34.  
  35. Originally written in the late 1950s as a doctoral dissertation, this book is a classic that links the “public sphere” of civil society to the evolution of modern capitalism and consolidation of media conglomerates.
  36.  
  37. Find this resource:
  38.  
  39. Putnam, Robert D., with Robert Leonardi and Raffaella Y. Nanetti. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993.
  40.  
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  42.  
  43. Putnam argues that the density of secondary associations in northern Italy, products of centuries of history, better explains the functioning of regional government than economic development. These associations, whether they be soccer leagues or bird-watchers’ societies, accumulate the social capital that facilitates political participation. The question arises whether those parts of Italy (and much of the Muslim world) that did not enjoy the north’s history of medieval urban autonomy can ever “make democracy work.”
  44.  
  45. Find this resource:
  46.  
  47. Seligman, Adam B. The Idea of Civil Society. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995.
  48.  
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  50.  
  51. Seligman presents a history of the concept of civil society since the 18th century and shows how the unresolved tension between two main strands of thought have continued, clouding discussions of civil society in Eastern Europe, the West, and elsewhere.
  52.  
  53. Find this resource:
  54.  
  55. The Civil Society Debate
  56. From the 1970s through the 1990s several factors stimulated intense interest in and debate over the concept of “civil society” worldwide. However, it was primarily the wave of mostly nonviolent pro-democracy movements in Eastern Europe beginning in the late 1980s and culminating in the downfall of the Communist bloc that inspired a surge of interest in the potential for “civil society” to sweep away authoritarian regimes elsewhere, including in the Muslim world. This concept of civil society referred to a realm of public action where individuals would be free to pursue individual interests and express opposition to the state (see Seligman in the General Overviews section). Thus arose the debate over whether such a realm of individuals, separated from their ascriptive identities and freely challenging both traditional and statist power structures, existed or could exist in Muslim societies. Whereas the weight of academic opinion, as the following selection of materials reflects, favors at least the potential for such a realm to exist in Muslim societies (Hanafi 2002; Hashmi 2002; Sadowski 1993; Turner 1984; and Zubaida 1992), scholars report mixed findings on whether civil society has actually resulted in more participatory government, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (Gellner 1995; Jamal 2007; and Mardin 1995). However, judging from continuing efforts by the United Nations Development Program and research and advocacy organizations, such as the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies and Civicus, to promote the development of civil society in Muslim countries, there is still considerable optimism regarding its democratizing and liberalizing effects.
  57.  
  58. Gellner, Ernest. “The Importance of Being Modular.” In Civil Society: Theory, History, Comparison. Edited by John A. Hall, 32–55. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 1995.
  59.  
  60. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  61.  
  62. Gellner argues that “modularity,” that is, the ability to separate oneself from ascriptive or traditional identities, associations, and occupations, is the defining feature of civil society but that political Islam is too rigid to permit liberty of association. He argues that civil society may travel well to Eastern Europe but not to Muslim countries.
  63.  
  64. Find this resource:
  65.  
  66. Hanafi, Hasan. “Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society: A Reflective Islamic Approach.” In Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society. Edited by Simone Chambers and Will Kymlicka, 171–189. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002.
  67.  
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  69.  
  70. Hanafi argues that most of the key features of the concept of civil society can be found in Islamic ethical theory.
  71.  
  72. Find this resource:
  73.  
  74. Hashmi, Sohail H., ed. Islamic Political Ethics: Civil Society, Pluralism, and Conflict. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002.
  75.  
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  77.  
  78. Ten essays explore Islamic ethics with regard to civil society and pluralism, considering questions of the roles of women and the status of religious minorities.
  79.  
  80. Find this resource:
  81.  
  82. Jamal, Amaney A. Barriers to Democracy: The Other Side of Social Capital in Palestine and the Arab World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007.
  83.  
  84. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  85.  
  86. Arguing that civic associations do not necessarily promote democratic values in undemocratic contexts, Jamal examines the impact of a variety of associations in the occupied territories of Palestine in the late 1990s to present a mixed, nuanced view of civil society.
  87.  
  88. Find this resource:
  89.  
  90. Mardin, Şerif. “Civil Society and Islam,” In Civil Society: Theory, History, Comparison. Edited by John A. Hall, 279­299. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 1995.
  91.  
  92. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  93.  
  94. Mardin argues that “civil society” does not translate into Islamic terms, though “civility” does.
  95.  
  96. Find this resource:
  97.  
  98. Sadowski, Yahya. “The New Orientalism and the Democracy Debate.” Middle East Report 183 (July–August 1993): 14–21.
  99.  
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  101.  
  102. This is a powerful rebuttal to the “Orientalist” view that Islam is incompatible with civil society and democracy.
  103.  
  104. Find this resource:
  105.  
  106. Turner, Bryan. “Orientalism and the Problem of Civil Society in Islam.” In Orientalism, Islam, and Islamists. Edited by Asaf Hussain, Robert Olson, and Jamil Qureshi, 23­42. Brattleboro, VT: Amana, 1984.
  107.  
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  109.  
  110. Turner advances the view that Islamic societies lack the institutional and cultural elements required for a civil society and that they see only an absence of institutions mediating between the individual and the state within the tradition of Orientalist thought. He traces the history of European scholarship that views Islamic and “Asiatic” societies as inherently despotic and communal.
  111.  
  112. Find this resource:
  113.  
  114. Zubaida, Sami. “Islam, the State, and Democracy: Contrasting Conceptions of Society in Egypt.” Middle East Report 179 (November–December 1992): 2–10.
  115.  
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  117.  
  118. Civil society, Zubaida argues, requires a “law state,” that is, a system of governance based on the rule of law. As the Egyptian state reserves sweeping powers to rule by decree, civil society, in terms of the sphere of voluntary associations distinct from the state and the sphere of “primordial associations,” is sharply circumscribed.
  119.  
  120. Find this resource:
  121.  
  122. Political Islam and Civil Society
  123. Whereas Ernest Gellner argued in the 1990s that Islam was incompatible with civil society (Gellner 1995), in earlier work he drew comparisons, in the tradition of Hodgson 1974, between the central scripturalist tradition of Islam and Protestantism. The Gellner 1981 collection of earlier essays develops the affinities between Salafi reformed Islam and Max Weber’s Protestant ethic. Goldberg 1991 further develops these ideas in relation to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. When it is further understood that Protestantism had “elective affinities” not only with capitalism but also with earlier efforts in 16th- and 17th-century England and Holland to mobilize the middle classes, why not also suggest affinities between late 20th-century and early 21st-century political Islam and civil society? Berman 2003 argues, however, that political Islam radicalizes civil society in ways that may be reminiscent of Weimar Germany.
  124.  
  125. Berman, Sheri. “Islamism, Revolution, and Civil Society.” Perspectives on Politics 1: 257–272, 2003.
  126.  
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  128.  
  129. Berman argues that Islamists’ success in expanding their presence in civil society represents a failure for liberalism and a triumph for radicalism.
  130.  
  131. Find this resource:
  132.  
  133. Gellner, Ernest. Muslim Society. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
  134.  
  135. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  136.  
  137. In a lengthy introductory essay Gellner presents a broad comparison of Islam and Christianity. Whereas the central Christian tradition involves intermediaries between humans and God, such as angels, saints, and popes, the central Islamic tradition gives literate people direct access through scripture to God’s commands. Islam was in a sense born reformed, whereas Protestantism arose in reaction against corrupt intermediaries. In Islam the saints flourished on the peripheries of orthodox Islam. In other essays Gellner elaborates on this theme: in President Houari Boumediene’s Algeria, for instance, there was a division of labor between janissary technocrats and the ulema of reformist party bureaucrats.
  138.  
  139. Find this resource:
  140.  
  141. Gellner, Ernest. “The Importance of Being Modular.” In Civil Society: Theory, History, Comparison. Edited by John A. Hall, 32–55. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 1995.
  142.  
  143. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  144.  
  145. Gellner argues that “modularity,” that is, the ability to separate oneself from ascriptive or traditional identities, associations, and occupations, is the defining feature of civil society but that political Islam is too rigid to permit liberty of association. He argues that civil society may travel well to Eastern Europe but not to Muslim countries.
  146.  
  147. Find this resource:
  148.  
  149. Goldberg, Ellis. “Smashing Idols and the State: The Protestant Ethic and Egyptian Sunni Radicalism.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 33, no. 1 (1991): 3–35.
  150.  
  151. DOI: 10.1017/S0010417500016844Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  152.  
  153. This article develops the argument that radical political Islam, expressing a strictly scriptural approach, is comparable to the Protestant ethic as expressed in England’s Puritan revolution.
  154.  
  155. Find this resource:
  156.  
  157. Hodgson, Marshall G. S.. The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization. 3 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974.
  158.  
  159. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  160.  
  161. Hodgson presents a brilliant synthesis of Islamic history from its classic age through the middle periods, the “gunpowder empires,” and modern times. Implicit and sometimes explicit comparisons are made with the reformed Christianity of Protestantism.
  162.  
  163. Find this resource:
  164.  
  165. Textbooks
  166. The most focused set of essays on civil society in the Middle East and North Africa remains the two-volume collection of Norton 1995–1996. More recent textbooks focus less specifically on civil society, with the exception of Jamal’s work on Palestine (Jamal 2007). This monograph, warning of the antidemocratic pitfalls as well as potentially democratizing aspects of civil society, is cited here as well as earlier (General Overviews) because it could usefully serve as a textbook in a course about civil society in the Muslim world.
  167.  
  168. Hall, John A., ed. Civil Society: Theory, History, Comparison. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 1995.
  169.  
  170. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  171.  
  172. This is an excellent set of theoretical essays, including Ernest Gellner, Şerif Mardin, and Adam Seligman.
  173.  
  174. Find this resource:
  175.  
  176. Howell, Jude, and Jenny Pearce. Civil Society and Development. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2001.
  177.  
  178. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  179.  
  180. This book looks at how civil society and development intersect in much of the developing world but excludes the Middle East and North Africa and much of the rest of the Muslim world—except for a chapter that includes sub-Saharan Africa and central Asia.
  181.  
  182. Find this resource:
  183.  
  184. Ismael, Tareq Y. Middle East Politics Today: Government and Civil Society. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001.
  185.  
  186. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  187.  
  188. A useful introductory text on politics, governance, and civil society in the Middle East, with chapters discussing the political heritage of Islam and civil society in oppressive states and several chapters on individual countries and subregions.
  189.  
  190. Find this resource:
  191.  
  192. Jamal, Amaney A. Barriers to Democracy: The Other Side of Social Capital in Palestine and the Arab World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007.
  193.  
  194. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  195.  
  196. Arguing that civic associations do not necessarily promote democratic values in undemocratic contexts, Jamal examines the impact of a variety of associations in the occupied territories of Palestine in the late 1990s to present a mixed, nuanced view of civil society.
  197.  
  198. Find this resource:
  199.  
  200. Lust-Okar, Ellen, and Saloua Zerhouni, eds. Political Participation in the Middle East. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2008.
  201.  
  202. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  203.  
  204. This is an intelligent collection of essays about various channels of political participation in Bahrain, Egypt, Gaza, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia.
  205.  
  206. Find this resource:
  207.  
  208. Norton, Augustus Richard, ed. Civil Society in the Middle East. 2 vols. Leiden, Netherlands, and New York: E. J. Brill, 1995–1996.
  209.  
  210. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  211.  
  212. This collection of essays on most of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa attempts to focus on a common set of themes despite differences in approach and definitions of civil society. It remains the best-known compendium on civil society in the Middle East, and it will be of interest to those interested in civil society generally as well as to area specialists. The introductions by the editor are followed by three general essays and fifteen country studies, including a study of Israel, “Two Civil Societies and One State.”
  213.  
  214. Find this resource:
  215.  
  216. Pratt, Nicola. Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Arab World. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2007.
  217.  
  218. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  219.  
  220. A Gramscian view of civil society in contexts of authoritarian rule, notably Algeria, Egypt, Saddam’s Iraq, Syria, and Tunisia.
  221.  
  222. Find this resource:
  223.  
  224. Bibliographies
  225. Many of the books in the Textbooks section have extensive bibliographies, particularly Norton 1995–1996. Additionally several websites offer a wide variety of studies, statistics, and other resources related to civil society in the Muslim world. Foremost is that maintained by the Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (POGAR).
  226.  
  227. Civicus.
  228.  
  229. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  230.  
  231. This nongovernmental organization (NGO) implements civil society promotion programs and carries out large-scale surveys on the civil societies in dozens of countries, titles of which are on their website. Worth mentioning is the Civil Society Index: Assessing and Strengthening Civil Society Worldwide and the Civicus Global Survey of the State of Civil Society, volume 2, both of which include sections on civil societies in Muslim countries.
  232.  
  233. Find this resource:
  234.  
  235. Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies.
  236.  
  237. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  238.  
  239. Based in Cairo, this center’s website has a downloadable database of books in English and Arabic. Also available for download is the Civil Society and Democratization in the Arab World: Annual Report 2007, an excellent overview including country studies for eighteen countries and Palestine.
  240.  
  241. Find this resource:
  242.  
  243. Norton, Augustus Richard, ed. Civil Society in the Middle East. 2 vols. Leiden, Netherlands, and New York: E. J. Brill, 1995–1996.
  244.  
  245. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  246.  
  247. This work includes an extensive print bibliography.
  248.  
  249. Find this resource:
  250.  
  251. Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (POGAR).
  252.  
  253. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  254.  
  255. An arm of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS), the Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (POGAR) provides an abundance of statistics and indicators, country-wise comparisons on civil society indicators, publications on governance and civil society, empirical studies, specialized databases, related weblinks, and more.
  256.  
  257. Find this resource:
  258.  
  259. Journals
  260. There are few journals devoted exclusively to civil society in the Muslim world, such as Civil Society and Democratization in the Arab World, but many devoted to the politics, economics, history, anthropology, and sociology of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The most important journals of both types are listed here.
  261.  
  262. African Affairs.
  263.  
  264. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  265.  
  266. Published by Oxford University Press, this journal covers topics on politics, society, and economics in sub-Saharan countries.
  267.  
  268. Find this resource:
  269.  
  270. Arab Media and Society.
  271.  
  272. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  273.  
  274. Published by American University in Cairo and the Middle East Centre, Saint Antony’s College, Oxford University, this online-only journal focuses on the role of the media in shaping Arab societies and the broader Muslim world.
  275.  
  276. Find this resource:
  277.  
  278. Arab Reform Bulletin.
  279.  
  280. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  281.  
  282. Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, this monthly on-line journal covers political, economic, and human rights developments in Arab countries, and U.S. and European policy toward the region.
  283.  
  284. Find this resource:
  285.  
  286. Asian Survey.
  287.  
  288. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  289.  
  290. Published by the University of California Press, this bimonthly journal covers politics, economics, and foreign relations of countries east of Afghanistan to the Pacific Rim.
  291.  
  292. Find this resource:
  293.  
  294. Civil Society and Democratization in the Arab World.
  295.  
  296. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  297.  
  298. This journal is published by the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies, an independent research and advocacy institute dedicated to the advancement of applied social sciences with special emphasis on Egypt and the Arab world.
  299.  
  300. Find this resource:
  301.  
  302. International Journal of Middle East Studies.
  303.  
  304. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  305.  
  306. Published by Cambridge University Press, this journal publishes research on a broad range of topics, particularly in history, politics, economics, anthropology, sociology, literature, and cultural studies of the Middle East and also comparative religion, theology, law, and philosophy.
  307.  
  308. Find this resource:
  309.  
  310. Middle East Journal.
  311.  
  312. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  313.  
  314. Published quarterly by the Middle East Institute since 1947, this journal covers a wide range of topics, including political and economic development in the Middle East.
  315.  
  316. Find this resource:
  317.  
  318. Middle East Report.
  319.  
  320. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  321.  
  322. The Middle East Research and Information Project publishes this critical analysis of Middle East politics, culture, and society.
  323.  
  324. Find this resource:
  325.  
  326. Civil Society in Specific Regions
  327. The following works presume at least the potential applicability of the concept of civil society to the Muslim world, and most provide strong support for it. Islamist groups, trade unions, business associations, women’s rights groups, the media, and neighborhood associations are among the civil society actors under study. There is considerable discussion of how to adapt or modify the concept to make it a better fit for non-Western societies. Most of the work on civil society in the “Muslim world” is focused on countries in the Middle East and North Africa. However, as most of the world’s Muslims live in Southeast and South Asia, there also is a substantial amount of work on civil society in those regions, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia. Work on civil society in Pakistan and Bangladesh is limited, perhaps reflecting continuing uncertainty about how to apply the concept in those countries. There are several studies focused on Islamist movements, including all of those studies based in sub-Saharan Africa. Some adherents of a Eurocentric concept of civil society might object to the inclusion of Islamist groups in that realm. However, if one adopts the basic definition stated above in the Introduction, one sees little justification for excluding them, and many of the works included here provide a sturdy defense for their inclusion.
  328.  
  329. Arab Middle East
  330. An excellent starting point for country-specific studies of “civil society” as it has traveled to the Middle East and North Africa is the two-volume work edited by Norton 1995–1996. Nasr 2005 offers an analytic framework. Country-specific studies include Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and other Arabian Gulf countries, Israel, Palestine, Sudan, and Yemen. Although civil society may be, as Bellin 1994 argues, a useful critical tool for engaging authoritarian regimes, some of them, such as Palestine (Civil Society and Democratization in the Arab World: Annual Report 2007) and Yemen (Carapico 2007), may offer more space for associations to emerge. Even Egypt, for all the repressiveness of the Hosni Mubarak regime since the early 1990s, offers some space indeed, as Langohr 2004 argues, perhaps to reinforce an authoritarian regime by substituting for political parties.
  331.  
  332. Bellin, Eva. “Civil Society: Effective Tool of Analysis for Middle East Politics?” PS: Political Science and Politics 27, no. 3 (1994): 509–510.
  333.  
  334. DOI: 10.2307/420214Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  335.  
  336. Bellin argues that the concept of civil society is relevant and useful in exploring political dynamics in the Middle East, further suggesting that the study of Middle Eastern politics can likewise be a useful tool for parsing and understanding the meaning of civil society—its boundaries, elements, and functions. She argues against the view that conditions in the Middle East are not conducive to the development of civil society, proposing that they may in fact be quite favorable.
  337.  
  338. Find this resource:
  339.  
  340. Carapico, Sheila. Civil Society in Yemen: The Political Economy of Activism in Modern Arabia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  341.  
  342. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  343.  
  344. Carapico shows how civic participation thrives in a conservative Muslim society.
  345.  
  346. Find this resource:
  347.  
  348. Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies. Civil Society and Democratization in the Arab World: Annual Report 2007.
  349.  
  350. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  351.  
  352. This work includes surveys on eighteen countries and Palestine, covering political rights and civil liberties in the Arab world. Each survey has a section devoted to an examination of civil society.
  353.  
  354. Find this resource:
  355.  
  356. Langohr, Vickie. “Too Much Civil Society, Too Little Politics: Egypt and Liberalizing Arab Regimes.” Comparative Politics 36, no. 2 (2004): 181–204.
  357.  
  358. DOI: 10.2307/4150142Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  359.  
  360. Langhor finds that in Egypt, Tunisia, and the Palestinian Authority nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) form the primary opposition to the government, as effective opposition parties are virtually nonexistent.
  361.  
  362. Find this resource:
  363.  
  364. Lynch, Marc. Voices of the New Arab Public. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
  365.  
  366. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  367.  
  368. Lynch discusses the growing power of public opinion in the Arab world and, in a nod to Jürgen Habermas, the “structural transformation of the Arab public sphere” (p. 29).
  369.  
  370. Find this resource:
  371.  
  372. Nasr, Salim. “Arab Civil Societies and Public Governance Reform: An Analytic Framework and Overview.” Report presented to United Nations Development Programme, Good Governance for Development in the Arab Countries, Dead Sea, Jordan, 6–7 February 2005.
  373.  
  374. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  375.  
  376. The report presents quantitative as well as qualitative analysis of civil society in all of the major Arab countries except Iraq and Syria.
  377.  
  378. Find this resource:
  379.  
  380. Norton, Augustus Richard, ed. Civil Society in the Middle East. 2 vols. Leiden, Netherlands, and New York: E. J. Brill, 1995–1996.
  381.  
  382. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  383.  
  384. This is an excellent starting point for country-specific studies on “civil society” in the Arab Middle East.
  385.  
  386. Find this resource:
  387.  
  388. Pratt, Nicola. Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Arab World. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2007.
  389.  
  390. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  391.  
  392. Pratt examines why civil society has not ended the predominance of authoritarian rule in the Arab world. She finds that during the nation-state building process and the economic liberalization project in Egypt, civil society groups became subordinated to the state. Thus prospects for challenging authoritarianism within the current institutional framework are limited.
  393.  
  394. Find this resource:
  395.  
  396. Rabo, Annika. “Gender, State, and Civil Society in Jordan and Syria.” In Civil Society: Challenging Western Models. Edited by Chris Hann and Elizabeth Dunn, 155–177. London and New York: Routledge, 1996.
  397.  
  398. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  399.  
  400. Rabo shows how gendered forms of contestation against the state in Jordan and Syria enable both men and women to challenge the boundaries between “public” and “private” spheres.
  401.  
  402. Find this resource:
  403.  
  404. Sullivan, Denis J., and Sana Abed-Kotob. Islam in Contemporary Egypt: Civil Society vs. the State. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1999.
  405.  
  406. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  407.  
  408. The authors discuss the history of Islamist groups in Egypt, their role in civil society, and civil society’s relationship with the state.
  409.  
  410. Find this resource:
  411.  
  412. Iran
  413. Iran rivals Egypt and Turkey in the size of its population, and it has received at least as much attention to its burgeoning civil society, promoted by its reformist former president Mohammad Khatami. Iran perhaps encourages more open spaces than Egypt or most other Arab countries for civil society to develop, just as it also promotes relatively free elections, albeit without political parties. See Kamrava 2001 for a survey of Iranian literature concerning civil society and Khatami 2000 for a collection of speeches on civil society.
  414.  
  415. Kamali, Masoud. Revolutionary Iran: Civil Society and State in the Modernization Process. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1998.
  416.  
  417. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  418.  
  419. Kamali compares the outcomes of the constitutional revolution of 1905–1909 and the Islamic revolution of 1976–1979 with regard to why the clergy did not take political power in the first case, when Iran was more traditional, and did so in the second case, when Iran was more modern. He finds that answer lies in the different relationships between civil society and the state during the two periods.
  420.  
  421. Find this resource:
  422.  
  423. Kamrava, Mehran. “The Civil Society Discourse in Iran.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 28, no. 2 (2001): 165–185.
  424.  
  425. DOI: 10.1080/13530190120083068Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  426.  
  427. Kamrava surveys modern Iranian literature on civil society and finds distinct trends in thinking that indicate “a subtle process of cultural re-orientation and re-articulation” (165).
  428.  
  429. Find this resource:
  430.  
  431. Khatami, Muhammad. Islam, Dialogue, and Civil Society. Canberra: Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (The Middle East & Central Asia), The Australian National University, 2000.
  432.  
  433. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  434.  
  435. This collection of speeches advances civil society as an important aspect of Muslim society and advocates dialogue with other non-Muslim civil societies.
  436.  
  437. Find this resource:
  438.  
  439. Turkey
  440. Turkey has deepened democratic practices in the past two decades and has also acquired a vigorous associational life in the provinces as in Istanbul and Ankara, as documented by Bugra 1998 and most recently updated by Gumuscu 2008. Argun 2003 cast interesting light on Turkish civil society by examining its expressions in Germany, where associations enjoy greater liberty of expression.
  441.  
  442. Argun, Betigül Ercan. Turkey in Germany: The Transnational Sphere of Deutschkei. New York: Routledge, 2003.
  443.  
  444. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  445.  
  446. Argun focused on four group-specific transnational spheres to examine relationships between the groups in Turkey and their expressions in Germany. Deutschkei (coined from the German words Deutschland and Türkei) was divided into the Alevis, the Kurds, the ultranationalists, and the Islamists. Transnational public spheres created by these diasporic groups sometimes provided a powerful critique of the system of origin, breaking the state’s monopoly over public discourse (Alevis, Kurds, Islamists). In the case of the ultranationalists, however, the status quo in the country of origin was promoted from abroad.
  447.  
  448. Find this resource:
  449.  
  450. Banuazizi, Ali. “Faltering Legitimacy: The Ruling Clerics and Civil Society in Contemporary Iran.” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 8, no. 4 (1995): 563–578.
  451.  
  452. DOI: 10.1007/BF02142468Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  453.  
  454. Despite continuing political repression and economic instability, Banuazizi finds evidence of a thriving civil society in Iran and argues that the resilience of society and continued resistance to authoritarian rule bodes well for further efforts for democratic change.
  455.  
  456. Find this resource:
  457.  
  458. Bugra, Ayşe. “Class, Culture, and State: An Analysis of Interest Representation by Two Turkish Business Associations.” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 30, no. 4 (1998): 521–539.
  459.  
  460. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  461.  
  462. Bugra presents a sociological analysis comparing the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD), an elite business association founded in 1970, with the Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSİAD), founded in 1990 with a larger group of enterprises largely based in the provinces. Although the M in MUSİAD—Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association—stands for “Independent,” not “Muslim,” the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association seemed closer to a Muslim work ethic than the staunchly secular Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association.
  463.  
  464. Find this resource:
  465.  
  466. Gumuscu, Sebnam. ”Economic Liberalization, Devout Bourgeoisie, and Change in Political Islam: Comparing Turkey and Egypt.” EUI Working Paper RSCAS.2008/18. European University Institute, Florence, Italy, 2008.
  467.  
  468. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  469.  
  470. Gumuscu usefully updates Bugra’s work on the devout Muslim Anatolian business community, with special reference to Konya, as part of a larger comparison of political Islam in Egypt and Turkey.
  471.  
  472. Find this resource:
  473.  
  474. Özdalga, Elisabeth, and Sune Persson, eds. Civil Society, Democracy and the Muslim World: Papers Read at a Conference Held at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, 28–30 October, 1996. Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul Transactions, vol. 7. Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, 1997.
  475.  
  476. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  477.  
  478. Thirteen papers discuss Islam’s relationship to democracy and secularism, cultural underpinnings of civil society as they relate to Islamic civilization, and religious zealotry in relation to civil society. Several articles are on topics related to Turkish civil society, democratic consolidation, and Islamist movements. Most papers address civil society in the Middle East, with one on Indonesia.
  479.  
  480. Find this resource:
  481.  
  482. White, Jenny. “Civic Culture and Islam in Urban Turkey.” In Civil Society: Challenging Western Models. Edited by Chris Hann and Elizabeth Dunn, 141–152. London and New York: Routledge, 1996.
  483.  
  484. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  485.  
  486. White argues that many discussions of civil society or associational life in the Middle East exclude consideration of informal associations held together by personal relationships based on trust, which tend to be mostly working class (as opposed to middle class) and are widely found in the Middle East. She discusses a variety of such movements and associations among working-class communities in Turkey.
  487.  
  488. Find this resource:
  489.  
  490. North Africa
  491. Civil society is most vigorous in Morocco, where associations enjoy relative freedom and may harness participatory energies more effectively than its aging array of political parties. Algeria has the largest number of associations (Liverani 2008), but they face greater challenges to their autonomy and effective collective action. In Tunisia the government sponsors many associations but only a brave half dozen or so operate with any autonomy, as Garon 2003 and Henry 2007 explain. Tamimi 2001 shows how Rashid Ghannoushi, Tunisia’s leading Islamist, rediscovered elements of civil society in precolonial Muslim Tunisia.
  492.  
  493. Cavatorta, Francesco. “Civil Society, Islamism, and Democratisation: The Case of Morocco.” Journal of Modern African Studies 44, no. 2 (2006): 203–222.
  494.  
  495. DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X06001601Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  496.  
  497. Cavatorta argues that the participation of Islamist groups in civil society is not detrimental to democratization.
  498.  
  499. Find this resource:
  500.  
  501. Garon, Lise. Dangerous Alliances: Civil Society, the Media, and Democratic Transition in North Africa. London: Zed, 2003.
  502.  
  503. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  504.  
  505. Garon examines civil society in the Maghreb states with a focus on Tunisia, arguing that alliances formed between the government and civil actors stifled the development of civil institutions and the rule of law.
  506.  
  507. Find this resource:
  508.  
  509. Henry, Clement M. “Tunisia’s ‘Sweet Little Rogue’ Regime.” In Worst of the Worst: Dealing with Repressive and Rogue Nations. Edited by Robert Rotberg, 300–323. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2007.
  510.  
  511. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  512.  
  513. Henry documents authoritarian practices that suppress civil society in Tunisia—in cyberspace as well as on the ground.
  514.  
  515. Find this resource:
  516.  
  517. Layachi, Azzedine. State, Society, and Democracy in Morocco: The Limits of Associative Life. Washington, DC: Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, 1998.
  518.  
  519. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  520.  
  521. Layachi finds that civil society in Morocco has been stifled and questions the usefulness of the concept there.
  522.  
  523. Find this resource:
  524.  
  525. Liverani, Andrea. Civil Society in Algeria: The Political Functions of Associational Life. New York: Routledge, 2008.
  526.  
  527. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  528.  
  529. Liverani examines the dense associational life of Algeria and questions whether it is actually a force for democratization and the extent to which nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) enjoy any real autonomy. A vibrant civil society presupposes a state that impartially promotes the rule of law.
  530.  
  531. Find this resource:
  532.  
  533. Tamimi, Azzam S. Rachid Ghannouchi: A Democrat within Islamism. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
  534.  
  535. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  536.  
  537. Ghannouchi is a prominent Tunisian opposition leader and Islamist who advocates democracy and pluralism and maintains that the ideals of human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law are compatible with Islam.
  538.  
  539. Find this resource:
  540.  
  541. Sub-Saharan Africa
  542. Civil society travels not only to wealthy states, such as oil-rich Nigeria (Watts 1996), but even to the poorest of Muslim states in the African Sahel, such as Niger (Masquelier 1999). One interesting question that arises is whether religious orders may serve as functional equivalents of civil society organizations. Villalón 1995, in an impressive study of Senegal, points in this direction.
  543.  
  544. Masquelier, Adeline. “Debating Muslims, Disputed Practices: Struggles for the Realization of an Alternative Moral Order in Niger.” In Civil Society and the Political Imagination in Africa: Critical Perspectives. Edited by John L. Comaroff and Jean Comaroff, 219–250. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
  545.  
  546. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  547.  
  548. Maquelier argues that Islamic groups have become a part of civil society in Niger.
  549.  
  550. Find this resource:
  551.  
  552. Villalón, Leonardo Alfonso. Islamic Society and State Power in Senegal: Disciples and Citizens in Fatick. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
  553.  
  554. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  555.  
  556. Villalón argues that Sufi Muslim orders have played a crucial role in maintaining democracy and stability in Senegal.
  557.  
  558. Find this resource:
  559.  
  560. Watts, Michael. “Islamic Modernities? Citizenship, Civil Society, and Islamism in a Nigerian City.” Public Culture 8, no. 2 (1996): 251–289.
  561.  
  562. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  563.  
  564. Watts examines the expansion of the public sphere in the context of the growth of Islamist movements.
  565.  
  566. Find this resource:
  567.  
  568. South Asia
  569. Scholars of South Asia continue to debate whether the concept of civil society as a specifically Western construct can be usefully applied in South Asia. Chatterjee 2004 argues that the postcolonial legacy in “governance” and the marginalization of the poor discourage popular political participation in India. Malik 1997 and Weinbaum 1996 argue that the continuing political instability in Pakistan has resulted in an underdeveloped civil society. Stiles 2002 shows how persistent poverty and the consequent prominence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Bangladeshi civic life inhibit the development of a indigenous civil society there. However, as Varshney 2002 and Jayaram 2005 demonstrate, there is a thriving, diverse civil society in India, where democratic institutions have become deeply rooted.
  570.  
  571. Chatterjee, Partha. The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
  572.  
  573. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  574.  
  575. This collection of essays is a vital introduction to the debate over the applicability of the concept of “civil society” in postcolonial societies. Chatterjee argues that most of the population of India, being poor and uneducated, cannot participate in what Western philosophers have defined as civil society.
  576.  
  577. Find this resource:
  578.  
  579. Jayaram, Narayana, ed. On Civil Society: Issues and Perspectives. Themes in Indian Sociology, vol. 7. New Delhi; Thousand Oaks, CA; and London: Sage, 2005.
  580.  
  581. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  582.  
  583. This compilation covers a wide variety of issues relevant to civil society in India, including its relationship to Indian democracy, ethnic politics, religion, and local governance and the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
  584.  
  585. Find this resource:
  586.  
  587. Malik, Iftikhar Haider. State and Civil Society in Pakistan: Politics of Authority, Ideology, and Ethnicity. New York: St. Martin’s, 1997.
  588.  
  589. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  590.  
  591. A discussion of the historical imbalance between civil society and authority structures in Pakistan.
  592.  
  593. Find this resource:
  594.  
  595. Stiles, Kendall W. Civil Society by Design: Donors, NGOs, and the Intermestic Development Circle in Bangladesh. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002.
  596.  
  597. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  598.  
  599. Stiles argues that the relationship between the transnational nongovernmental organization (NGO) community and the state has marginalized and altered the development of Bangladeshi civil society.
  600.  
  601. Find this resource:
  602.  
  603. Thörlind, Robert. Development, Decentralization, and Democracy: Exploring Social Capital and Politicization in the Bengal Region. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 1999.
  604.  
  605. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  606.  
  607. Thörlind compares civil society, popular political participation, and local governance in a district in West Bengal with one in neighboring Bangladesh.
  608.  
  609. Find this resource:
  610.  
  611. Varshney, Ashutosh. Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
  612.  
  613. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  614.  
  615. This seminal work explores the variable impact of civil society organizations on the occurrence or absence of ethnic violence in six Indian cities. Varshney shows that where there are prominent organizations that bring Hindus and Muslims together, such groups can help prevent or mitigate ethnic violence.
  616.  
  617. Find this resource:
  618.  
  619. Weinbaum, Marvin G. “Civic Culture and Democracy in Pakistan.” Asian Survey 36, no. 7 (1996): 639–654.
  620.  
  621. DOI: 10.1525/as.1996.36.7.01p0147qSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  622.  
  623. Weinbaum evaluates historical, cultural, and religious reasons for underdevelopment of civil society in Pakistan.
  624.  
  625. Find this resource:
  626.  
  627. Weiss, Anita M., and S. Zulfiqar Gilani, eds. Power and Civil Society in Pakistan. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 2001.
  628.  
  629. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  630.  
  631. This is a compendium of articles on various aspects of civil society and foundations of power in Pakistan.
  632.  
  633. Find this resource:
  634.  
  635. Southeast Asia
  636. The focus here is on Indonesia and Malaysia, and there is a breadth of scholarship on civil society’s complicated relationship with democratization and political reform in these countries. Hefner 2000 makes a major contribution to the field with his exploration of the reasons why a sturdy Islamic civil society, such as that found in several Middle Eastern countries, failed to develop in Indonesia.
  637.  
  638. Alagappa, Muthiah, ed. Civil Society and Political Change in Asia: Expanding and Contracting Democratic Space. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2004.
  639.  
  640. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  641.  
  642. Alagappa explores the role of civil society in democratization, liberalization, or political reform in twelve Asian countries, including the Muslim majority countries of Indonesia and Malaysia.
  643.  
  644. Find this resource:
  645.  
  646. Bünte, Marco, and Andreas Ufen, eds. Democratization in Post-Suharto Indonesia. New York: Routledge, 2008.
  647.  
  648. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  649.  
  650. This work examines the role of civil society in democratization, anticorruption efforts, and separatist movements.
  651.  
  652. Find this resource:
  653.  
  654. Hefner, Robert W. Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000.
  655.  
  656. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  657.  
  658. Hefner argues that the intellectual and political ingredients for a “civil Islam” were present in Indonesia in the 1990s but that political factors extrinsic to Islam hindered the development of a durable Islamic civil society.
  659.  
  660. Find this resource:
  661.  
  662. Heryanto, Ariel, and Sumit K. Mandal, eds. Challenging Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia: Comparing Indonesia and Malaysia. London: Routledge Curzon, 2003.
  663.  
  664. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  665.  
  666. This is a comparative study of civil society in Indonesia and Malaysia, including discussions of the intelligentsia, the media, state-labor relations, and women’s activism.
  667.  
  668. Find this resource:
  669.  
  670. Nakamura, Mitsuo, Sharon Siddique, and Omar Farouk Bajunid, eds. Islam and Civil Society in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2001.
  671.  
  672. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  673.  
  674. These are papers from a 1999 seminar, including two on Indonesia, two on Malaysia, and several on Muslim minorities’ contributions to civil society in other Southeast Asian countries.
  675.  
  676. Find this resource:
  677.  
  678. Schak, David C., and Wayne Hudson, eds. Civil Society in Asia. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2003.
  679.  
  680. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  681.  
  682. This work presents an inclusive view of the forms of civil society that have manifested in Asian societies, which are themselves fundamentally different from Western models. Of particular interest will be a chapter that discusses the successful effort by Muslim organizations to ban a play they deemed offensive in Singapore; two chapters on civil society in Malaysia, including one on its democratizing effects and one on its role in political reform; and one chapter on civil society and democratization in Indonesia.
  683.  
  684. Find this resource:
  685.  
  686. Verma, Vidhu. Malaysia: State and Civil Society in Transition. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2002.
  687.  
  688. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  689.  
  690. Verma argues that, whereas Malaysian civil society is weak, it is undergoing a period of profound change. However, while associational life is growing, this does not necessarily indicate a turn toward democracy.
  691.  
  692. Find this resource:
  693.  
  694. Weiss, Meredith L. Protest and Possibilities: Civil Society and Coalitions for Political Change in Malaysia. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006.
  695.  
  696. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  697.  
  698. An examination of civil society in Malaysia and a comparison with the Indonesian experience.
  699.  
  700. Find this resource:
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