Freedoms Delayed
Political Legacies of Islamic Law in the Middle East

Islamic institutions have turned the Middle East into an extraordinarily repressive region. Their legacies preclude a speedy liberalization.

Timur Kuran (Author)

9781009320016, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 July 2023

350 pages
23.7 x 16.1 x 2.9 cm, 0.77 kg

'The Middle East is the least free part of the modern world. In this tour de force, Timur Kuran rigorously probes the sources of this problem, and objectively exposes its roots in the Islamic tradition…' Mustafa Akyol, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute

According to diverse indices of political performance, the Middle East is the world's least free region. Some believe that it is Islam that hinders liberalization. Others retort that Islam cannot be a factor because the region is no longer governed under Islamic law. This book by Timur Kuran, author of the influential Long Divergence, explores the lasting political effects of the Middle East's lengthy exposure to Islamic law. It identifies several channels through which Islamic institutions, both defunct and still active, have limited the expansion of basic freedoms under political regimes of all stripes: secular dictatorships, electoral democracies, monarchies legitimated through Islam, and theocracies. Kuran suggests that Islam's rich history carries within it the seeds of liberalization on many fronts; and that the Middle East has already established certain prerequisites for a liberal order. But there is no quick fix for the region's prevailing record of human freedoms.

Preface
Part I. The Modern Middle East's Authoritarian Face: 1. Islam and political development
2. Explaining illiberalism, identifying opportunities for liberalization
Part II. Persistent Social Atomization: 3. Non-governmental organizations under Islamic law
4. The political impotence of Islamic Waqfs
5. Waqf corruption and its degradation of civic life
6. The Islamic Waqf's long civic shadow
Part III. Religious Repression: 7. Religious freedoms in Islamic history
8. Marginalization of Islam
9. Resurgence of assertive Islam
10. The absence of liberal schisms
Part IV. Economic Hindrances: 11. Unshackled states, shallow economic governance
12. Politically powerless entrepreneurs and enterprises
13. Islamism's missed opportunity to strengthen rule of law
Part V. Conclusion: 14. Islam and Muslim freedoms
References.

Subject Areas: Development economics & emerging economies [KCM]