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This book challenges the widespread view that Islam is a reactionary religion defending tradition against modernity and individual freedom.
List of contents
1. Introduction; 2. Insights from early modern Europe; 3. Conflation between religion and politics: the case of Islam; 4. The dominant system of politico-religious relations in Islam: a historical perspective; 5. The rise of Islam in conditions of state crisis: the case of weak states; 6. The rise of Islam in conditions of state crisis: the case of kleptocratic despotism; 7. Islamism in historical and international perspective; 8. Revivalist movements in other religions; 9. Enlightened despotism examined; 10. Islam, politics, and the challenge of enforcement; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
Jean-Philippe Platteau is Professor of Economics at Université de Namur, Belgium. He has devoted his research career to studying the role of institutions in economic development and the processes of institutional change. He is the co-author of Culture, Institutions, and Development: New Insights into an Old Debate (with Robert Peccoud, 2010), and has contributed to volume two of the Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture (2013), as well as several articles for the Journal of Development Economics.
Summary
This book challenges the widespread view that Islam is a reactionary religion that defends tradition against modernity and individual freedom. Jean-Philippe Platteau shows how Islam is vulnerable to political manipulation and how the threat of religious extremism is especially high because Islam is not organized as a centralized church.
Additional text
Advance praise: 'Islam Instrumentalized moves beyond the ideological 'clash of civilizations' discussions of the role of religion in political and economic development to provide a theoretical analysis, grounded in the principles of modern political economy, of how religious and political elites interact. More than just a fascinating discussion of Islam in the modern world, Platteau gives us a template for discussing these issues in other parts of the world, and placing them in comparative perspective. This book is the new starting point for any economist wanting to work on these questions.' Lawrence Blume, Goldwin Smith Professor of Economics, Cornell University, New York
