Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance Without Liberalism

Indonesia's Islamic organizations sustain the country's thriving civil society, democracy, and reputation for tolerance amid diversity. Yet scholars poorly understand how these organizations envision the accommodation of religious difference. What does tolerance mean to the world's largest Islamic organizations? What are the implications for democracy in Indonesia and the broader Muslim world? Jeremy Menchik argues that answering these questions requires decoupling tolerance from liberalism and investigating the historical and political conditions that engender democratic values. Drawing on archival documents, ethnographic observation, comparative political theory, and an original survey, Islam and Democracy in Indonesia demonstrates that Indonesia's Muslim leaders favor a democracy in which individual rights and group-differentiated rights converge within a system of legal pluralism, a vision at odds with American-style secular government but common in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.

Author: Jeremy Menchik
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 03/23/2017
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781107548039

About the Author
Menchik, Jeremy: - Jeremy Menchik is an Assistant Professor in the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, and a Faculty Affiliate in Political Science and Religious Studies. He has been Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow in Contemporary Asia at Stanford University, California and Luce Fellow at Columbia University, New York. His research focuses on the politics of religion, with a particular interest in Indonesia and the Muslim world. He has published articles in journals such as Comparative Studies in Society and History and South East Asia Research. His work has been recognized by several prizes, including the Fulbright award to Indonesia, the Mildred Potter Hovland Journal Article Prize, and the Paper Award from the Southeast Asian Politics Group, and received an honorable mention for the Aaron Wildavsky Dissertation Award.