Political Islam, Governance and Democracy, Spring 2004

Islam remains a central cultural and sociopolitical force throughout the Islamic world. The success of political Islam, though varying in different Muslim countries, depends largely on its advocates’ abilities to provide pragmatic solutions to real problems facing developing Muslim countries. Islam and democracy can coexist if democratic principles, procedures, and organization are accepted as tools necessary for the resolution of differences in values, beliefs and methods among the elites and between the state and society. Islamic leaders must organize themselves and provide the institutional basis for Islam to participate in competitive and orderly politics.