Author: Nassef Manabilang Adiong

Nassef is the founder of Co-IRIS (International Relations and Islamic Studies Research Cohort), PHISO (Philippine International Studies Organization), DSRN (Decolonial Studies Research Network), and BRLN (Bangsamoro Research and Legal Network). He works on interdisciplinary research between Islam and International Relations and explores the Bangsamoro society as he heads the Policy Research and Legal Services (PRLS) of the Bangsamoro Parliament. Visit https://nassef.info/ for more details.

International Relations and Islamic Studies: Breaking New Ground

Title:
International Relations and Islamic Studies: Breaking New Ground
Abstract:
International Relations (IR) as a field is not a unilateral project rather it is an intellectual platform. This book seeks to explore Islamic contributions to this field. The inclusion of Muslim contributions is not meant to create an isolationist, judicious divide between what is Islamic and what is not. Instead, the book hopes to act on the inclusion of that knowledge as a building bloc in the field of IR. Thus, it is premised on the idea that knowledge is fluid: peoples adopt and utilize thoughts and ideas regardless of faith, gender, nation, etc. The mainstream idea that all knowledge presented by the West is from an “Orientalist” perspective or that there is a “clash of civilizations” are both notions that are antithetical to the goal of this project. Our primal aim is to develop and sustain a body of knowledge that addresses the theories and practices of the Islamic civilization and of Muslim societies with regards to international affairs and to the discipline of IR.
Islam as a faith prizes and encourages scientific research, which is particularly exemplified in the history of al-Andalus, Islamic Spain. Muslims’ contributions to the European Enlightenment are historically proven. Therefore, epistemologically this book asks the question:
Is Islamic International Relations thought and practice in congruence with contemporary IR theories or not? Comparatively, what are the similarities and differences? If there are differences, what are they and why do they exist? Can Islamic episteme influence contemporary IR theory?
            The purpose of this book is to start a dialogue based on all the queries stated above. The chapters will discuss comparative research between IR and Islam. One of the chapters will look into classical and contemporary treaties between Muslim and non-Muslim regimes as sources of Islamic international law. Other chapters will utilize grand narratives such as ‘dialogue/alliance of civilizations’ and ‘religious defamation’ that show relatively successful proximities of power and influence within and among international and political institutions, e.g. the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the UN’s Alliance of Civilizations. A critical exploration of the impact of current political and social conditions is having on Islamist political concepts. Relation of Islamic movements to nationalism, the place of ummah in international politics, the existence of potential alternative paradigms of International Relations within Islamic history, and reasons of the incapability of Muslims to unite will also be discussed, while other chapters will focus on Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Sayyid Qutb’s worldviews of the international society.
Target Audience:
The main target audience of the book is represented by students and academicians of International Relations and International Relations Theory. Students and academicians of Islamic Studies represent a potential secondary audience. More widely, the book also targets informed readers interested in the politics of Islam and in Muslim politics.
Market and Competition:
The edited volume is part of a very recent but steadily growing number of studies enquiring non-Western International Relations theories and practices. The market and general public have shown a clear interest in the study of discourses and practices related to the Islamic world. Apart from a recent book edited by one of the editors of the proposed volume, the book would be the first edited volume entirely dedicated to theories and practices of the Islamic civilization and of Muslim societies with regards to international affairs and to the discipline of IR. The first book that tries to put forward a comprehensive study of comparative research between International Relations and Islamic Studies.
Editors:
Abdelkader, Deina is currently an associate professor in the department of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Abdelkader is a Comparitivist and International Relations specialist. Her scholarly interests and research, focus on the Middle East and North Africa, Comparative Democratization in the Muslim World, Islamic Activism, and the Role of Muslim Women in Religious Interpretation. She is the author of Social Justice in Islam (2000) and Islamic Activists: The Anti-Enlightenment Democrats (Pluto Press, 2011). She has also authored a number of articles; her latest is: Coercion, Peace and the Issue of Jihad in the Digest of Middle East Studies, and a book chapter titled: “Modernity, Islam and Religious Activism”, The New Global Order and the Middle East, Ashgate Publishers, (2012) Abdelkader is also one of two women on the Islamic Jurisprudential Council of North America (Fiqh Council of North America) and she is also part of the editorial board of the Digest of Middle East Studies, and the new President of Voile: “Voices of Islamic Law and Ethics”. 
Adiong, Nassef Manabilang is a student of theories of International Relations, politics of Islam(icate), integration of Muslims in Europe, and with research interests in the concepts of nation-state, civilization, and European polity. He is the author of the following articles: “Nation-State in IR and Islam” in the Journal of Islamic State Practice in International Law, “The U.S. and Israel Securitization of Iran’s Nuclear Energy” in The Quarterly Journal of Political Studies of Islamic World, “The Palestinian Refugee Question: A Constitutive Constructivist Interpretation” in Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations, “Ideology that Spawns Islamist Militancy” in Frank Shanty’s Counterterrorism: From the Cold War to the War on Terror, and encyclopaedic entries such as civilization, nation, nation-state, International Relations, nationalism, pan-Islamism, Philippines, Qatar, and Suez Canal for various publishers including ABC-CLIO, SAGE Publications, Inc., and Wiley-Blackwell. His first edited book entitled “International Relations and Islam: Diverse Perspectives” is published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing on August 2013.
Mauriello, Raffaele is an historian of the contemporary Near and Middle East. He holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Civilization: History and Philology from the Sapienza, University of Rome (Italy). He has published several peer-reviewed essays and chapters in edited volumes on Shi‘a Islam history and on Iranian and Iraqi geopolitical affairs. He is also a translator of Arabic and Persian languages. In 2013, he was awarded the World Prize for the Book of the Year of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the field of Islamic Studies for his monograph Descendants of the Family of the Prophet in Contemporary History: A Case Study, the Šī‘ī Religious Establishment of al-Naǧaf (Iraq) (Rivista degli Studi Orientali-Fabrizio Serra editore: Rome-Pisa December 2011). .
Total Word Count: approximately around 54,600 to 78,500 words including bibliography or references

International Studies degree programs in the Philippines

PHISO new logo

The Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO) is the pioneering professional organization dedicated to the promotion of International Relations (IR) as a field of study in the Philippines, as well as interdisciplinary exchange of research and knowledge through workshops, conferences and collaborative publication projects aimed at furthering understanding about the concept of the ‘international’.

The mission and vision of PHISO encompasses goals for research and education. Firstly, besides providing a venue for the discussion of dominant approaches to IR such as realism, liberalism and constructivism, PHISO seeks to develop interest and scholarship in Global International Relations through the study of theories, scholars and sources of knowledge from the Global South, particularly the Philippines. This may include relational theory, contrapuntal reading, decoloniality, civilizational encounters in a multiplex world, and the incorporation of IR texts that express the realities of one’s culture and experiences.

Secondly, PHISO endeavors to foster relations and knowledge-sharing with educational institutions, scholars, practitioners and students in order to strengthen ties between the academe and the public, as well as create a broad base of interest in the field. Lastly, PHISO serves as a platform for critical engagement with the theoretical diversity of IR, from the rich corpus of Euro-American scholarship that has historically characterized the discipline and emerging scholarship critical of the limitations of this legacy.

These are the available 28 undergraduate and 9 Master’s degree programs that are relevant to the study of the “International” in the Philippines. Click on the name of the program to view the curriculum, research specializations, and faculty members. So far there is no institution that offers doctoral program in the country.

Northern Philippines (Luzon)

Master in International Studies, University of the Philippines, Diliman

Master of Arts/Master in International Studies, Miriam College, Manila

Master of Arts in Foreign Service, Philippine Women’s University, Manila

Master of Arts in Foreign Service, Lyceum of the Philippines University, Manila

Master of Arts in Political Economy with specialization in International Relations and Development, University of Asia and the Pacific, Manila

AB Diplomacy and International Relations with specialization in East and Southeast Asian Studies, Ateneo de Manila University

Bachelor or Arts in International Studies, Miriam College, Manila

Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Service, Philippine Women’s University, Manila

AB Foreign Service major in Diplomacy or International Trade, College of International Relations, Lyceum of the Philippines University, Manila

Bachelor of Arts major in Consular and Diplomatic Affairs, De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde, Manila

Bachelor of Arts major in International Studies, University of the East, Manila

A.B. International Studies, Far Eastern University, Manila

Bachelor of Arts major in Foreign Service, New Era University, Quezon City

Bachelor of Arts major in International Studies, College of the Holy Spirit Manila

BS International Studies, Cavite State University, Municipality of Indang

AB Philosophy major in Foreign Service and International Relations, Ateneo de Naga University, Camarines Sur

Bachelor of Arts in International Studies major in Tourism, San Beda College – Alabang, Muntinlupa City

Central Philippines (Visayas)

Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, University of San Jose – Recoletos, Cebu City

Bachelor of Political Science major in International Relations and Foreign Service, University of San Carlos, Cebu City

Bachelor of Arts in International Studies major in American Studies, Asian Studies or European Studies, Cebu Doctor’s University

Bachelor of Science in Foreign Affairs, Silliman University, Dumaguete City

Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City

Southern Philippines (Mindanao)

MA in Global Studies major in American Studies, Mindanao State University, Marawi City
.

Bachelor of Arts major in International Studies, Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan

BS in International Relations, Mindanao State University, Marawi City

Bachelor of Arts major in International Studies, Ateneo de Zamboanga University

Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, Liceo de Cagayan University

Bachelor of Science in International Relations, Institute of Middle East and Asian Studies, University of Southern Mindanao, Cotabato City

Bachelor of Science in International Studies major in Japanese Studies, Mindanao Kokusai Daigaku, Davao City

Bachelor of Science in Diplomacy and International Relations, RC-Al Khwarizmi International College, Marawi City

See: Tickner and Wæver’s International Relations Scholarship Around the World (Worlding Beyond the West)

NB. To learn how IR became an independent social science discipline, read the compendium project of ISA.

Islamicate Understanding of Civilization

Islamicate Understanding of Civilization
Our very own student, Nassef Manabilang Adiong, had participated in the first-ever international congress on civilization with a theme entitled “Past, Present, and the Future of Civilizations” held on 17-19 January 2014 at the Wyndham Kalamış Marina hotel in Istanbul. It was organized by the Centre for Civilization Studies of the Istanbul Medeniyet University.

[Öğrencimiz Mr. Nassef Manabilang Adiong, medeniyet konusunda “Medeniyetlerin Geçmişi, Bugünü ve Geleceği” başlığıyla düzenlenen ilk uluslararası kongre olan ve 17-19 Ocak 2014 tarihleri arasında İstanbul Wyndham Kalamış Marina Otel’de düzenlenen kongreye katıldı. Bu kongre İstanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi Medeniyet Çalışmaları Merkezi tarafından düzenlendi.]
He presented a paper entitled “Islamicate Understanding of Civilization” drawing from various perspectives from selected thinkers and practitioners. The “Islamicate” word is a term coined by Marshall G.S. Hodgson in his 3-volume book “The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization” where he distinguished phenomena that are entirely and properly religious (Islamic) from those predominantly accultured ones (Islamicate) such as consumption of alcohol, dress codes, homosexuality, freedom fighters (terrorism), etc.

[Adiong kongrede “Medeniyetlerin İslamikeyt Yorumu” isimli, seçilmiş düşünür ve uygulayıcıların çeşitli bakış açılarına yer veren makalesini sundu. “İslamikeyt” kelimesi, Marshall G.S. Hodgson tarafından; alkol tüketimi, kıyafet kanunları, homoseksüellik, özgürlük savaşçısı (terörizm) gibi baskın olarak kültüründen (İslamikeyt) kopartılmış olanlar ile bütünüyle ve tam anlamıyla dindar olağanüstü olayları birbirinden ayırdığı 3 ciltlik “İslam’ın cüreti: Dünya Medeniyetinde İslam ve Vicdan” kitabında kullanılmıştır.]
He surveyed perspectives of Ibn Khaldun’s ‘Asabiyyah’ of Civilization, Malek Bennabi’s Equation of Civilization, Mohammad Hashim Kamali’s Middle Grounds of Islamic Civilization (The Qur’anic Principle of Wasaṭiyyah), and Recep Şentürk’s Islam as an Open Civilization. In addition, he also oriented the audience how the discourse on civilization was utilized as a political tool against Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” thesis by certain political elites such as Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia and his Islam hadhari or civilizational Islam, Muhammad Khatami of Iran and his idea of dialogue of civilizations, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey and his project called Alliance of Civilizations.

[Ibn Haldun’un Medeniyet’in “Asabiyyah”ı, Malek Bennabi’nin Medeniyetlerin Eşitliği, Mohammad Hashim Kamali’nin İslam Medeniyeti’nin Orta Temelleri (Wasatiyyah’ın Kur’ansal İlkesi) ve Recep Şentürk’ün Açık Bir Medeniyet Olarak İslam’daki bakış açılarını incelemiştir. İlave olarak, dinleyicileri medeniyet ile ilgili söylevin Samuel Huntington’un “Medeniyetlerin Çarpışması” tezi karşısında; Malezya’dan Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ve O’nun İslami hadhari ya da medeniyetsel İslam, İran’dan Muhammed Khatami ve medeniyetlerin diyaloğu düşüncesi ve Türkiye’den Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ve Medeniyetler İttifakı isimli projesi gibi kesin siyasi elitler tarafından siyasi bir araç olarak faydalanıldığı konusunda yönlendirmiştir.]

His presentation is a forthcoming article for the Islam: A Worldwide Encyclopedia (4 Volumes) edited by Prof. Dr. Cenap Çakmak and published by ABC-CLIO (Santa Barbara, CA).

[Adiong’un sunumu İslam ile ilgili yakında çıkacak bir makaledir: Dünya Çağında Ansiklepodi (4 Cilt) Prof. Dr. Cenap Çakmak tarafından düzenlenmiş ve ABC-CLIO (Santa Barbara, CA) tarafından basılmış.]

Translated into Turkish by Mr. Okan Cengiz Başaran.

International congress titled “The Past, Present and Future of Civilizations” was held.27.01.2014Our student, Nassef Manabilang Adiong, had participated in the first-ever international congress on civilization with a theme entitled “Past, Present, and the Future of Civilizations” held on 17-19 January 2014 at the Wyndham Kalamış Marina hotel in Istanbul. It was organized by the Centre for Civilization Studies of the Istanbul Medeniyet University.

He presented a paper entitled “Islamicate Understanding of Civilization” drawing from various perspectives from selected thinkers and practitioners. The “Islamicate” word is a term coined by Marshall G.S. Hodgson in his 3-volume book “The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization” where he distinguished phenomena that are entirely and properly religious (Islamic) from those predominantly acculturated ones (Islamicate) such as consumption of alcohol, dress codes, homosexuality, freedom fighters (terrorism), etc. 

He surveyed perspectives of Ibn Khaldun’s ‘Asabiyyah’ of Civilization, Malek Bennabi’s Equation of Civilization, Mohammad Hashim Kamali’s Middle Grounds of Islamic Civilization (The Qur’anic Principle of Wasaṭiyyah), and Recep Şentürk’s Islam as an Open Civilization. In addition, he also oriented the audience how the discourse on civilization was utilized as a political tool against Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” thesis by certain political elites including Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia and his Islam hadhari or civilizational Islam, Muhammad Khatami of Iran and his idea of dialogue of civilizations, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey and his project called Alliance of Civilizations.

“Medeniyetlerin Geçmişi, Bugünü ve Geleceği” adlı ilk uluslararası kongre gerçekleştirildi.27.01.2014Öğrencimiz Nassef Manabilang Adiong, medeniyet konusunda “Medeniyetlerin Geçmişi, Bugünü ve Geleceği” başlığıyla düzenlenen ilk uluslararası kongre olan ve 17-19 Ocak 2014 tarihleri arasında İstanbul Wyndham Kalamış Marina Otel’de düzenlenen kongreye katıldı. Bu kongre İstanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi Medeniyet Çalışmaları Merkezi tarafından düzenlendi.

Adiong kongrede “Medeniyetlerin İslamiyet Yorumu” isimli, seçilmiş düşünür ve uygulayıcıların çeşitli bakış açılarına yer veren makalesini sundu. “İslamiyet” kelimesi, Marshall G.S. Hodgson tarafından; alkol tüketimi, kıyafet kanunları, homoseksüellik, özgürlük savaşçısı (terörizm) gibi baskın olarak kültüründen (İslamiyet) kopartılmış olanlar ile bütünüyle ve tam anlamıyla dindar olağanüstü olayları birbirinden ayırdığı 3 ciltlik “İslam’ın cüreti: Dünya Medeniyetinde İslam ve Vicdan” kitabında kullanılmıştır.

İbn Haldun’un Medeniyet’in “Asabiyyah”ı, Malek Bennabi’nin Medeniyetlerin Eşitliği, Mohammad Hashim Kamali’nin İslam Medeniyeti’nin Orta Temelleri (Wasatiyyah’ın Kur’ansal İlkesi) ve Prof. Dr. Recep Şentürk’ün Açık Bir Medeniyet Olarak İslam’daki bakış açılarını incelemiştir. İlave olarak, dinleyicileri medeniyet ile ilgili söylevin Samuel Huntington’un “Medeniyetlerin Çarpışması” tezi karşısında; Malezya’dan Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ve O’nun İslami hadhari ya da medeniyetsel İslam, İran’dan Muhammed Khatami ve medeniyetlerin diyaloğu düşüncesi ve Türkiye’den Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ve Medeniyetler İttifakı isimli projesi gibi kesin siyasi elitler tarafından siyasi bir araç olarak faydalanıldığı konusunda yönlendirmiştir.

Adiong’un sunumu İslam ile ilgili yakında çıkacak bir makaledir: Dünya Çağında Ansiklopedi (4 Cilt) Prof. Dr. Cenap Çakmak tarafından düzenlenmiş ve ABC-CLIO (Santa Barbara, CA) tarafından basılmış.

Discussing my research proposal to the UNAoC  High Representative Nassir Abdül Aziz Al-Nasser after signing the Memorandum of Understanding between the FSMVU Alliance of Civilizations Institute and UN Alliance of Civilizations on 3 February 2014 in Istanbul. More information and photos available at http://www.fatihsultan.edu.tr/BM-Medeniyetler-Ittifaki-ve-Medit-Enstitumuz-Arasinda-Isbirligi-Anlasmasi-Imzalandi-2014-02-05

4th WOCMES: Co-IRIS: Islamic Perspectives on Theory and Praxis in International Relations

One panel proposal entitled “Co-IRIS: Islamic Perspectives on Theory and Praxis in International Relations” for the 4th World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (August 18-22, 2014, METU, Ankara, Turkey)

Co-IRIS: Islamic Perspectives on Theory and Praxis in International Relations

Nassef Manabilang Adiong1, Nassef Manabilang Adiong2, Raffaele Mauriello1, Raffaele Mauriello3, Deina Abdelkader1, Deina Abdelkader4, Abdalhadi M. Alijla5, Waleed Ali6, Karim Khashaba7, Karim Khashaba8
1Co-IRIS (International Relations and Islamic Studies Research Cohort)
2International Relations, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
3History and Philology of Islamic Civilization, University of Rome, Sapienza, Italy
4Comparative Politics, University of Massachusetts, USA
5Public Policy and Governance, State University of Milan, Italy
6Social Sciences and Humanities, Bradfrod University, UK
7Political Science, Cairo University, Egypt
8Political Science, Duisburg-Essen University, Germany

This is a proposed panel of Co-IRIS (International Relations and Islamic Studies Research Cohort). Co-IRIS is an organization interested in the advancement of comparative research between International Relations (IR) and Islamic Studies (IS). It is created by a group of researchers interested in developing and sustaining a body of knowledge that addresses the theories and practices of the Muslim civilization and of Muslim societies with regards to international affairs and to the discipline of International Relations.

Co-IRIS is premised on the idea that knowledge is fluid: peoples adopt and utilize thoughts and ideas regardless of faith, gender, nation, etc. Islam is enormously important today in both international and national domestic politics, but contemporary political Islam cannot be understood without an awareness of its roots and relations to paradigms of IR. Yet, little attention has been paid to the way its ideas originated and how they developed. 

This panel offers comparative studies of IR and Islamic notions on sovereignty, democracy, secularism, and a case study on the Shi‘itologic genealogy of Iranian’s international affairs. Panelists take the same approach as scholars usually do for International Relations and Islamic Studies, examining the mentality, cultural milieu, and political background of thinkers and statesmen by covering relationships of selected concepts and notions in comparing theoretical and practical aspects between IR and IS. 

The first paper is entitled “Islam and International Relations: A Comparative Study on Sovereignty.”

Most of academic studies of Islam and Islamic theology have not examined the concept of sovereignty in Islam from a global point of view. Giving the fact that academic study on sovereignty is undergoing a mini-renaissance where scholars are returning to the basic concepts of it around late 1980 and early 1990s. This paper focuses on comparing the concepts of sovereignty in Islam, putting it in an international framework within the reference to the recent uprisings in the Middle East. The paper discusses the fundamental nature of sovereignty in Islam and the different International Relations theories. It will review the classical perspective on sovereignty and comparing them to Islam’s view of sovereignty. Moreover, this paper will discuss the new works on the problematic nature of state’s sovereignty in Islam. 

The principal theme throughout the paper is that sovereignty in Islam is marked by far from being religious-based. There is a difference between how Islam paved the way to a civil state and how Islamic shticks perceive and interpret Quran and Hadith for political reasons. This paper pays special attention to the recent attempts to reconcile divine and popular sovereignty. It also examines the strong attempts to institutionalize the divine sovereignty by modern Muslim countries. 

The popular uprisings that came to be called “The Arab Spring” have brought the question of sovereignty of the people and legitimacy of the ruler to the surface. It also forces the political Islam parties to account for their visions on sovereignty and authority in the public sphere. This paper argues that concept of God’s sovereignty and nations have become a religious issue that the public would like to put it aside. The question this paper concludes with is which concept of sovereignty Muslims society would accept to bridge what their traditions, Islam and modern societies needed to advance socially and economically. It concludes that Islam and the concept of nation have no great influence on national contexts.

The second paper is entitled “Democracy and the ‘Stillborn God’.”

This paper hypothesizes that the current stress on the separation of church and state in Western liberal democracy was not a constant component of Western political thought. This paper will examine Rousseau’s and de Tocqueville’s writings and how they viewed the role of religion in public life, since in many ways they have theoretically laid the foundations of Western liberal democracy. Thus the paper will analyze whether post-enlightenment Western European liberal thought excludes religion from the public arena. This analysis will have implications regarding the theoretical assumption that secularization is imperative to democratization in the Muslim world.

The third paper is entitled “Islam and Democracy are they Compatible?“

France president François Holland (2013), stated in his speech in Tunisia that ‘Islam and democracy are compatible’ and France will support the result of the democratic election (Holland, 2013). Both concepts seemed to be twinning framework not in conflict as it has been claimed for decades. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, vacuum power was left to be completed. The United States was and still the unique hegemonic power in the world. In order to keep it self interest the US has decided to create a fake enemy which in this case was Islam and Islamic world. The media focus on how Muslim and Islam are anti western, anti-modernity, anti-civilization and liberty that has created a mess and increased the world conflict. The word terrorism was combined with Islam, fundamentalism and rejectionist was the daily life description of orthodox Muslims. 

Thinkers, scholars and policy makers started to write about violence and Islam as tool to create a new academic framework to understand the Islamic movement. The gap of research about the full project of Islam and political Islam was left behind and neglected. The post 9/11 came to encourage this debate and the US used it to carry a global attack on what so call “the War on Terror”. The war on Afghanistan, Iraq and then the intervention in Libya were encouraged under the name of democratization of Middle-East. However, looking at the fundamental mean for both Islam and democracy, there are few differences. Both concepts are seeking the same thing which the human freedom from any servitude. Islam and democracy could be explained differently but at the end they are as twin concepts. 

In the current world, there are around 850 million Muslims are living and enjoying democracy including, Indonesia, Turkey, Malaysia and to some extent Iran. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan mentioned that Muslims are able to rule countries under democracy. This paper will highlight the current debate around Islam and democracy and explore the common ground, focus and fundamental goals for both concepts. It will give examples around the world on how those tow concepts are interacting and functioning long side with each other. It will also show the increased violence and terrorist attack as a lack of democracy not the contrary. 

The fourth paper is entitled “The Islamic Experience and the Secularization Thesis.”

Ernest Gellner identified one striking exemption in the secularization thesis, particularly in relation to state and religion, and that is Islam. In the last century the hold of Islam over Muslim societies and to its people has not diminished but has rather increased. According to John L. Esposito, the conventional wisdom that assumed the centrality of secularism in a modern state and viewed religion as only a private affair has been challenged in much of the Muslim world. Moreover, the resurgence of Islam in Muslim politics and society has in fact signaled a “Retreat from the Secular Path.” The main crux of the paper is to present the relationship of Islam to secularism by presenting an overview of Islamic experience on statecraft (from Medina to Turkish state models), its initial secular state formation, and then moving to a more recent retreat from the secular path. 

The last paper is entitled “Mustad‘afun vs. Mustakbirun Reconsidered: A Shi‘itologic Genealogy of the International Relations Outlook of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

This paper argues for the necessity of advancing comparative research between International Relations (IR) and Islamic Studies (IS). In this framework, it argues for the necessity to integrate relevant aspects (both methodology and findings) of Shi‘itology, the branch of IS that specializes on Shi‘i Islam, into the knowledge of the politics of the Islamic world of academics and practitioners of international relations and International Relations Theory (IRT). On the basis of the evident increasing importance, and unexpected persistence, of the “Shi‘i factor” in determining both the geopolitics and foreign policy of the Near Eastern region, this paper more generally argues for the necessity of taking more seriously Shi‘ism and its historical, cultural, and doctrinal peculiarities.

With the aim of setting a first concrete step into this direction, the paper addresses the issue of territory and geography in Shi‘i Islam international relations outlook within the framework of the specific but unavoidable case of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). It shows how, although scholars of IR have assumed as an established fact the worldview of Islamic IR as historically based (only) on the dichotomy dar al-Islam (the realm or abode of Islam) versus dar al-harb (the realm or abode of war), from a historical perspective the role of the dar al-Islam versus dar al-harb dichotomy in Shi‘as’ worldview has de facto been extremely limited. The lack of knowledge of IR scholars in this respect has hindered their ability to properly appreciate and locate the modern duality of Islamic IRT represented by the mustad‘afun (oppressed) versus mustakbirun (oppressors) worldview and its development – in the re-elaboration of former president Muhammad Khatami – into the “Dialogue among Civilizations”.

Keywords: International Relations, Islam, Secularization, Democracy

64th PSA: The Politics of Islam

One panel proposal entitled “The Politics of Islam” in conjunction with the PSA Specialist Group on Politics and Religion for the 64th Annual International Conference of the Political Studies Association (April 14-16, 2014, The Midland Hotel, Manchester, UK)

Debates about political issues in relation to Islam maintain a consistently high-profile in contemporary analyses of the relationship between politics and religion. The contributions for this panel explore a number of themes in this area. The papers examine the diversity of institutional and social relations between politics and religion throughout the Islamic world, the nature and justifications of radical ‘Islamic’ violence and terrorism, and the issue around Islam and toleration. 

Title: A different epistemological approach when studying Islam and Politics
Abstract: The “Islamic World” is a huge area of land, with almost 1.6 billion people, integrating multiple different cultural, ethnic and political entities. In the contemporary period religious institutions, movements, and beliefs have had more political importance in the Muslim world than in the West. Although attributed to special features of Islam, which are of some importance, there are other causes, such as, first, different historical experiences in the West and in the Islamic world, and, second, the imperial and colonial experiences suffered by Muslims which made them defensive about Islam and to define (as did some Westerners) the situation in religious terms. One aspect which is usually focused is the Shari’a (normally translated as Islamic Law, but which is a concept with different connotations according to Time and Space) as if one single legal building were used from Morocco to Indonesia, thus giving to that geographical mass some kind of religious connotation. This grill of analysis ignores the different situations in different parts of the Islamic world, where there are countries which until recently were considered secularists but had a state religion, countries which do not have state religion but where the president must be a Muslim, countries where the head of the state is also the Prince of the Faithful, something that does not impede political groups of using Islam to delegitimize the political establishment, or countries which are considered models of secularism at the same time that having a Ministry of Religious Affairs. The aims of this paper are to analyse the diversity of political situations and the role of religion in different contexts of the Islamic world according to this diversity.
Author– Carimo Mohomed

Brief biography– Ph. D. in Political Science (Political Theory and Analysis – Islamic reformism in India between 1857 and 1947). Graduated in History. Main research interest: Contemporary Islamic History and Political Thought. Other interests include the relations between Religion and Politics, and the impact of Modernity, in different cultural and civilisational contexts. Recent publications include “Reconsidering ‘Middle East and Islamic studies’ for a changing world” in International Critical Thought, Vol. 2, n. 2 (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21598282.2012.684479). Officer Research Committee 43 (Religion and Politics) – International Political Science Association. E-mail – mohomed.carimo@gmail.com
Paper Title:
Between Nomocentrism and Antinomianism: The Situational Ethics of Islamist Terror
Paper Abstract:
The present paper opens with the question of how al-Qa’ida and similar Islamist organizations justify the violence that they perpetrate. In order to come to terms with the situational ethics of Islamist terror, I argue that that political actors, whether religiously-founded or secular, are invariably embedded in both political cosmologies (understood as structures of perceptions and narratives which together constitute interest, identity, and intentionality) and political soteriologies (understood as the theory of the set of actions demanded to obtain salvific status for the political constituency). For religiously-founded terrorists, the former sets the constitutive rules, the second the regulatory rules of political engagement, violent or otherwise. It has often been suggested that Islamists, who invoke religious norms and discourses in an effort to either challenge or capture state power, operate within otherwordly ideational milieux. Other observers have suggested that radicals remain utilitarian, and as such do not transcend cost-benefit analyses, even when invoking transcendental themes. The present paper challenges both sets of arguments by considering the notion of ‘the exception’ or ‘supreme emergency’ in radical Islamism’s political cosmology—unveiling thereby a cognitive and rhetorical leap which allows the radical religious activist to acknowledge traditional nomocentric theology while in practice departing from established orthopraxy by a process of discursive reconstrual.
Author Biography:
Naveed S. Sheikh teaches International Relations, with a specialization in Security Studies and Middle East Politics, in the School of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy at Keele University, United Kingdom. He is furthermore the editor of the Routledge-published quarterly Politics, Religion and Ideology (formerly, Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions). Educated at the Universities of Buckingham, Durham and Cambridge, he has held fellowships at Harvard, Hosei (Tokyo) and Notre Dame Universities.

3rd presenter is Anthony Black’s Islam and Toleration.