A01=Robert W. Hefner
Abdurrahman Wahid
Activism
Adviser
Apostasy
Author_Robert W. Hefner
Bertelsmann
Category=JBSR
Category=JHMC
Category=JPHV
Christianity
Civil society
Civility
Colonialism
Communism
Communist party
Criticism
Democracy
Democratic consolidation
Democratic ideals
Democratization
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eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Golkar
Governance
Government
Ideology
Individualism
Indonesia
Indonesians
Institution
Islam
Islamic party
Islamic state
Islamism
Islamization
Left-wing politics
Liberal democracy
Liberalism
Mass mobilization
Megawati Sukarnoputri
Middle class
Modern history
Modernity
Mosque
Muhammadiyah
Muslim
Muslim world
Nahdlatul Ulama
New religious movement
Nurcholish Madjid
Pancasila (politics)
Pesantren
Philosopher
Piety
Political party
Political philosophy
Political science
Politician
Politics
Precedent
Privatization
Protestantism
Public sphere
Religion
Religious organization
Santri
Secularism
Sharia
Social capital
Southeast Asia
State (polity)
Suharto
Sukarno
Western Europe
Western world
Westernization
Product details
- ISBN 9780691050478
- Weight: 425g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 27 Aug 2000
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Civil Islam tells the story of Islam and democratization in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation. Challenging stereotypes of Islam as antagonistic to democracy, this study of courage and reformation in the face of state terror suggests possibilities for democracy in the Muslim world and beyond. Democratic in the early 1950s and with rich precedents for tolerance and civility, Indonesia succumbed to violence. In 1965, Muslim parties were drawn into the slaughter of half a million communists. In the aftermath of this bloodshed, a "New Order" regime came to power, suppressing democratic forces and instituting dictatorial controls that held for decades. Yet from this maelstrom of violence, repressed by the state and denounced by conservative Muslims, an Islamic democracy movement emerged, strengthened, and played a central role in the 1998 overthrow of the Soeharto regime. In 1999, Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid was elected President of a reformist, civilian government.
In explaining how this achievement was possible, Robert Hefner emphasizes the importance of civil institutions and public civility, but argues that neither democracy nor civil society is possible without a civilized state. Against portrayals of Islam as inherently antipluralist and undemocratic, he shows that Indonesia's Islamic reform movement repudiated the goal of an Islamic state, mobilized religiously ecumenical support, promoted women's rights, and championed democratic ideals. This broadly interdisciplinary and timely work heightens our awareness of democracy's necessary pluralism, and places Indonesia at the center of our efforts to understand what makes democracy work.
Robert W. Hefner is Professor of Anthropology at Boston University, where he directs the Program in Civic Culture at the Institute for the Study of Economic Culture. The author of The Political Economy of Mountain Java and Hindu Javanese: Tengger Tradition and Islam (Princeton), he is also editor of Democratic Civility: The Cross-Cultural Possibility of a Modern Political Ideal and Market Cultures: Society and Morality in the New Asian Capitalisms.
