Islam and Liberal Democracy: The Limits of the Western Model

There is an emerging current of enlightened thought in the Muslim world today, but it is all too often wrongly labeled and poorly understood.

An “Islamic Reformation” is not a necessary condition for the emergence of democracy in the Muslim world; what is most needed is a political reformation.

Is the field of Middle East studies as badly flawed as some critics charge? A fair-minded look at the last 10 or 15 years of research suggests otherwise.