| Review of: | The Islamic Leviathan: Islam and the making of state power by Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr |
|---|---|
| Reviewed By: | Amalendu Misra |
| Reviewed in: | Political Studies Review |
| Date accepted online: | 04/03/2004 |
| Published in print: | Volume 1, Issue 2, Pages 196-301 |
Comparative
Political Islam operates at three levels. The most common one is the radicalization of politics by conservative Muslims. In this case, these elements simply hijack the state to fulfil their own ideological ambition. Iran under the Ayatollahs, Sudan under Hasan al Turabi and, most recently, Afghanistan under the Taliban feature prominently within this framework. On to the second scenario: several regimes fearful of this radicalism formalize their affront against Islam. Political Islam is simply vanquished by a secular leadership or the regime. Algeria, Syria, Turkey and Morocco provide pointers in this direction. The third dynamic of political Islam, which has not received much attention, is a situation where a government or regime establishes a working relationship with the conservative elements in order to facilitate the state's hegemony over all aspects of the society.
This third principle is the focus of Nasr's study. Through rigorous theoretical analysis and empirical interrogation of various societies, Nasr concludes that some regimes achieved greater degrees of success in the socio-economic arena through their active involvement with radical Islam. The author introduces us to the inner dynamics of Malaysia and Pakistan to bring home this message. In his view, through clever manipulation of Islamic ideals, the leadership in these two countries not only succeeded in curbing political opposition, but also managed to reinforce the authority of the state. However, the question that Nasr does not take on board is whether a common identity emerged following intervention by Islam. Unfortunately, although Islam served as the basis for Pakistan's identity in the past, in recent years it has not been so helpful in keeping that sense of identity alive. Moving on to Malaysia, one wonders how much the personality cult of Mahathir contributed to the state-building and about the place of Islam in that equation.