Beyond Piety and Politics

How do ordinary men and women in Muslim-majority societies create religion-informed views of political topics such as democracy and economics?

Beyond Piety and Politicsprovides a groundbreaking approach to understanding the depth and variety of political attitudes held by people who consider themselves to be pious Muslims. Using survey data on religious preferences and behavior, the authors argue for the relevance and importance of four outlook categoriesreligious individualist, social communitarian, religious communitarian, and post-Islamistand use these to explore complex and nuanced attitudes of devout Muslims toward issues like democracy and economic distribution. They also reveal how intrafaith variation in political attitudes is not due simply to doctrinal differences but is also a product of the social aspects of religious association operating within political contexts.

By highlighting the dynamic societal and political implications of religious devotion,Beyond Piety and Politics offers a fascinating new theoretical perspective on Islam and politics.

Sabri Ciftci is Professor of Political Science and the Michael W. Suleiman Chair at Kansas State University. He is author ofIslam, Justice, and Democracy.

F. Michael Wuthrich is Associate Professor of Political Science and Associate Director of the Center for Global and International Studies at the University of Kansas. He is author of National Elections in Turkey: People, Politics, and the Party System.

Ammar Shamaileh is Assistant Professor of Politics and International Relations at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. He is author ofTrust and Terror: Social Capital and the Use of Terrorism as a Tool of Resistance.

Dedication
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Religious Communities, the State, and Religious Outlooks
2. Attitudes of the Devout: The Nature of the Substance or the Nurture of Relationship?
3. Empirical Foundations of Religious Outlooks
4. The Individual and Contextual Determinants of Muslim Religious Outlooks in MENA
5. Islam and Support for Democracy
6. Temporal Change in Religious Outlooks and Political Preferences
7. Islam and Distributive Preferences
Conclusion
Appendix A
Appendix B
Bibliography
Index