October 30th, 2008 by Jason

The World Policy Journal’s 25th anniversary Fall issue is available free for the month of November. It includes an interesting article (pdf) by John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed titled “Who Will Speak for Islam?” In it, they use comprehensive survey data from throughout the Muslim world to discern future trends in governance, women’s rights, extremism, political reform, and the relationship with the West.

They find that “data suggests that it is more constructive to think of the current conflict not as a battle with Islam, or even within Islam, but rather a competition for the “road to reform.””

In this competition, they conclude: “Allowed the political space, leaders drawing both on democracy and Islam’s rich tradition will overshadow secular liberals and conservative theocrats as the leaders of tomorrow.”

Posted in Islam and Democracy, Political Islam, Public Opinion, Reform, Terrorism, US foreign policy |