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Ahmet T. Kuru

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Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment: A Global and Historical Comparison Kindle Edition

by Ahmet T. Kuru (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.7 61 ratings

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Why do Muslim-majority countries exhibit high levels of authoritarianism and low levels of socio-economic development in comparison to world averages? Ahmet T. Kuru criticizes explanations which point to Islam as the cause of this disparity, because Muslims were philosophically and socio-economically more developed than Western Europeans between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Nor was Western colonialism the cause: Muslims had already suffered political and socio-economic problems when colonization began. Kuru argues that Muslims had influential thinkers and merchants in their early history, when religious orthodoxy and military rule were prevalent in Europe. However, in the eleventh century, an alliance between orthodox Islamic scholars (the ulema) and military states began to emerge. This alliance gradually hindered intellectual and economic creativity by marginalizing intellectual and bourgeois classes in the Muslim world. This important study links its historical explanation to contemporary politics by showing that, to this day, ulema-state alliance still prevents creativity and competition in Muslim countries.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Co-winner of the American Political Science Association's International History and Politics Section Book Award

Honorable Mention of SSSR's Book Award

Included in Times Literary Supplement's Books of the Year 2022

"[Kuru's book] has taken the Muslim intellectual world by storm...What is the lesson to be drawn from Kuru's rich and fascinating book? He says, there is no other way than to have an open and democratic society, a competitive economy. This is not westernization, on the contrary, it is totally in line with the spirit of Islam...Wise words from this brilliant Muslim scholar."
Julia Suryakusuma, Jakarta Post

"Kuru...undertakes an ambitious and, on balance, successful analysis of the ills of the authoritarianism, economic backwardness, and religious violence that plague 49 Muslim-majority states."
John Waterbury, Foreign Affairs

"...the citations are a gold mine...it might be helpful to not look at this as a book, but rather more of a proposal for a research program. And, due to Kuru's fastidious and comprehensive approach, he succeeds at both! The result...is a masterpiece and a gift to the field."
Ann Wainscott, Politics and Religion

"Kuru's new book is a ground-breaking history and analysis of the evolution of the state in Muslim countries. Thoroughly researched and accessibly written."
James M. Dorsey, New Books Network

"According to Kuru's thesis, an unholy alliance of religious scholars and statesmen is mainly to blame for the authoritarianism and backwardness of the Muslim world."
Musa Bagrac, Qantara (Germany)

"[A] well researched and thought-provoking book."
Ammar Ali Qureshi, Dawn (Pakistan)

"[Kuru] challenges arguments that see Islam as the cause of low levels of socioeconomic development in Muslim-majority states."
Bassem Aly, Al-Ahram Weekly (Egypt)

"...a fresh and convincing perspective in a debate that has become circular and stale."
Claire Sadar, Ahval

"[It] is a tour de force that lays out the broader context for the failures of the contemporary Muslim world and the ways in which religion can shape political outcomes."
A.Kadir Yildirim, Perspectives on Politics

"[It] offers a succinct yet full overview of multiple centuries of political and intellectual history. It will give scholars of historical political economy much to ponder in thinking about trade, religion, and state building in the Muslim world and beyond."
Elizabeth R. Nugent, Political Science Quarterly

"...meticulously researched, clearly argued and a great addition to any bookshelf."
Emily Silcock, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

"A magnum opus; it appears to be a product of painstaking inquiries, enormous bibliographical research, nuanced historical comparisons, and interdisciplinary analyses."
Serhan Tanrıverdi, Turkish Studies

"Kuru's book is an important and bold intervention in a vital question that has received scholarly attention for a long time."
Gulay Turkmen, Peace Review

"[It] is without doubt a momentous, groundbreaking contribution to the study of the Muslim world as well as Islamic intellectual history."
Mustafa Gökçek, Global Intellectual History

"Kuru's attempt to go after big questions has given us an indispensable book for anyone who may want to understand past, present, and future of Muslim societies."
Turan Kayaoglu, The Review of Faith & International Affairs

"Kuru backs his claims with an impressive bibliography...[I]t is the broad nature of the work, in addition to the author's avoidance of post-modernist jargon, which makes the book such a delight to read."
John Calvert, Journal of Church and State

"This is a must-read book for those who are eager to learn the root-causes of stagnation and turmoil that have swept through most of the Muslim-majority countries."
Dilshod Achilov, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies

"A well-researched and meticulously written book that provides significant insights."
Erdem Dikici, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations

"[It]is undoubtedly a very important contribution with many provocative arguments. This book has likely already secured a place in any syllabus on Muslim societies."
Gokhan Bacik, Digest of Middle East Studies

"Ahmet Kuru has done an amazing job of navigating through the academic minefield with aplomb in answering some of the questions that many even would not dare to pose. This book is undoubtedly one of the best I have read for some time."
Dipak Gupta, Terrorism and Political Violence

"[It] is a must-read study for anyone interested in political science, history and various other social science branches...I must stress the exhaustiveness of this book's bibliography."
Ahmet Erdi Öztürk, Democratization

"Without doubt, Kuru's book is a must-read study and a pivotal source."
Abdelaziz El Amrani, Hespéris-Tamuda

"[T]his is a fascinating, complex and rich book. [It does] a sterling job of identifying how the secularists and Islamist actors have both contributed to the enduring marginalisation of intellectuals and the bourgeoisie in Muslim societies."
Asif Mohiuddin, The Muslim World Book Review

"[Kuru's] volume is well suited for anyone interested in the Middle East, the Islamic world, or political and development theory--Highly recommended."
Joud Alkorani, Choice

'In this far-ranging and original book, Ahmet T. Kuru explores just how it came to pass that the Muslim Middle East in the modern period experienced a dramatic decline in cultural and political dynamism relative to the societies of Western Europe. The question is one that has preoccupied comparative politics and historiography for more than a century. But no scholar has explored the issue with the sociological richness, comparative erudition, or depth of insight Kuru achieves in this book. This is one of the most important works in years on the politics and culture of Muslim modernity, and one that literally transforms the state of our knowledge.'

Robert W. Hefner, Boston University

'Generations of thinkers have puzzled over why the Muslim world, once intellectually creative and commercially vibrant, fell behind economically and came to symbolize repressive governance. In this meticulously researched, insightful, and provocative book, Ahmet T. Kuru attributes these interlinked transformations to complex alliances between religious officials and states. Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment will captivate scholars in many disciplines, and also the broader public interested in Islam's intellectual, political, and economic roles through the ages.'

Timur Kuran, Duke University, North Carolina

'In these pages can be found a grand solution to a grand problem - nothing less than The Islam Question, that is, why one religion is prone to violence, authoritarianism, and economic underdevelopment. Kuru sets out to refute the two most publicly prominent positions on this question, essentialism and post-colonialism, by unearthing centuries of political and economic development in Islam and discovering that its contemporary problems result from shifts in religious and political authority of many centuries past. In this courageous and compelling piece of scholarship, Kuru does for religion what great historical sociologists like Barrington Moore and Theda Skocpol did for democracy, dictatorship, and social revolution.'

Daniel Philpott, University of Notre Dame

'Ahmet T. Kuru offers a nuanced interpretation of the links between Islam and authoritarianism, in which the religion is not the culprit, but complex socio-political developments are to be blamed for the near-failure of Islamic societies to develop democracy and an innovative economy. His historical analysis sheds new light on a highly important and sensitive debate, and helps us to understand better the deep roots of the Islamic Sonderweg.'

Jan Luiten van Zanden, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07S9DBZ1R
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press (August 1, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 1, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4529 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 311 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #975,126 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,954 in Middle Eastern Politics
- #2,612 in Political Science (Kindle Store)
- #4,596 in World History (Kindle Store)

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4.7 61 ratings

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Ahmet T. Kuru

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Ahmet T. Kuru is professor of Political Science and director of Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies at San Diego State University. He wrote two award-winning books: "Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment: A Global and Historical Comparison" (Cambridge UP, 2019) and "Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey" (Cambridge UP, 2009), Kuru’s works have been translated into Arabic, Bengali, Bosnian, Chinese, French, Indonesian, Malay, Persian, and Turkish.

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Kemal Akkaya

A comprehensive survey for contemplation

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2019

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In this timely book, A. Kuru investigates one of the widely asked questions on the roots of backwardness in Muslim majority countries. He focuses on scientific, economic and political aspects of the problem and presents a stunningly comprehensive survey of the Islamic history to get to the bottom of the problem by considering all the Muslim empires/dynasties starting from the time of Umayyads. The book discusses major transformations that happened in a chronological order by putting them in context. This is indeed very useful in order to understand the inter-dependencies of the events that are often presented in isolation in the typical history books. It is amazing to see all of the controversial issues being discussed in a compact manner from Al Ghazali’s ideas to revivalist endeavors in the late 19th century Ottomans, from Ashari Theology to Salafism and from the story of the book printing in Ottomans to failures of assertive secularist governments in modern times. While Kuru’s main argument for the underdevelopment of Muslim countries is shaped around the alliance of state and ulema (Islamic scholars), he does not shy away from discussing and crediting other arguments from essentialism to colonialism. This unbiased approach gives the reader a broader perspective in understanding the pros and cons of the other arguments with their details along with footnotes and related citations. Although at times Kuru overemphasizes his ulema-state alliance argument, this argument is a novel one that helps linking the dots. He clearly demonstrates that such an alliance not only hindered the flourishing of intellectuals but also undermined the economic development and hence the merchants. Consequently, for Kuru, Muslim countries failed to develop a bourgeoisie and intellectual class, which are indispensable for a functioning democracy. The book is very easy to follow and gave me a similar sense to watching a TV series where you cannot wait to see what would happen in the next episode when reading it. It is definitely a must read for every young Muslim, especially in the East, to be able to get out of their comfort zone and realize what had happened. For the western readers, it is an invaluable summary of history of Islam although it is not a history book. Kuru’s recommendations at the end of the book have also a lot of potential to pave the way for interesting contemplation and discussion.

4 people found this helpful

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david sorenson

Masterful Scholarship

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2020

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This is a carefully-researched inquiry into the reasons for the decline of the Islamic world from the 8th-11th centuries to the present. Kuru dismisses the easy answers (Islam itself, or Western imperialism) and instead focuses on the decline of the intellectual and merchant classes in Muslim areas and their replacement by the ulama and the strong state, supported by the military. A world where once intellectual achievement towered over then-backwards Europe declined over time as religious and state bureaucrats squelched the intellectual activity that threatened their positions. Kuru uses a wide range of sources and shows his scholarly deftness as he compares European and Muslim power shifts over centuries. The book is essential reading for those who want to delve into the deeper reasons for the current state of the Muslim world.

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Ismail Tutar

A treatise based on exhaustive historical research

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2019

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This book effectively addresses questions about the gap of economic, social and scientific development between the West and the Muslim world. For many of us who have grown up in a Muslim-majority country but later emigrated to the West answers to those important questions are elusive. Our first-hand experiences, such as being able to successfully adapt to the Western culture and institutions while remaining loyal to our faith, give us the intuition that Islam cannot be singled out as the culprit, yet we cannot explain to ourselves why Muslim-majority countries lag behind the Western world.

Dr. Kuru’s book on Islam and development offers a comprehensive explanation to this conundrum. As one can tell from the title, he has been profoundly influenced by the classical liberal thought which emphasizes the relationship between limited central power, individual liberty, and development. Dr. Kuru asserts his major points based on exhaustive historical research but eschews didacticism: he refrains from imposing a mono-causal argument and continually reminds the reader of the broad geographical, political, and socioeconomic factors, offers exceptional cases, and provides the reader with alternative explanations. In this regard, Dr. Kuru successfully performs two challenging acts: he gives credit to grain of truth even in most orientalist arguments while refuting them in their entirety, but without falling into the trap of reactionary apologetics.

Beyond its political arguments, Dr. Kuru’s book is also notable for presenting a rich set of complex events in the history of Islam. While reading it, I could not help drawing parallels between The Western Tradition, Eugene Weber’s instructional visual series on Western Civilization, which I have watched in the 1990s as a teenager. Notwithstanding the differences in their length and format, Dr. Kuru’s book offers a good primer on the development of Muslim thought, culture, and politics, the way Eugene Weber reviews Western history. I highly recommend this book to all readers who are interested in the ever-changing legacy of Islam throughout history.

11 people found this helpful

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Strat Man

Excellent scholarship and a good read

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2020

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Well written analysis of Islam’s economic and political challenges with plenty of footnotes to inspire further studies. Highly recommend for anyone interested in the subject.

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ME

Merci à France 24 pour m’avoir fait découvrir ce livre

Reviewed in France on November 15, 2023

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Quand peut-on espérer une traduction française de cet ouvrage si crucial ? Il est surprenant qu’une traduction française n’ait toujours pas été réalisée pour une œuvre aussi importante.

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Kindle Customer

Good researched material

Reviewed in India on July 8, 2021

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Good perspective based on research conducted by the author. Point by point topic is thread bare and helps in better understanding of the current state