Fattah, Moataz A. Democratic Values in the Muslim World.

• Author: Cox, John K.
• Position: Book review

Fattah, Moataz A. Democratic Values in the Muslim World. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006. xi + 209 pages. Cloth, $49.95.

Observers of northern Africa, the Balkans, and southern Asia with an affinity for "clashes of civilizations" like to stress Islam's general otherness and incorrigibility; they have long tended to short-circuit their well-meaning opponents' objections by blurting out the question, "So why are there no real democracies in the Muslim world?" The answer to this question grew even more topical after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, but it was always bedevilled by inexactness.

Moataz A. Fattah, an assistant professor of political science at both Cairo University and Central Michigan University, has considerably refined the questions and the assumptions on the debate surrounding the purported "core affinity between Islam and autocracy" (p. 125). His book constitutes a major empirical contribution to a discussion that is important for scholarly and political reasons. Fattah begins by agreeing with the observation that democratic governments are indeed few and far between in majority-Muslim countries. But he then deftly problematizes and challenges the generalizations about uniformity of opinion among Muslim communities and about the connection between type of government and public opinion.

The methodology providing the data for this multilingual study came from a 2002 survey distributed in thirty-two countries. The survey usually consisted of fifty questions. The number of respondents was 31,380--a large sample indeed. In order to sharpen the survey instrument and arrange for its distribution in person and by e-mail, Fattah worked with academics and other intellectuals in over a dozen countries to hone the questions and run focus groups for further discussions. The book also makes judicious use of data from other recent polls that shed additional light on particular subjects. Appendices explain the methodologies used in data collection and processing.

Appendix 2 of the volume at hand contains an English-language version of survey. Many of the questions involve issues of tolerance, especially of Christian or Jewish minorities; others seek to pinpoint the level of tolerance of political dissidents, other Muslims (Shiia or Sunnis), and people of varying lifestyles. Some questions aim to characterize the respondent--for instance, according to history of alcohol consumption or political and intellectual role models...