Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia Paperback - 2000

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From the rear cover

"A powerful and rich study of the micro-foundations of political democracy in Indonesian Islam; its institutions, its practices, its varied beliefs and tumultuous history. Hefner supplies the indispensable sub-structure for a real understanding of 'social capital' and 'civil society."--James C. Scott, Yale University

"This timely book boldly and rigorously tackles one of the most important problems of the post-Cold War world--can the ideal of a democratic, open society be generalized across cultures. To Samuel Huntington's negative, Hefner offers the most convincing response. Civil Islam documents the development of a robust civic tradition where Huntington least expected to find it, in the grossly understudied world of Indonesian Islam. Despite enormous provocation from its enemies, this civil Islam, he shows, has made possible Indonesia's still-fragile democratic transition. His superb book should transform our understanding of Indonesia, of Islam, and of the nature of democratization in a plural world."--Anthony Reid, University of California, Los Angeles

"There is no better voice or book. Robert Hefner's Civil Society is a masterful and compelling account of Muslim politics in contemporary Indonesia."--John L. Esposito, Director, Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding: History and International Affairs, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

"This is a magnificent piece of scholarship that succeeds on a number of levels. Hefner is to be congratulated on his tremendous contributions to the literature on Indonesia and Southeast Asia generally, as well as his deep insights on-and furthering of-myriad debates on politics, religion, civil society, and modernity."--Michael G. Peletz, Colgate University

Media reviews

Citations

• Choice, 09/01/2001, Page 200