Democratization and the Diffusion of Shari'a Law: Comparative Insights from Indonesia

Main author: Buehler, Michael
Other authors: Muhtada, Dani
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-22317
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description The democratization of politics has been accompanied by a rise of Islamic laws in many Muslim-majority countries. Despite a growing interest in the phenomenon, the Islamization of politics in democratizing Muslim-majority countries is rarely understood as a process that unfolds across space and time. Based on an original dataset established during years of field research in Indonesia, this article analyzes the spread of shari’a regulations across the world’s largest Muslim-majority democracy since 1998. The article shows that shari’a regulations in Indonesia diffused unevenly across space and time. Explanations put forward in the literature on the diffusion of morality policies in other countries such as geographic proximity, institutions, intergovernmental relations and economic conditions did not explain the patterns in the diffusion of shari’a regulations in Indonesia well. Instead, shari’a regulations in Indonesia were most likely to spread across jurisdictions where local Islamist groups situated outside the party system had an established presence. In short, the Islamization of politics was highly contingent on local conditions. Future research will need to pay more attention to local Islamist activists and networks situated outside formal politics as potential causes for the diffusion of shari’a law in democratizing Muslim-majority countries.
format Journal Article
author Buehler, Michael
author_facet Buehler, Michael
Muhtada, Dani
authorStr Buehler, Michael
author_letter Buehler, Michael
author2 Muhtada, Dani
author2Str Muhtada, Dani
title Democratization and the Diffusion of Shari'a Law: Comparative Insights from Indonesia
publisher Sage
publishDate 2016
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22317/