Islam and Democracy in South Asia: The Case of Bangladesh

Abstract

<p>The nexus between religion and politics has attracted enormous attention from all over the world over the last two decades. That said, <i>Islam</i> and <i>Democracy in South Asia: The Case of Bangladesh</i> has shed light on the interaction of political Islam and democracy from the South Asian perspective focusing on the third-largest Muslim country in the world, Bangladesh. Claiming against the popular perception, the authors have argued that despite the Western anticipation of the decaying role of religion in the public sphere, religion, particularly Islam, continued to pose a challenge to the secularization process of Bangladesh. To the authors, Islam and democracy can actually go hand in hand and they are simply two sides of the same coin. Moreover, the limitations of democracy, what the authors called "suppression of democracy," have escalated the growth of political Islam in Bangladesh (17).</p>