Religion and Democratization
Over the last century, some Western scholars have argued that certain religious traditions–first Catholicism, and increasingly in the contemporary world, Islam–are inherently incompatible with democratic forms of government. In a recent essay published in The Immanent Frame, CGCM faculty associate Jeremy Menchik, remembered the work of political scientist Alfred Stepan. Stepan’s scholarship resisted moves to paint any religious tradition as necessarily undemocratic, highlighting through his diligent research ways in which religious communities creatively participate in democratic governance. Much of Stepan’s later scholarship centered on the religiously plural context of India and the predominantly Islamic context of Indonesia.