Islam and Governance
Due to prevailing patterns of academic and intellectual specialization, scholars who understand religion are mostly theologians, historians, and philosophers, none of whom normally engage in hypothesis testing, while scholars who understand society and who do test hypotheses are mostly social scientists, most of whom know little about religion.To explain differences within the Islamic world, as well as between the Islamic world and elsewhere, Professor Steven Fish uses quantitative, cross-national comparison. This ambitious project addresses some controversial questions about Islam including:
-Are Muslims more religious than non-Muslims?
-Are Muslims more prone to violence?
-Is socioeconomic inequality greater or less great in Islamic societies than others?
-Is gender inequality greater or less great?
-Is democracy less or more advanced?
-Are Muslims more or less tolerant than non-Muslims?
Even asking such questions is politically incorrect—which is part of why the questions have never been subjected to rigorous empirical test.
This research incorporates field work in Indonesia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and the Persian Gulf, and will culminate in a book of pressing interest to a general as well as an academic audience.
