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REFORMIST ISLAM and the RISE of a POLITICAL THIRD MODEL in the MALDIVES: ELITE DISCOURSES and SOCIETAL VIEWPOINTS by Azim Zahir

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REFORMIST ISLAM and the RISE of a POLITICAL THIRD MODEL in the MALDIVES: ELITE DISCOURSES and SOCIETAL VIEWPOINTS by Azim Zahir REFORMIST ISLAM AND THE RISE OF A POLITICAL THIRD MODEL IN THE MALDIVES: ELITE DISCOURSES AND SOCIETAL VIEWPOINTS by Azim Zahir BA, Flinders University, 2008 Master’s Degree, University of Sydney, 2011 This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Political Science The University of Western Australia School of Social Sciences Political Science and International Relations Centre for Muslim States and Societies 2018 ii THESIS DECLARATION I, Azim Zahir, certify that: This thesis has been substantially accomplished during enrolment in the degree. This thesis does not contain material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in my name, in any university or other tertiary institution. No part of this work will, in the future, be used in a submission in my name, for any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution without the prior approval of The University of Western Australia and where applicable, any partner institution responsible for the joint-award of this degree. This thesis does not contain any material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. The work(s) are not in any way a violation or infringement of any copyright, trademark, patent, or other rights whatsoever of any person. This thesis does not contain work that I have published, nor work under review for publication. Third party editorial assistance was received in the form of a final reading for typographical errors by Eileen English. The research involving human data reported in this thesis was assessed and approved by The University of Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee. Approval #: RA/4/1/7905. Signature: Date: 26 July 2018 iii ABSTRACT A dominant approach to Muslim politics assumes Islam is inhospitable to democracy. Even many who are critical of this approach assume that reinterpretation of Islam is crucial for democracy. Citing the diversity within Islam, those scholars claim modernist, liberal, or reformist Islam, in particular, is a positive force for democracy. Some who favour this ‘reformist Islam approach’ have argued that most Muslims in many Muslim majority states in fact support democracy, but they prefer a ‘third model’ that is neither secular nor theocratic. This thesis examines Islam’s relationship to democracy in the island nation of the Maldives, where Islam has existed for more than 800 years. The Maldives made a short-lived transition to an electoral democracy in 2009. Arguably a ‘third model,’ its constitution established Islam in several ways and limited citizenship only to Muslims. How and why did a democracy that institutionalized Islam come about in the Maldives? What role did the elite play in this process? Is the political outcome a reflection of how ordinary Maldivians view the relationship between Islam and democracy? While the thesis extensively engages with the reformist Islam approach, by taking discursive and institutional factors into consideration, the thesis adopts a ‘discursive institutionalist’ approach and focused on the period since the Maldives adopted its first constitution in 1932. Using extensive discursive and institutional analyses, this thesis argues that while democratisation took place via competing discourses in a globalised context, in which the global human rights discourse also played a crucial role, the liberal and illiberal strains internal to nation-building projects by political actors with Islamic modernist orientations, were more decisive for the final outcome. Thus, while on one hand, discourses influenced by Islamic modernism, which have existed in the space of politics since the 1930s, facilitated democratisation, on the other, the specific ways in which successive modernising iv governments institutionalised Islam and used it for a meta-narrative of national identity constrained democratisation towards a third model. Specifically, political actors, including a religious-scholar president, with Islamic modernist orientations had pursued modern nation building without jettisoning Islam, but by institutionalising a liberalised Islam and by functionalising Islam into a public discourse of national identity. Instead of weakening Islam in the polity, these processes transformed Islam into a powerful modern institutional and discursive political religion, while nourishing also the rise of oppositional Islamism. The third model outcome reflects those institutional and discursive legacies of nation building. Nevertheless, the thesis argues that while politically decisive, those legacies are not discursively hegemonic. Through a Q methodological study that systematically maps the viewpoints among ordinary people on Islam’s relationship to democracy, the thesis shows there is neither one fixed model nor one fixed language – secular or religious – for them. The thesis concludes by offering three generalised suggestions. First, more than any Islamic precepts or oppositional Islamism, the specific ways modern nation building may have transformed Islam could be a greater barrier against political secularism. Second, taking the contextuality of religion seriously, reformist Islam is not an invariably positive force. Instead of negating the reformist Islam approach, this conclusion gives greater precision to it: when religion – reformist or otherwise – is functionalised by the state, it can lead to detrimental consequences for both religion and politics. Third, even though one particular model may be dominant at a given time, contestations across discourses will continue to shape and reshape the religion-state nexus. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS From the time I received Professor Samina Yasmeen’s reply to my first email in 2013 inquiring if she would be willing to supervise my doctoral studies, I had a sense that she would be a great supervisor. She has shown what I think are some of the best qualities of a supervisor: firm guidance at the formative stages, understanding flexibility when new and unexpected problems arise, and sharp feedback as things firm up. Samina has been a great source of help in many, many ways. I would like to express my deep gratitude to her for her erudite guidance and kindness. I also thank Dr Debra McDougall, who provided detailed and helpful feedback as a co-supervisor until her departure in 2017. Conversations with Professor Graham Brown, who replaced Debra, also sharpened the theoretical approach and methodological decisions. Associate Professor Steven Maras has been an excellent Graduate Research Coordinator: he has provided prompt responses to queries, helpful advice, and moral support. The staff at the Graduate Research School, especially Jorja Cenin, and the staff at the School of Social Sciences and Reid Library have provided prompt support whenever requested. I thank them all. This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. The Centre for Muslim States and Societies provided a supportive research environment for me. I thank all my colleagues and graduate research students who helped me in the past few years: Dr Leila Ben Mcharek, Research Fellow at the Centre, PhD students including Kane, Flavia, Ke Zhu, Amjed, Ella, Ismail, Ridwan, and Master’s students, Sahar and Endah. vi Religion has been a major interest of mine for a long time. It led me to explore Western philosophy on my own, while still a high school student in the Maldives. Although I was initially interested in metaphysics and epistemology, I increasingly found my vocation in political philosophy and political theory thanks to Professor George Crowder, a leading scholar on Isaiah Berlin, while I was an undergraduate at Flinders University. I appreciate Professor Nikolas Kompridis, Australian Catholic University, for allowing me to attend his doctoral seminars in 2011 on religion, secularism and modernity at the University of Western Sydney, while enrolled at University of Sydney for my Master’s Degree. The seminars introduced me to the critical and revisionist literature on the subjects of religion, secularism and modernity, and forced me to rethink my positions on religion’s relationship to politics. A highlight of those seminars that changed how I saw religion was a systematic reading of Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age. Several people had provided feedback to earlier drafts of some of the chapters: Professor John Dryzek, University of Canberra, read an earlier version of Chapter 6; Professor Abdullah Saeed, Melbourne University, read parts of Chapter 1; and, Dr Hassan Hameed, former Vice Chancellor of Maldives National University, provided helpful feedback to a draft of Chapter 3 as a true teacher. My thanks also are extended to Dr Amanda Wolf, Victoria University of Wellington, for her useful suggestions on Q methodological interpretations on the complex subject of democracy and religion. Nazim Sattar helped me translating sections of an old treatise on statecraft by Maldivian Chief Justice Hassan Thaajudhdheen. Husnu Suood, a Maldivian legal expert and former Member of Constituent Assembly (2004-2008), also had numerous conversations on several areas of law, constitution, and the legal system. I am grateful to Ibrahim Ismail, Chair of the Constituent Assembly’s Drafting Committee, for his conversations, and Professor Douglas Schmeiser for clarifications on the drafting process of the 2008 Constitution. vii My sincere appreciation goes to the many people who volunteered for focus groups discussions and individual interviews
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