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The Political Ontology of Islamic Democracy: an Ontological Narrative of Contemporary Muslim Political Thought

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The Political Ontology of Islamic Democracy: an Ontological Narrative of Contemporary Muslim Political Thought The Political Ontology of Islamic Democracy: An Ontological Narrative of Contemporary Muslim Political Thought Halil Ibrahim Yenigun Istanbul, Turkey Master of Arts, Texas Tech University, 2003 Bachelor of Arts, Boğaziçi University, 2000 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Politics University of Virginia August, 2013 ABSTRACT The primary focus of my dissertation is the trajectory of the democratic discourse in the post-Afghani era of Muslim political thought, in particular among the reformist (islahi) current. Toward this end, I situate my comparative political theory within the emerging genre of “political ontology,” which I deploy as an analytical device. More specifically, I seek to demonstrate that the shifting attitudes toward democracy over time among contemporary Muslim thinkers can be better grasped by approaching each of the selected thinkers’ political theories as a constellation of ontological, ethical, and political dimensions. Accordingly, the first part presents several new themes that have received substantial interest in recent political theory. I dedicate each chapter to a specific genre of political ontology, political theology, and radical democracy. Having laid the ground for my ontological narrative, the second part analyzes the political theories of Jamaladdin Afghani (d. 1897), Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966), Fazlur Rahman (d. 1985), and such current liberal Muslim thinkers as Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Khaled Abou El Fadl, Nader Hashemi, and Abdullahi An-Na‘im. While I analyze their political theories as ontopolitical constellations, I seek to show that each one’s approach to democracy or self- government is prefigured by his conception of God as well as how they conceive of the relationship between the Muslim self and the “other,” the rest of creation, and the revealed text (viz., the Qur’an). But political ontology is more than just an analytical device for my project, for it also furnishes the contents of normative reflection. Hence, I also take steps to offer an iii alternative to the liberal Muslims’ comprehension of democracy. In conversation with some recent ontologically oriented formulations of “radical democracy” and “critical political theology,” as well as their critiques of liberal democracy, I point to a different direction for Muslim political thinking on self-rule, one that attends more to vicegerency and the duty to justice as well as dialogical engagements with the “other,” and one that is more characterized by a commitment to social justice based on an expanded understanding of egalitarianism. Keywords: Comparative political theory, political ontology, political theology, radical democracy, Muslim political thought, islah, Afghani, Qutb TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................ iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 I. The Question: The Shifting Discourses on Democracy.......................................... 5 II. An Ontological Turn in Political Theory ............................................................... 9 Political Ontology and Ontopolitical Constellation .................................................. 10 III. The Theological Turn and Political Theology ................................................... 12 IV. Varieties of Democracy ........................................................................................ 14 V. The Mode of Analysis: An Ontological Narrative .............................................. 15 VI. A Word on the Normative Goals of the Dissertation ........................................ 16 VII. Comparative Political Theory ............................................................................ 18 Theoria and Cross-Cultural Journeys ....................................................................... 18 Toward Post-Orientalism .......................................................................................... 18 Some Terms: Islamic, Muslim, Islamist ................................................................... 20 Political Ontology for Comparative Political Theory ............................................... 21 VIII. The Main Question Restated and an Overview of the Chapters .................. 22 PART I A POST-FOUNDATIONAL POLITICAL ONTOLOGY FOR COMPARATIVE POLITICAL THEORY PRELUDE ....................................................................................................................... 30 CHAPTER I POLITICAL ONTOLOGY FOR COMPARATIVE POLITICAL THEORY ......................................................................................................................... 32 1.1 An Ontological Turn in Political Theory: Political Theory on Shattered Grounds ....................................................................................................................... 34 The Recent Ontological Turn .................................................................................... 34 A New Sense of Ontology ........................................................................................ 36 Three Challenges for Political Ontology .................................................................. 37 i. The Debate on Foundations and the Anti-foundationalist Challenge .................... 37 The Unavoidability of Ontology and Post-foundationalism ..................................... 38 ii. The Liberal-Rawlsian Challenge against Ontology .............................................. 40 iii. Do we really need ontology in real world discussions? ...................................... 42 1.2 Political Ontology as an Analytical Device ......................................................... 44 White’s Weak Ontology ........................................................................................... 44 An Alternative Onto-Story: Weber’s Disenchantment ............................................. 47 Marchart and Post-foundational Political Thought ................................................... 49 The Legacy of Schmitt and Heidegger for Post-foundationalism ............................ 50 An Illustration: A Political Ontological Analysis of Locke and Mill ....................... 54 v 1.3 Political Ontology as the Normative Ground for Comparative Political Theory ........................................................................................................... 56 Normative Objections to Political Ontology............................................................. 57 Ground and Terror, or Nihilism and Emancipation .................................................. 58 The Inefficacy of Political Ontology against Fundamentalisms? ............................. 59 What Is Wrong with Fundamentalism? .................................................................... 61 CHAPTER 2 RECLAIMING THE THEOLOGICAL IN THE POLITICAL: THEOLOGICAL TURN AND POLITICAL THEOLOGY ...................................... 65 2.1 The Ineradicable Theological Element in the Political ...................................... 69 2.2 Exemplary Theological Residues: Mythos, Messianicity, and Theodicy ......... 72 i. Mythos ................................................................................................................... 72 ii. Messianism and Messianicity: Derrida’s Democracy-to-Come ........................... 74 iii. “Political Theodicy” and the Political Significance of Evil ................................ 79 2.3 Political Theology: Old and New ......................................................................... 84 2.4 Liberation Theology and Its Aftereffects ............................................................ 89 Reactions to Gutiérrez............................................................................................... 94 Concluding Remarks:Reclaiming the Theological for Comparative Political Theory ......................................................................................................... 98 CHAPTER 3 RADICAL DEMOCRACY: POSSIBILITIES FOR A POST-FOUNDATIONAL DEMOCRACY ................................................................ 102 3.1 Liberalism and Democracy: An Uneasy Relationship..................................... 106 Radical Democracy and Liberalism: The New “Friendly Enemies”? .................... 108 3.2 Radical Democratic Critics of Liberalism ........................................................ 110 Mouffe and Laclau: Hegemony and the Ontology of the Social ............................ 110 Mouffe’s Ontology of Agon ................................................................................... 112 Coles: An Ethical Agonism of Generosity.............................................................. 116 3.3 Weak Ontology and Radical Democracy: The Weak Ontological Paradox.. 121 3.4 Radical Democracy and Comparative Political Theory .................................. 126 Concluding Remarks:The New Ontological Stimmung and Comparative Political Theory ................................................................................. 131 PART II AN ONTOLOGICAL NARRATIVE OF CONTEMPORARY MUSLIM POLITICAL THOUGHT PRELUDE
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