Religion, politics and development: lessons from the lands of Islam

What role has Islam historically played to promote or inhibit development? In this paper, the author presents a critical examination of the contention that Islam’s inherent merged relationship between religion and politics will necessarily act as a barrier to development alongside the argument that it is not Islam in itself which inhibits development but the lack of reform opportunities in certain classically Islamic institutions.

The author seeks to understand what lies behind the Arab world’s prolonged period of slow growth and democracy deficit while witnessing the rise of radical Islamist movements. He provides a detailed historical analysis of political and economic development in Islamic countries (not just the Arab world) with the aim of demonstrating a disaggregated relationship between religious authorities and state authorities and highlighting that: 

• throughout history in the lands of Islam, religion has been the handmaiden rather than master of politics with religion, often used as a legitimising instrument in the hands of the rulers 
  
• in contrast, the influence of religion often increases when a state falls into crisis as result of large-scale incompetence (e.g. widespread corruption) or excessive absolutism 
  
• however, rulers can use an Islamic frame of reference rather than reforms to back themselves up as there is no vertical chain of command which can impose uniform orthodoxy 
  
• the legacy of the classical Islamic system can create institutional traps making reforms more difficult (impeding both economic development and the rise of civil society) – e.g. Islamic inheritance system which encourages wealth fragmentation and restrained capital accumulation.