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Islam and Democracy at the Fringes of Europe: The Role of Useful Historical Legacies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2015

Arolda Elbasani
Arolda Elbasani*
Affiliation:
Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Arolda Elbasani, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Via delle Fontanelle 19, I-50014 San Domenico di Fiesole, Florence, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article analyzes how the Muslim majority has engaged with, and contributed to parallel processes of democratization and European integration in post-Communist Albania. The assessment of Muslims' choices focuses on the Central organization, the Albanian Muslim Community, which is recognized by the state as the only authority in charge of all the administrative and spiritual issues pertinent to the community of Sunni believers, and serves as the main hub of respective religious activities in the country. The analysis of democratization, and Muslims' respective choices, are divided into two different periods, namely democratic transition (1990–1998) and democratic consolidation (1998–2013), each facing democratizing actors, including Muslim groups, with different challenges and issues. We argue that the existence of a useful pool of arguments from the past, the so-called Albanian tradition, has enabled Muslims to contravene controversial foreign influences and recast Islam in line with the democratic and European ideals of the Albanian post-communist polity. This set of historical legacies and arguments explain Muslims' similar positioning toward democracy throughout different stages marked by different institutional restrictions and state policies.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 334 - 357
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2015 

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Footnotes

The author is grateful for financial support to Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Religio West Project, and European Research Council (grant agreement no. 269860). The author would also like to thank the following individuals for their comments and advice on various drafts of this article: Miriam Kunkler, Alfred Stephan, Karen Barkey, Olivier Roy, Philippe Schmitter, Shinasi Rama, and Olsi Jazexhi.

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