Economic Freedom and Religion: An Empirical Investigation

Hillman, Arye L.; Potrafke, Niklas

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2829299

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Considerable literature argues that the values propagated by political Islam are not conducive to the establishment of the essential institutional pillars of a free and democratic society (Hillman and Potrafke 2018; Voigt 2005). Islamic constitutionalism significantly contradicts with foundations of rule of law and democracy (Gouda 2013; Gutmann and Voigt 2015).…”

Section: Islamic Constitutionalism and Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, Islam is characterized by a legal system deriving its status from supreme values and with a permanent nature of basic rules and thus of a constitutional nature; a definition of members of the community; a different legal status for nonmembers; legal obligations and duties of members in the service of supreme values; a neutral domain, not covered by laws derived from supreme values, within which members are free to take their own decisions. (Bernholz 2017, 54) Considerable literature argues that the values propagated by political Islam are not conducive to the establishment of the essential institutional pillars of a free and democratic society (Hillman and Potrafke 2018;Voigt 2005). Islamic constitutionalism significantly contradicts with foundations of rule of law and democracy (Gouda 2013;Gutmann and Voigt 2015).…”

Section: Islam As a Supreme Valuementioning

confidence: 99%

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Islamic Constitutions and Democracy

Gouda

Hanafy

2021

Political Research Quarterly

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There is an ongoing debate on the relationship between Islam and (lack of) democracy. Considerable literature shows that Islam, represented as an informal institution by Muslim population share, has a negative effect on democracy. This study examines the effects of formal institutions, specifically constitutions that prescribe Islamic law ( Shari’a) as a source of legislation, on democracy. We use a newly developed coding of the degree to which Islam is incorporated in constitutions. Our empirical results show that the constitutional entrenchment of Islamic law has a negative and significant effect on democracy. Our findings are robust to using different estimators and instrumental variable regressions, employing alternative measures of democracy and controlling for Muslim population, natural resource wealth, and additional control variables. While we show that Islamic constitutionalism is a reason for a democracy deficit in Muslim-majority countries, we find no evidence that Islam is inimical to democracy when not entrenched in the constitution.

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Section: Islamic Constitutionalism and Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%