The Political Economy of Support for Sharia: Evidence from the Russian North Caucasus

Abstract

Many scholars have argued that orthodox Muslims harbor attitudes that are more economically communitarian and politically illiberal, since individuals are seen as embedded within a larger community that places a premium on social order. Yet most studies have ignored the potential of Islam as an ideological platform for political reformers. Religion in general and Islam in particular has mostly been treated as a predictor rather than a derivative of political-economic preferences. This article suggests that, in the absence of credible secular political ideologies and representative political mechanisms, reformist-minded individuals are likely to use religion as a political platform for change. When Muslims are a minority in a repressive non-Muslim society, Islamic orthodoxy can serve as a political platform for politically and economically liberal forces. We test these conjectures with original micro-level data from the Russian North Caucasus and find strong support for them.

State Support for Religion and Government Legitimacy in Christian-Majority Countries

“…In fact, few, if any, references to Gill (2005; 2008) question this motivation. He is often cited regarding the general utility of religious legitimacy (e.g., Elischer 2019; Mantilla 2019) or to support the argument that state support for religion increases legitimacy and the ease of ruling (e.g., Arikan and Bloom 2019; Dromi and Stabler 2019; Dzutsati, Siroky, and Dzutsev 2016; Ringvee 2015). The few studies which unfavorably reference Gill’s (2005; 2008) arguments tend to question his assumption of rationality and do not address the legitimacy issue (e.g., Larson 2015; Miller 2012).…”