Secularism, Religion, and Democracy in Southeast Asia

Edited by Vidhu Verma and Series edited by Aakash Singh Rathore

One of a kind study of religion and secularism in Southeast Asia
Puts to test the West's discomfort with religion and politics
Relevant in today's context of religion and politics feeding into each other

Secularism, Religion, and Democracy in Southeast Asia

Edited by Vidhu Verma and Series edited by Aakash Singh Rathore

Description

Until two decades ago, the social sciences adhered to the secularisation thesis that stressed the gradual obliteration of religion in the public domain. Recent events show the re-emergence of religions world-wide that has led scholars in challenging the narrative of the modern state and its progress from the religious to the secular domains. The changing place of religion in contemporary politics challenges older notions and concepts of the secular and secularisation process. Yet many initiatives and scholarly works have failed to assess the rise of religion in the context of democratic processes. This volume sets out to fill this scholarly lacuna by offering a conceptual, historical and empirical examination of some of these developments. In trying to map this terrain and spell out the close links between religion, secularism and democracy, this volume examines the developments and challenges of secularism in select countries of Southeast Asia. The fundamental tenets of liberal democracies - rule of law, popular sovereignty, constitutionalism - undergo several configurations in the context of religious pluralism. The aim is to reframe the basic issues of religion and secularisation in a way that their complex reality will be visible in different contexts where the frequency of conflicts related to religion have sharply increased although they may reflect other cultural, political, and socio-economic phenomena.

Secularism, Religion, and Democracy in Southeast Asia

Edited by Vidhu Verma and Series edited by Aakash Singh Rathore

Acknowledgements
Introduction: Secularism, Religion and Democracy in South-east Asia: Contesting Perspectives by Vidhu Verma
1. A Problem of Representation: Buddha Dhamma, the Religion of Buddhism, and Liberal Secular Political Economy by Timothy Fitzgerald
2. Ambivalence, Accommodation, Antipathy and Anxiety: Religion and Singapore's Secular Democratic Order by Thio Li-ann
3. Political Islam and Democracy in Malaysia by Kamarulnizam Abdullah
4.The Secular and the Religious: Secularization and Shariatization in Indonesia by Syafiq Hasyim
5 Religious Minorities in Southeast Asia: The Ahmadiyya and Why Tolerance Matters by Amy L. Freedman
6 Piety, Purity and Nationalism: The Convergence of Nation and Islam in Contemporary Indonesia by Mary E. McCoy
7 Protecting the sasana through law: Radical Buddhism and religious liberty in Myanmar´s democratisation process by Iselin Frydenlund
8 Secularism and ethno-religious nationalist hegemony in Malaysia by Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid and Zairil Khir Johari
Index
About the Editor and Contributors

Secularism, Religion, and Democracy in Southeast Asia

Edited by Vidhu Verma and Series edited by Aakash Singh Rathore

Author Information

Edited by Vidhu Verma, Professor, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Series edited by Aakash Singh Rathore, Professor and International Fellow, Centre for Ethics and Global Politics-LUISS, Rome

Vidhu Verma is currently Professor and has been Chairperson at the Centre for Political Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. She has also been Chairperson of the Gender Sensitization Committee against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) and the Centre for the Study of Discrimination and Exclusion (CSDE). She was also Director of Educational Records Research Unit (ERRU), School of Social Sciences, JNU.Her areas of research include Comparative Political Theory, feminist political theory, State and civil society, affirmative action policies and social justice in India. She has recently edited 'State in India: Ideas, Norms and Politics (2018) and Unequal Worlds (2015). She has co-edited and contributed to a volume on 'Empire of Disgust' (2018). She is the author of three books including "Non-discrimination and Equality in India: Contesting boundaries of Social Justice" (2012)

Contributors:

Timothy Fitzgerald
Thio Li-ann
Kamarulnizam Abdullah
Syafiq Hasyim
Amy L. Freedman
Mary E. McCoy
Iselin Frydenlund
Ahmad Fauzi
Abdul Hamid
Zairil Khir Johari