Regulating Islam: Religion and the State in Contemporary Morocco and Tunisia

Description

Many countries in the Arab world have incorporated Islam into their state- and nation-building projects, naming it the 'religion of the state'. Regulating Islam offers an empirically rich account of how and why two contemporary Arab states, Morocco and Tunisia, have sought to regulate religious institutions and discourse. Drawing on a range of previously unexamined sources, Sarah J. Feuer traces and analyzes the efforts of Moroccan and Tunisian policymakers to regulate Islamic education as part of the respective regimes' broader survival strategies since their independence from French rule in 1956. Out of the comparative case study emerges a compelling theory to account for the complexities of religion-state dynamics across the Arab world today, highlighting the combined effect of ideological, political, and institutional factors on religious regulation in North Africa and the Middle East. The book makes an important and timely contribution to the on-going scholarly and policy debates concerning religion, politics, and authoritarian governance in the post-uprisings Arab landscape. Cover Half Title Title Page Imprints Page Dedication Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgments A Note on Conventions Introduction Regulating Islam in Morocco and Tunisia 1 Toward a Theory of Religious Regulation Beyond Secularization Theory Legitimating Ideology Political Opposition Institutional Endowment 2 The Moroccan Ingredients of Religious Regulation The Moroccan Monarchy’s Enduring Traditionalism The Alaouites’ Political Opponents Making the Most of a Weak Institutional Endowment 3 Striking an Identity Bargain in Morocco Crafting Curricula Balancing Autonomy and State Control Regulating Teachers of Islam Regulating Islam in Morocco 4 The Tunisian Ingredients of Religious Regulation The Tunisian Regime’s Enduring Non-Traditionalism The Tunisian Regime’s Political Opponents The Blessings of a Robust Institutional Endowment 5 Balancing Muhammad and Montesquieu in Tunisia Crafting Curricula Balancing Autonomy and State Control Regulating Teachers of Islam Regulating Islam in Tunisia 6 Regulating Islam after the Spring Extending the Reforms: Morocco Since 2011 Regulating Religion in a Democratic Transition: Post-Jasmine Tunisia Religious Regulation and Regime Survival The Power and the Burden of Regulating Islam Bibliography Index