Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Why do people support Islamist Parties?

这篇博士论文解决了以下问题：什么因素解释承诺伊斯兰解决社会弊病的政党的受欢迎程度？自20世纪70年代以来，伊斯兰教在社会和政治生活中的重要性明显增加，不仅在专制的中东国家，而且在土耳其的世俗国家和西方世界的移民穆斯林社区。在自由民主战胜社会主义的时代，伊斯兰教成为自由民主价值观的替代品。该项目依赖于三个不同的数据集。首先，它使用了在八个穆斯林占多数的国家进行的世界价值观调查所获得的信息。这些国家是孟加拉国、埃及、印度尼西亚、伊朗、约旦、摩洛哥、巴基斯坦和土耳其。这些调查包含了关于被调查者的价值体系、政治行为和对公共问题的态度的有价值的信息。 首席调查员还将对伊斯坦布尔的两个区进行比较分析，以了解这两个区在政治伊斯兰的民众基础方面有何不同。虽然这些地区的社会经济和人口状况非常相似，但伊斯兰政党只在其中一个地区建立了民众基础。这些自然环境提供了一个极好的机会，可以辨别解释政治伊斯兰受欢迎程度和局限性的因素。最后，它使用的数据来自土耳其伊斯兰政治家的开放式访谈。这第三个数据集有两个目的。一方面，它有助于首席研究员确定政治伊斯兰教为人民提供了什么。另一方面，它阐明了伊斯兰运动的精英们是如何沿着思考政治的，同时发现了他们对自由民主和西方的看法。总之，本项目旨在为以下领域的学术知识做出贡献：世俗化与自由民主之间的关系;穆斯林世界的民主前景;伊斯兰复兴对自由主义的影响;以及伊斯兰教崛起为主要政治力量的原因。

This Doctoral Dissertation addresses the following question: What factors explain the popularity of political parties that promise an Islamic solution to social ills? Since the 1970s, the importance of Islam in social and political life visibly increased not only in authoritarian Middle Eastern states but also in the secular state of Turkey and in immigrant Muslim communities in the Western World. At a time when liberal-democracy has achieved victory over socialism, Islam stands as an alternative to liberal-democratic values. The project relies on three different data sets. First, it uses the information obtained from World Values Surveys conducted in eight predominantly Muslim countries. These countries are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, and Turkey. These surveys contain valuable information about the value-systems, political behavior, and attitudes towards public issues of the respondents. The Principal Investigator will also conduct a comparative analysis of two districts of Istanbul to see how they differ in their popular bases for political Islam. Although, these regions have very similar socioeconomic and demographic conditions, Islamist parties managed to establish a popular base in only one of the districts. These natural settings provide an excellent opportunity to discern the factors that explain the popularity and the limits of political Islam. Finally, it uses data generated from open-ended interviews from Islamist politicians in Turkey. This third data set serves two goals. On the one hand, it helps the Principal Investigator to identify what political Islam offers to the people. On the other hand, it illuminates how the elites of the Islamist movements think about politics along with spotting their perceptions of liberal-democracy and West. In summary, this project aims to contribute to the scholarly knowledge in the following realms: the relationship between secularization and liberal-democracy; the prospects of democracy in the Muslim world; the implications of Islamic revival for liberalism; and the reasons for the rise of Islam as a major political force.