Secular-Islamist Cleavage, Values, and Support for Democracy and Shari’a in the Arab World

• DOI: 10.1177/1065912912470759
• Author: Sabri Ciftci
• Date: 01 December 2013
• Published date: 01 December 2013
• Subject Matter: Articles

Political Research Quarterly

66(4) 781 –793

© 2012 University of Utah

Reprints and permissions:

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

DOI: 10.1177/1065912912470759

prq.sagepub.com

Article

In the aftermath of the Arab awakening, Islamic parties

have swept the electoral landscape in parts of the Arab

Middle East. While these movements rule out the strict

implementation of shari’a, they have nonetheless sup-

ported the inclusion of Islamic principles in legislation

and social life (Brown, Hamzawy, and Ottaway 2006,

9–10). At the same time, however, Islamic parties of the

Arab world have eagerly promoted civil and political

liberties in their platforms. Similarly, ordinary citizens

appear to be reconciling their attitudes regarding Islamic

and democratic forms of governance. Most Muslims have

been shown to be highly supportive of both democracy

and shari’a (Esposito and Mogahed 2007). The Arab

world is no exception as scholars have found that Arab

citizens simultaneously hold favorable orientations

toward Islamic and democratic forms of government

(Jamal 2006; Jamal and Tessler 2008). These empirical

facts stand in sharp contrast to the theoretical debate con-

cerning the incompatibility of Islam and democracy

(Huntington 1996; Kedourie 1992). This is the starting

point of the present study: “What explains individual sup-

port for democracy and shari’a1 in the Arab world?”

A growing research literature finds that factors asso-

ciated with modernization and social capital explain

much of the variation in Muslim support for democracy

(Bratton 2003; Ciftci 2010; Jamal 2006; Tessler 2002).

Our understanding of the microlevel determinants of

support for shari’a, however, is meager. Scholars have

yet to understand whether the same or different factors

explain favorable views toward democracy and shari’a.

In this article, I argue that values related to the histori-

cally rooted secular-Islamist cleavage are likely to inform

individual opinion about these governing principles in

Arab polities. Two different explanatory logics are used.

First, it is argued that secular-Islamist values generate

diametrically opposed effects on support for democracy

and shari’a due to a traditional Islamist ideology. Second,

the impact of these values is proposed to be congruent on

individual support toward both objects, thanks to a mod-

ernist Islamist position. In this study, I also argue that

these rival hypotheses are conditioned by the highly

diverse contextual effects in Arab polities stemming from

state-religion relations and the history of democracy. I

test the implications of this value-based approach and

compare its explanatory power with the alternative expla-

nations of modernization and social capital.

This study is important for several reasons. First, this

analysis sheds light on the preferences of individuals

forming the support base for Islamist parties in these

countries. Second, the implementation of shari’a is a cru-

cial component of constitutional theory in the Muslim

world where its relevance is recently increasing with the

470759PRQXXX10.1177/1065912912

470759Political Research QuarterlyCiftci

1Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA

Corresponding Author:

Sabri Ciftci, Department of Political Science, Kansas State University,

222 Waters Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA.

Email: ciftci@ksu.edu

Secular-Islamist Cleavage, Values,

and Support for Democracy and

Shari’a in the Arab World

Sabri Ciftci1

Abstract

Public opinion polls demonstrate that Arab citizens support both democracy and shari’a. I argue that individual values

related to the secular-Islamist cleavage are instrumental in explaining this joint support. The analysis of the Arab

Barometer Survey shows that individuals holding Islamic values are more favorable of shari’a, whereas those with

secularist values tend to support democracy. However, the bivariate probit estimations also confirm that Arab opinion

about these governing principles is more complementary and less divergent. The results imply that constitutional models

combining Islam and democracy, rather than strictly secular institutions, may be more acceptable to Arab citizens.

Keywords

shari’a, democrac y, Islam, secular, Arab attitudes, biv ariate probit, values