Elite Origins of Democracy and Development in the Muslim World

Reviews / Votes

"Despite decolonization, most Muslim countries remain autocracies, including most remaining oil-rich absolute monarchies. Their long-run growth has been slow, averaging 1.7% annually before the pandemic. Unsurprisingly, much academic writing claims to explain why Islam is associated with dictatorship and economic backwardness.

Rock and Ozel offer a more variegated and nuanced analysis. After surveying the inconclusive literature, their analytical framework and case studies (of Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey) argue unified elites achieved democracy and development which ruling class divisions undermined."

Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Emeritus Professor and ex-UN Assistant Secretary-General

"This important, timeless, and refreshing volume sheds light on critical questions of democracy and development in the Muslim world. Rock and Ozel's painstaking research reveals the divergent political and developmental trajectories of Muslim majority countries in the Middle East and Asia, shining a light on the importance elite coalitions and conflict. A must read for scholars interested in questions of regime type and the political economy of development from a global perspective."

Kristin E. Fabbe, Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, Harvard University