The Politics of Religion, Nationalism, and Identity in Asia
The Politics of Religion, Nationalism, and Identity in Asia

Author: Jeff Kingston

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-07-30

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 1442276886

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This comprehensive book provides a comparative analysis of religious nationalism in contemporary, globalized Asia. Exploring the nexus of religion, identity, and nationalism, Jeff Kingston assesses similarities and differences across the region, focusing on how religious sentiments influence how people embrace nationalism and with what consequences. Kingston shows that in the age of the internet this has become an especially volatile mix that breeds violence and poses a significant risk to secularism, diversity, civil liberties, democracy, and political stability. This extremist tide has swept across Asia with tragic results, as witnessed by 730,000 Rohingya Muslims driven out of Myanmar, 70,000 Kashmiris slaughtered in India, and Islamic State affiliates terrorizing Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Who could have imagined Buddhist monks inciting violence and intolerance or setting themselves on fire? Or pious vigilantes beheading atheist bloggers? Or clerics defeating and jailing powerful politicians on blasphemy allegations? And, what explains why one million Uighur Muslims are locked up in China? Examining the causes and consequences of these varied phenomena and what they portend, Kingston casts a sobering light on the prospects of the Asian Century.

Islam and Politics in Bangladesh
Islam and Politics in Bangladesh

Author: Mubashar Hasan

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Published: 2021-02-11

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 9789811511189

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book conceptualizes the politics of Bangladesh through an Islamic concept called ummah or the global brotherhood of Muslims. It demonstrates that, against the backdrop of geopolitics, capitalism and free flow of ideas, localization of this global religious concept at individual level, institutional level, major party platforms and state has cemented the current political condition in Bangladesh in which religiosity, religious intolerance, Islamization and extremism take place. By exploring the effects of ummah in Bangladeshi politics, this book shows how major political parties have mainstreamed political Islam in the country. The book rejects the long standing scholarly claim of religious-secular distinction in Bangladeshi politics and argues that with most Muslim-dominated states, there are no major secular parties in Bangladesh. There are only Islamic parties, which are more or less Islamic. The purely ‘rational’ domain of politics in Bangladesh is long lost, and political Islam sets the framework for politics in the country. The reason behind this logic of Bangladeshi politics is formed, contained and expanded by ummah.

God Willing
God Willing

Author: Ali Riaz

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 9780742530843

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Is Bangladesh becoming a Taliban state? The question has become urgent in light of the growing strength of militant groups supposedly aligned with Al Quaida, the landslide victory of the center-right coalition in the general election of October 2001, and the deliberate and planned violence against religious minorities that followed. God Willing explores the explosive issue of Talibanization by analyzing the politics of Islamism in the world's third most populous Muslim country. Ali Riaz helps the reader to understand the emergence of Islamism as a legitimate democratic political in a largely secular state, as opposed to the media's sensational portrayal of Bangladesh as a country overrun by Islamist forces with a supranational agenda. The author compares Bangladesh with Indonesia and Pakistan, thus adding a valuable global context for evaluating the politics of Muslim countries.

Constructing Bangladesh
Constructing Bangladesh

Author: Sufia M. Uddin

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2006-12-15

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 0807877336

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Highlighting the dynamic, pluralistic nature of Islamic civilization, Sufia M. Uddin examines the complex history of Islamic state formation in Bangladesh, formerly the eastern part of the Indian province of Bengal. Uddin focuses on significant moments in the region's history from medieval to modern times, examining the interplay of language, popular and scholarly religious literature, and the colonial experience as they contributed to the creation of a unique Bengali-Islamic identity. During the precolonial era, Bengali, the dominant regional language, infused the richly diverse traditions of the region, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and, eventually, the Islamic religion and literature brought by Urdu-speaking Muslim conquerors from North India. Islam was not simply imported into the region by the ruling elite, Uddin explains, but was incorporated into local tradition over hundreds of years of interactions between Bengalis and non-Bengali Muslims. Constantly contested and negotiated, the Bengali vision of Islamic orthodoxy and community was reflected in both language and politics, which ultimately produced a specifically Bengali-Muslim culture. Uddin argues that this process in Bangladesh is representative of what happens elsewhere in the Muslim world and is therefore an instructive example of the complex and fluid relations between local heritage and the greater Islamic global community, or umma.

The Political History of Muslim Bengal
The Political History of Muslim Bengal

Author: Mahmudur Rahman

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2018-10-29

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 1527520617

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Bangladesh, the eastern half of earth’s largest delta, Bengal, is today an independent country of 163 million people. Among the 98% ethnic Bengali population, above 90 percent practice Islam. Surprisingly, Buddhism was the predominant religion of the region until the beginning of the 2nd millennium. In the midst of a long and fierce Brahman-Buddhist conflict, political Islam arrived in Bengal in the very early 13th century. Against the background of the above history, this book tells the story of successive religious and political transformations, touching upon the sensitive subject of Bengali Muslim identity. Encompassing a period of more than a millennium, it narrates a political history beginning with the independent Muslim Sultanate and closing with the 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh. The book concludes by discussing the present day, here termed “Authoritarian Secularism”.

Nationalism in Asia
Nationalism in Asia

Author: Jeff Kingston

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2016-04-07

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1118508173

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Using a comparative, interdisciplinary approach, Nationalism in Asia analyzes currents of nationalism in five contemporary Asian societies: China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea. Explores the ways in which nationalism is expressed, embraced, challenged, and resisted in contemporary China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea using a comparative, interdisciplinary approach Provides an important trans-national and trans-regional analysis by looking at five countries that span Northeast, Southeast, and South Asia Features comparative analysis of identity politics, democracy, economic policy, nation branding, sports, shared trauma, memory and culture wars, territorial disputes, national security and minorities Offers an accessible, thematic narrative written for non-specialists, including a detailed and up-to-date bibliography Gives readers an in-depth understanding of the ramifications of nationalism in these countries for the future of Asia

Religion and Politics in South Asia
Religion and Politics in South Asia

Author: Ali Riaz

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-02-26

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1134999852

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Religion and religio-political forces have become potent influences in the domestic politics of many countries irrespective of geographical location, stages of economic growth, and systems of governance. The growing importance of religion as a marker of identity and a tool of political mobilization is reshaping the political landscape in an unprecedented manner, and South Asia, which contains the world’s largest populations of Muslims and Hindus with significant number of Buddhists, is no exception to this fact. This book presents a comprehensive analysis of the interaction of religion and politics in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Although the specific circumstances of each country are different, in recent decades, religion, religio-political parties, and religious rhetoric have become dominant features of the political scenes in all six countries. The contributors offer a thorough examination of these developments by presenting each country's political system and the socio-economic environment within which the interactions are taking place. The analysis of the various factors influencing the process of the interactions between religion and politics, and their impact on the lives of the people of the region and global politics constitute the core of the chapters.

A History of Bangladesh
A History of Bangladesh

Author: Willem van Schendel

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-07-02

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 1108620337

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Bangladesh did not exist as an independent state until 1971. Willem van Schendel's state-of-the-art history navigates the extraordinary twists and turns that created modern Bangladesh through ecological disaster, colonialism, partition, a war of independence and cultural renewal. In this revised and updated edition, Van Schendel offers a fascinating and highly readable account of life in Bangladesh over the last two millennia. Based on the latest academic research and covering the numerous historical developments of the 2010s, he provides an eloquent introduction to a fascinating country and its resilient and inventive people. A perfect survey for travellers, expats, students and scholars alike.

Islam and Democracy in South Asia
Islam and Democracy in South Asia

Author: Md Nazrul Islam

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-03-20

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 3030429091

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Grounded in the Weberian tradition, Islam and Democracy in South Asia: The Case of Bangladesh presents a critical analysis of the complex relationship between Islam and democracy in South Asia and Bangladesh. The book posits that Islam and democracy are not necessarily incompatible, but that the former has a contributory role in the development of the latter. Islam came to Bengal largely by Sufis and missionaries through peaceful means and hence a moderate form of this religion got rooted in the society. Both militant Islam and militant secularism are equal threats to democracy and pluralism. Like democracy, political Islam has many faces. Political Islam adhering to democratic norms and practices, what the authors call “democratic Islamism,” unlike “militant Islamism,” is not anti-democratic. The book shows that the suppression of democracy and human rights creates avenues for the consolidation of militant Islamism, orthodox Islam, and “Islamic” terrorism, while the “fair play” of democracy results in the decline of anti-democratic form of political Islam.