After Jihad, America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy
by Noah Feldman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New York, New York, April 2003)

book reviewed by Kevin P. Quinn

Noah Feldman in his book "After Jihad, America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy," establishes a framework for the proposition that Islam and Democracy can co-exist in the same country. Reading this sentence and the dust cover describing the book's contents will likely make most on-lookers think the book is a remedy for sleepless nights.

The book, however, is not just about that proposition. In After Jihad, Feldman provides a timely and interesting historical perspective of the Middle East, which assists the reader in understanding how a tragic event like September 11th could have come about.

Feldman reviews several different historical, cultural and religious distinctions in the Middle East. In the final analysis, Feldman posits that the greater struggle is now before us: the inward struggle to perfect one's moral qualities -"overcoming ego," as Feldman puts it. This "after Jihad" concept is what Feldman leaves us with in this interesting, timely and readable account of the Middle East.

In one sense a reader can come away with the idea that Feldman, a professor of law at New York University, presents an "ivory tower" approach to how Islam and Democracy can co-exist. In another, a reader can come away with the belief that Feldman obviously has a great depth of knowledge of the subject and, at least, presents a realistic, plausible and defensible structure for this combination of ideas. Given his background, Feldman, who was recently made head of the Constitutional team with the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) in Iraq, appears uniquely qualified to serve in the effort to reconstruct Iraq into a Democratic regime.

Feldman's observation that the need for Islam and Democracy to co-exist is reaching a "new juncture in the politics of the Muslim world" makes practical sense. The autocrats are aging and are unlikely to be able to translate power to their sons. Public reaction to the attack on the World Trade Center and the on-going violence in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Feldman argues, presents a realistic view that Middle East, as we know it is changing. In addition, the emergence of democracy in small countries like Bahrain, Feldman posits, makes a practical case for a "no time like the present position" to see if there is a way to meld the concepts of Islam and Democracy in the Middle Eastern countries.

After highlighting this need, Feldman argues that the idea of Islam and Democracy can co-exist because each concept individually is universal, flexible and simple. Feldman then puts forth why this is true. Democracy is universal because everyone has the right to vote; Islam is universal because it believes God makes the same demands on all people whom he created equal. Democracy is flexible, argues Feldman, because it has shown it is adaptable to a variety of contexts; Islam is flexible because it has maintained its core beliefs while adapting to a variety of languages and family structures around the world. Democracy is simple because it chooses leaders and makes political decisions on the basis of competition for people's votes; Islam is simple because, according to Feldman, there is no god but God, and Muhammad is his Prophet.

One of the difficult questions a reader inevitable will ask is how can a country that promotes one religion be sufficiently inclusionary as required by democracy? Feldman recognizes the difficulty by devoting a chapter on that very issue. He concedes that woman and non-Muslims would not likely be treated equally in a democratic Islamic State. Feldman, though, looks at this in a practical way, arguing between the lines, that equal recognition under the law would take time. Over time, with equal participation, perhaps, more equal recognition would emerge. Feldman points out that if total equality were the reason to stop this idea, then there would be no democracies because total equality between the sexes is not accomplished anywhere.

In all, Feldman puts a dry topic into a readable format to keep the reader awake during this interesting review of the Middle East. After Jihad is not a novelistic read, but is good 235-page review if you have an interest in learning a little more about the Middle East.

Kevin Quinn is a principal with the law firm of Hinman Straub P.C.

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06/18/2003