Conceptions of Shari'a and Support for Militancy and Democratic Values: Evidence from Pakistan

C. Christine Fair, Rebecca Littman, Elizabeth R. Nugent

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Numerous empirical studies of the relationship between popular support for Islamism and support for democracy and violence have yielded inconclusive results. We suspect that this is largely because scholars have not operationalized support for Shari'a in ways that capture the concept's multi-dimensionality. In this paper, we employ data derived from a carefully designed survey instrument that casts unique insights into how Pakistanis imagine a Shari'a-based government. We find that formalizing an Islamic government as one that implements Shari'a by providing services and security for its citizens is positively associated with support for democratic values, whereas conceptualizing it as one that implements Shari'a by imposing hudud punishments and restricting women's public roles is positively associated with support for militancy. These results suggest that it is important to understand how individuals within a particular context construe a Shari'a-based government, and future empirical work should take this.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)429-448
Number of pages20
JournalPolitical Science Research and Methods
Volume6
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2018

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Political Science and International Relations

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