Religion and Politics in the Middle East

This title presents a learned yet accessible comparative analysis of the interacting influences of politics and religion in shaping liberal democratic development in four Middle East countries (Egypt, Israel, Turkey, and Iran). This innovative book analyzes the interaction of politics and religion in the Middle East through a comparative study of four countries-Egypt, Israel, Turkey, and Iran. Author Robert D. Lee examines each country in terms of four areas in which state and religion necessarily interact: group identity, ideology, institutions, and political culture. He also considers twenty-five commonly encountered (but often contradictory) hypotheses asserting that religion is either an obstacle or an aid to political development, or that religion is largely irrelevant to the development process. A fundamental conclusion is that politics shapes religion much more than religion shapes politics. The nature of religion in the Middle East cannot be understood without first understanding the political contexts in which it has evolved.