Review
Hefner describes brilliantly the Muslim's role in democratizing, if not civilizing, Indonesia. The work, long overdue, is significant. . . . [Hefner] clearly knows his way around Indonesia and is fully aware of what it means to be an Indonesian. -- Dicky Sofjan, Studies in Contemporary Islam
Robert Hefner's important book,
Civil Islam, is the most detailed study of Islam in the Suharto Period to appear to date. . . . Hefner writes with special sympathy on those influential currents in Indonesian Islam. . . . -- Martin Van Bruinessen, Times Literary Supplement
In this book, Robert W. Hefner . . . argues . . . that Islamic states and civil society are compatible, and he adduces considerable evidence from Indonesian political history . . . to make his case. He makes an important contribution to our knowledge of the dynamics of contemporary Islam in Indonesia. -- Richard C. Martin, The Journal of Asian Studies
What is interesting about the text is that despite his training as an anthropologist, Hefner draws on different disciplines such as history, political science and sociology to provide this major contribution to the literature of Indonesia. Anyone interested in the nature of democracy, for instance, should read the brilliant conclusion . . . a powerful warning against civilizational intolerance in the modern world. The challenge of change and, specifically, democratic change within Indonesia and within an Islamic context provides larger meaning in a world so easily dominated by easy and simple assumptions. This text lucidly brings this point to life. -- Kenneth Christie, International Affairs
From the Inside Flap
"A powerful and rich study of the micro-foundations of political democracy in Indonesian Islam; its institutions, its practices, its varied beliefs and tumultuous history. Hefner supplies the indispensable sub-structure for a real understanding of 'social capital' and 'civil society." (James C. Scott, Yale University)
"This timely book boldly and rigorously tackles one of the most important problems of the post-Cold War world--can the ideal of a democratic, open society be generalized across cultures. To Samuel Huntington's negative, Hefner offers the most convincing response. Civil Islam documents the development of a robust civic tradition where Huntington least expected to find it, in the grossly understudied world of Indonesian Islam. Despite enormous provocation from its enemies, this civil Islam, he shows, has made possible Indonesia's still-fragile democratic transition. His superb book should transform our understanding of Indonesia, of Islam, and of the nature of democratization in a plural world." (Anthony Reid, University of California, Los Angeles)
"There is no better voice or book. Robert Hefner's Civil Society is a masterful and compelling account of Muslim politics in contemporary Indonesia." (John L. Esposito, Director, Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding: History and International Affairs, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University)
"This is a magnificent piece of scholarship that succeeds on a number of levels. Hefner is to be congratulated on his tremendous contributions to the literature on Indonesia and Southeast Asia generally, as well as his deep insights on-and furthering of-myriad debates on politics, religion, civil society, and modernity." (Michael G. Peletz, Colgate University)
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
