Islamic Universities and Identity Politics during Democratization: Contrasting Indonesia and Tunisia

Amanda tho Seeth

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Chapter 12 Islamic Universities and Identity Politics during Democratization: Contrasting Indonesia and Tunisia

In: Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 32

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Amanda tho Seeth

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 212–237

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004505315_013

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Abstract

This paper analyses the political agency of Islamic universities during the democratization processes in Indonesia (1998–2004, IAIN/UIN Jakarta) and Tunisia (2011–2014, al-Zaytuna University Tunis). While in the Indonesian case study the Islamic university and its academic milieu strongly participated in identity politics by promoting the compatibility of Islam and democracy on campus as well as in the wider public sphere, in the Tunisian case study the university manifested itself as a politically passive academic ivory tower. By drawing on the theoretical premises of path dependence, the paper traces the contrasting historical relationships between Islamic academia and political authorities in Indonesia and Tunisia to show that these had crucial repercussions for the development of distinct Islamic university types in these countries, which in the long run shaped IAIN/UIN Jakarta’s and al-Zaytuna University Tunis’ contrasting behavior during the democratization processes.

The evolution of different university types over time was coupled with the formation of different characteristics of each country’s Islamic academic milieu: in Indonesia, it became politicized and holder of a high capital endowment, while in Tunisia both of these factors remained low. When authoritarianism collapsed, the Indonesian Islamic university was able to build on its deeply institutionalized experience in the world of politics and thus attracted the support of powerful external actors for collaboration in the strategic promotion of democracy both on and off campus, while in Tunisia the Islamic university was marginalized in politics by the lack of its political know-how, access to resources, and an absence of collaboration with external actors.

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Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 32

Lesser Heard Voices in Studies of Religion

Series: Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume: 32

Cover Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 32

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004505315

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 12 Apr 2022

Subjects
- Religious Studies
- Social Sciences
  - Religion & Society

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Edited by

Ralph W. Hood and Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor

Special section 1 Religion or Belief in Higher Education

Edited

by Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor

Special section 2 Cultural Blindness in Psychology

Edited by

Louise Sundararajan

Special section 3 Religious Authority in Practice in Contemporary Evangelical, Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity

Edited by

Maren Freudenberg, Martin Radermacher and Sebastian Schüler

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Chapter 12 Islamic Universities and Identity Politics during Democratization: Contrasting Indonesia and Tunisia

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Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 32

Lesser Heard Voices in Studies of Religion

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