Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Bedford, Sofie
• Mahmudlu, Ceyhun
• Abilov, Shamkhal

Titel

Protecting Nation, State and Government: 'Traditional Islam' in Azerbaijan

Ist Teil von

• Europe-Asia studies, 2021-04, Vol.73 (4), p.691-712

Ort / Verlag

Abingdon: Routledge

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The article contributes to a better understanding of 'Traditional Islam' (TI), a state-led project in Azerbaijan to establish an alternative narrative promoting a specific local understanding of Islam that builds on its non-political, non-sectarian and national features to prevent 'non-traditional' religious variants from gaining popular traction. The phenomenon has not appeared in a vacuum. First, its features and functions stem from Soviet-era anti-religious and nationalities policies. Second, many aspects of TI resemble counter-radicalisation initiatives worldwide. Finally, while introduced as a means of blocking radicalisation in order to protect Azerbaijan's national identity as a secular state, Traditional Islam in fact works to extend state control over the religious domain and thus to prevent the development of any religiously grounded dissent against the authoritarian regime.