Cross National Survey Research on Islamic Publics: Recent Findings

Cross National Survey Research on Islamic Publics: Recent Findings

Publication Abstract

Chandler J. 2006. “Cross National Survey Research on Islamic Publics: Recent Findings.” Department of Political Science, City University of New York, Graduate School & University Center.

Recent studies drawn from the World Values Survey, the Afrobarometer, and the Pew Global Attitudes Project, provide empirical support for the modernization thesis. Uneven economic development explains variations in democratic attitudes across the Middle East and North Africa. These works make progress toward understanding the relationship between Islamic culture and democratic attitudes, but a few theoretical and methodological issues temper their strengths: in particular, mixed explanatory value of the political culture and modernization theses, divergent conceptualization of dependent variables and inconsistent model specification. Future Islamic public opinion research needs to resolve these problems and explore the question of whether public opinion shapes public policy in Islamic societies.

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