| IS Academy seminar: Negotiating Islam and Democracy in Sahelian Africa: Senegal, Mali, Niger |  Printable version
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Date: Thursday 27 October 2011
Time: 12.00-14.00
Venue: VNO-NCW Building, Bezuidenhoutseweg 12, Malietoren (opposite Ministry
of Foreign Affairs), Den Haag.
Speaker: Leonardo A. Villalón, University of Florida
Discussant: Carmen Hagenaars, cluster coordinator West Africa,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
This talk will address the issue of the elaboration of democracy in
Muslim societies, via a comparative consideration of three West African
countries: Senegal, Mali and Niger. It departs from analyses that ask
whether democracy can be established in Muslim societies, to examine
instead how the democratic question is framed and discussed in such
religious contexts. As overwhelmingly Muslim countries that have been
deeply involved in efforts at establishing democratic systems for some
two decades, these three countries present particularly fruitful terrain
for exploring this question. The talk will focus on the the ways in
which the launching of African democratic experiments in the 1990s
provoked significant negotiation and discussion both within religious
society and between religious groups and the secular elite about the
desired substance of democracy, in a number of key domains. I will argue
that these processes have gradually empowered Muslim majorities to
challenge and nuance the agenda presented at the transitions, but that
this is a direct outcome of the democratic process itself. Rather than
seeing the increased public presence of religious discourse in these
societies as a reflection of an Islamic resurgence, I argue, we should
consider it a normal byproduct of democratic politics. I will suggest in
conclusion that these cases may bear interesting lessons for the likely
evolution of politics in the North African countries.
Leonardo A. Villalón is Associate professor of African Politics
at the University of Florida, where he served as director of the Center
for African Studies from 2002-2011. His research focuses on Islam and
politics and on democratization in the Francophone countries of the
Sahel. From 2007-09 he was named a Carnegie Scholar by the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, for research in Senegal, Mali and Niger on a
project entitled: “Negotiating Democracy in Muslim Contexts: Political
Liberalization and Religious Mobilization in the West African Sahel.”
As of 12:00 lunch will be offered. The lecture starts at 12:30.
Language: English.
Registration: 24 October at the latest at:
DAF@minbuza.nl
Registration is obligatory. If you have registered but are unable to
attend please inform us as soon as possible.
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