Theorizing popular sovereignty in the colony: Abul a'la maududi's “Theodemocracy”

TY - JOUR

T1 - Theorizing popular sovereignty in the colony

T2 - Abul a'la maududi's “Theodemocracy”

AU - Iqtidar, Humeira

PY - 2020/9/1

Y1 - 2020/9/1

N2 - Abul A'la Maududi (1903-1979), the influential Indo-Pakistani Islamist thinker, proposed a detailed vision of what he called “theodemocracy.” This has been seen widely as a theocracy despite Maududi's explicit rejection of the term and its philosophical underpinnings. I suggest here that Maududi's vision of theodemocracy opens up a productive space for reflection on the relationship between popular and state sovereignty. Maududi saw popular sovereignty as an ethical problem; it corrupted the potential for individual moral development that the institutional mechanism of the state could otherwise allow for. Highlighting the complicated relationship of his ideas with colonial rule, and showing that he used the colonial liberal state as both a foil and model for his analysis, I argue here that “theodemocracy” was his attempt at divorcing sovereignty from the state. This endeavor generated creative tensions, and forms an important contribution to the global discussion about sovereignty and the state.

AB - Abul A'la Maududi (1903-1979), the influential Indo-Pakistani Islamist thinker, proposed a detailed vision of what he called “theodemocracy.” This has been seen widely as a theocracy despite Maududi's explicit rejection of the term and its philosophical underpinnings. I suggest here that Maududi's vision of theodemocracy opens up a productive space for reflection on the relationship between popular and state sovereignty. Maududi saw popular sovereignty as an ethical problem; it corrupted the potential for individual moral development that the institutional mechanism of the state could otherwise allow for. Highlighting the complicated relationship of his ideas with colonial rule, and showing that he used the colonial liberal state as both a foil and model for his analysis, I argue here that “theodemocracy” was his attempt at divorcing sovereignty from the state. This endeavor generated creative tensions, and forms an important contribution to the global discussion about sovereignty and the state.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85093536278&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/S0034670520000595

DO - 10.1017/S0034670520000595

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:85093536278

SN - 0034-6705

VL - 82

SP - 595

EP - 617

JO - REVIEW OF POLITICS

JF - REVIEW OF POLITICS

IS - 4

ER -