Thread by @shadihamid

Fascinating and important piece by @krithikaltheory in @foreignpolicy on the role of Islam in #Indonesia's presidential election

Includes some of my thoughts: foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/17/isl…

"The two made an odd pair on the campaign trail, a metalhead and former furniture salesman paired with a 76-year-old cleric. Last weekend, Jokowi held an enormous campaign rally in South Jakarta that was more like a rock concert, which concluded with a stadium-wide mass prayer"

As I note here, democratization and Islamization tend to go hand in hand in the Middle East as well as Southeast Asia, and #Indonesia is an example of how it can play out: foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/17/isl…

In practice, the implications of this are important: If you oppose Islamization more than you oppose autocracy, there is really no way to consistently support the promotion of democracy in conservative Muslim-majority countries

"Identity politics" has its own rather unique forms in the U.S., but it's a universal trend which is restructuring electoral competition in most major democracies—including in Indonesia

foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/17/isl…

In her piece, @krithikavaragur cites my book #IslamicExceptionalism and how it applies to countries like Indonesia with a legacy of secular authoritarianism