This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0196859907311694v1 32/2/155    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Mishra, S. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Islam and Democracy: Comparing Post-9/11 Representations in the U.S. Prestige Press in the Turkish, Iraqi, and Iranian Contexts

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: smishra{at}bgnet.bgsu.edu.

	Abstract

Comparison of post-9/11 representations of Islam and democracy in the U.S. prestige press shows that despite differences in coverage in the Turkish, Iraqi, and Iranian contexts, fear of political Islam persisted in all three discursive environments. While a political role for Islam was regarded as a threat to democracy, the U.S. prestige press emphasized the need to secularize and modernize Islam according to Western standards to render it compatible with democracy. It highlighted human rights abuses in Iran and expressed concerns about the possibility of Iraq becoming another "Iran" if the power of religious parties went unchecked. Dominant discourses in the U.S. prestige press often assumed that any visibility of religious commitment in the public and political sphere automatically implied a lack of commitment to democracy, human rights, and women’s rights. Discourses that contested dominant perspectives on Islam and democracy by questioning Western hegemonic definitions were limited.

First published on February 5, 2008, doi:10.1177/0196859907311694

Journal of Communication Inquiry 2008;32:155.

A more recent version of this article appeared on April 1, 2008


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?