Interview – Joseph J. Kaminski

Joseph J. Kaminski acquired his PhD in Political Science from Purdue College in 2014 and at present holds the rank of Professor within the Division of Political Science and Worldwide Relations (PSIR) on the Worldwide College of Sarajevo (IUS). He’s additionally a Analysis Affiliate and Mentorship Program Coordinator on the Ummatics Institute. His works have appeared in journals akin to Social Compass, PS: Political Science & Politics, Comparative Political Concept, the American Journal of Islam and Society, and the Thunderbird Worldwide Enterprise Overview. He has additionally the printed two solo-authored manuscripts: The Up to date Islamic Ruled State: A Reconceptualization (2017, Palgrave) and Islam, Liberalism, and Ontology: A Vital Re-evaluation (2021, Routledge). His present analysis pursuits embody faith and politics, comparative political principle, and new approaches to Islam and public purpose. Kaminski’s present manuscript undertaking (underneath contract with Oneworld) goals to supply a novel perfectionist mannequin of Islamicate public purpose that attracts from the theoretical structure of latest Confucian political thought. He could be contacted at jkaminski@ius.edu.ba.

The place do you see probably the most thrilling analysis/debates occurring in your area?

One of the crucial thrilling latest developments on this subfield that I wish to name Utilized Islamic Political Concept has been the rising effort to theorize political order past the conceptual and structural confines of the fashionable nation-state. Whereas Muslim intellectuals have lengthy critiqued international imposed secularism, imperialism, and colonialism’s deleterious results on Islamic societies, the previous decade or so has witnessed a seismic shift from merely critiquing the malign penalties of the Westphalian mannequin towards a extra foundational interrogation of the normative and ontological viability of the nation-state undertaking itself. A central catalyst for this shift has been Wael Hallaq’s now canonical The Unimaginable State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity’s Ethical Predicament (2015), which contends that the notion of an “Islamic state” will not be solely politically impracticable however conceptually incoherent. For Hallaq, the fashionable nation-state is a product of Western modernity, grounded in epistemological and structural logics akin to state sovereignty, codification, and bureaucratic management that essentially contradict the ethical and epistemic foundations of Islamic governance.

A associated contribution could be present in Andrew March’s well-received ebook, The Caliphate of Man: Standard Sovereignty in Fashionable Islamic Thought (2019), significantly in its concluding chapters, the place he critically examines the coherence of the nation-state centric “Muslim democracy” undertaking. He approaches Islamic governance as a discursive custom moderately than a hard and fast institutional blueprint and interrogates whether or not Islamic political normativity can function independently of the fashionable idea of sovereignty. In doing so, March highlights the tensions between Islamic political thought and the liberal presuppositions that underlie dominant frameworks of legitimacy, legislation, and political company.

This broader normative reorientation away from making an attempt to ‘fit-into’ the nation-state mannequin has additionally been superior by a spread of different well-established modern students, together with Ovamir Anjum (College of Toledo), Salman Sayyid (College of Leeds), Farid Esack (College of Johannesburg), and Taha Abdurrahman (Professor Emeritus, Mohammed V College). In parallel, a youthful cohort of latest students simply beginning their careers like Jaan Islam (Boğaziçi College), Fadi Zatari (Sabahattin Zaim College), Ali Harfouch (MA, American College of Beirut), and Ilham Ibrahim (MA, Ibn Haldun College) has additionally emerged, participating critically with state-centric paradigms and proposing different frameworks grounded in Islamic custom. Lastly, I ought to say right here that the Ummatics Institute, with which I’m affiliated, is equally invested in exploring post-statist fashions of Islamic social group, aiming to revive a civilizational perspective that prioritizes umma-based solidarity over nationwide territoriality.

Whereas these aforementioned students differ in methodological orientation, all of them converge round a shared dedication to reconceptualizing Islamic collectivity, governance, and normativity past the coercive, secular, and fragmentary logic of the fashionable state. Their work challenges Muslim political thought not merely to hunt different modes of energy, however to reclaim a deeper political creativeness rooted in Qur’anic ethics, Prophetic praxis, and the enduring normative traditions of the umma. These efforts even have vital implications for the sector of worldwide relations, calling into query the state-centric ontology that underpins a lot of its theoretical structure and gesturing as a substitute towards civilizational and identity-based types of political group that transcend territorial sovereignty.

How has the way in which you perceive the world modified over time, and what (or who) prompted probably the most vital shifts in your pondering?

As I argued in an article printed with the Ummatics Institute in 2022, I’ve come to the conclusion that the nation-state mannequin represents a strategic and conceptual lifeless finish for a lot of the Muslim world. The failed Arab Spring didn’t give rise to democratic or Islamic renewal, however moderately to a brand new, very ugly synthesis of more and more centralized autocracy, crass shopper capitalism, state accredited/mandated ‘conventional Islam,’ and an ever-expanding surveillance infrastructure. As I usually inform my college students in Bosnia and Herzegovina: “In case you assume European nationalism in the present day is alarming, simply wait till you see what Saudi or Emirati nationalism will appear to be in 20 years.” This post-Arab Spring, authoritarian hybrid mannequin, now more and more underwritten by partnerships with Israeli and American Huge Tech companies, is more likely to turn out to be much more repressive over time as expertise inevitably improves.

Regardless of my skepticism of statist frameworks, I proceed to consider within the necessity of Islamic governance and the worth of Islamic governing practices. What I’ve grown disillusioned with are empty slogans like “al-Islām huwa al-ḥāl” (“Islam is the answer”) and the totalizing thought of an “Islamic state,” each of which have confirmed to be way more rhetorical than substantive. Islamic governance can’t be lowered to widespread slogans or the enforcement of some provocative ḥudūd punishments. As I argue in my first ebook, the Muslim political creativeness ought to shift away from pursuing “unattainable states,” and as a substitute deal with developing attainable states, nascent political types that emerge organically from Islamic epistemologies and are grounded within the ethical and moral ideas of the custom.

This requires a bottom-up strategy rooted in native realities and sustained by Islamic ethical reasoning. On the similar time, Muslim nation-states should stay pragmatic and anti-utopian. They need to keep away from overreaching or adopting maximalist positions that result in inevitable failure. This necessitates navigating a tough rigidity: working inside an Islamic moral framework whereas concurrently surviving inside the amoral and infrequently violent logic of the fashionable geopolitical order. The fashionable state system will not be merely secular, it’s incessantly detached to justice, pushed by brute energy and aggressive self-interest.

Accordingly, modern Muslim-led governments should interact in life like diplomacy and strategic negotiation, even with adversarial powers. The so-called “Axis of Resistance” has misplaced each efficacy and credibility; the confrontational, if not suicidal, posture it represented should even be retired. Success in in the present day’s world will rely much less on ideological purity and extra on political acumen, restraint, and the avoidance of unwinnable conflicts. Islamic historical past itself affords highly effective precedents for such strategic pragmatism — maybe most notably, the well-known Treaty of al-Ḥudaybiyya, which, although initially seen as a concession, proved to be a decisive turning level within the Prophet’s mission and a basis for eventual victory.

How would you outline “Islamic governance” in tutorial phrases — and the way does this differ from widespread or media representations? How do you reply to critics who argue that Islamic governance fashions are incompatible with fashionable political realities?

In tutorial phrases, I’d contend that Islamic governance refers to a system of political and ethical order grounded in Sharīʿa, understood not merely as ‘legislation’ or a set of legal guidelines, however as a complete ethical-legal custom derived from the Qurʾān, the Sunnah, and centuries of juristic reasoning. It entails the stewardship (khilāfa) of human beings in fulfilling God’s will on earth, guided by basic Islamic ideas akin to justice (ʿadl), session (shūrā), accountability (muhāsaba), and public welfare (maṣlaḥa). In contrast to Western fashions of governance that heart sovereignty within the fashionable Westphalian sense, Islamic governance distributes authority extra horizontally, throughout a broader vary of authorized students, communal actors, and rulers, inside a framework that seeks the preservation of faith, life, mind, lineage, and property – the classical maqāṣid al-Sharīʿa. As well as, Islamic governance will not be outlined by any specific set of fastened establishments or fashionable state buildings, however by a set of normative commitments and discursive practices that evolve throughout time and place. Islamic governance, subsequently, will not be monolithic or ahistorical; it’s pluralistic, context-sensitive, and ethically oriented, formed by native traditions, authorized colleges, and political exigencies. There isn’t any ‘one dimension suits all’ mannequin of Islamic governance.

Standard and media representations of Islamic governance or political Islam usually scale back it to the notion of an “Islamic state” – or in some circumstances even – the Islamic State (ISIS). Media portrayals of political Islam often body it within the worst gentle attainable, often when it comes to authoritarian rule, the imposition of brutal punishments, the repression of girls, and/or ideological extremism. These portrayals obscure the variety of Islamic political thought and apply. They flatten a wealthy and internally contested custom right into a singular, inflexible caricature related to all that’s dangerous on this planet. Such depictions additionally conflate Islamic governance with the state-centric logic of contemporary sovereignty, failing to acknowledge that traditionally, Islamic political orders usually functioned with no centralized state within the fashionable sense, and as a substitute featured distributed authority, group mediation, and ethical legitimacy moderately than bureaucratic management.

And naturally, let’s not neglect to say each Islamophobe’s favourite boogeyman: Islamism. What is especially ironic about this time period is that whereas it’s incessantly utilized by lots of Islam’s harshest critics, I’ve but to come across an precise Muslim who self-identifies as “an Islamist.” This factors to a deeper drawback: the discursive terrain on which Muslim political thought is framed has been (and stays) colonized. Muslims should reclaim the language by which their political aspirations are named, debated, and infrequently weaponized in opposition to them. Lately, the fitting has successfully rehabilitated and mainstreamed the thought of Christian Nationalism, with many adherents proudly adopting the label. Muslims have to reclaim their very own political lexicon from hostile forces as a result of if they don’t take possession of those ideas, Islamophobes will gladly outline them on their behalf.

Lastly, I’d counter critics who declare that Islamic governance fashions are incompatible with fashionable political realities by emphasizing that the core ideas underpinning genuine Islamic governance will not be solely absolutely appropriate with modern political life however are additionally urgently wanted in an period characterised by ethical decline, institutional decay, and rising alienation. Critics usually mistakenly assume that fashionable political fashions akin to secular liberal democracy are value-neutral and common. Nevertheless, nation statehood itself is a traditionally contingent assemble, not an immutable template. As any undergraduate scholar of worldwide relations is aware of, the seemingly ubiquitous Westphalian system is only some hundred years previous. Equally, secularism, sovereignty, and particular person rights – ideas usually taken as a right within the West – are neither timeless nor impartial; they’re deeply rooted in particular historic traditions and cultural contexts. For me, the crucial query will not be whether or not Islamic governance can match into the world as it’s, however whether or not our world can embrace a system – any system – that locations morality, justice, and divine accountability at its core.

In your first ebook, The Up to date Islamic Ruled State: A Reconceptualization, you argue that discussions round Islamic governance should transfer past the reductive binaries of democracy versus theocracy. What may a extra nuanced framework for understanding Islamic governance appear to be?

Put merely, a extra subtle strategy to Islamic governance requires translating Islamic moral-ethical ideas and authorized maxims into purposeful establishments able to addressing the complexities of the fashionable world whereas recognizing that this translation isn’t going to be excellent. Efficiently doing this entails governance rooted in deep familiarity with the sociocultural composition of every society, with management that governs accordingly.

In a December 2024 interview with the BBC, Syria’s new chief, Ahmed al-Sharaa, responding to issues that he supposed to copy a Taliban-style regime, remarked: “Afghanistan was a tribal society. In Syria, there was a special mindset.” His remark underscores a vital perception, particularly, that governance should be attuned to the distinctive social cloth of every context; not all Islamic societies are the identical, subsequently the way in which they’re ruled can’t be the identical. Al-Sharaa’s place displays a deep understanding that Syria’s numerous traditions and communal buildings necessitate a political mannequin formed by, moderately than imposed upon, native tradition.

His recognition affords a precious place to begin for conceptualizing Islamic governance in a way that’s each principled and context delicate. On the similar time, Muslims should resist the reductive binaries that always body political discourse. The Islamic custom doesn’t lend itself to the stark dichotomies inherited from Western Enlightenment thought akin to “democracy OR theocracy” which incessantly function rhetorical instruments moderately than helpful analytical classes. Floating signifiers just like the aforementioned instance have a tendency to impress emotional reactions moderately than substantive conversations about viable types of governance.

A state could proclaim its implementation of Sharīʿa, but when it fails to ship justice, dignity, and materials well-being – if its residents can’t afford housing or meet fundamental wants – it can collapse like some other polity underneath comparable situations. As Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728/1328), the famend 14th-century jurist and theologian, noticed: “It’s stated that Allah permits the simply state to stay even whether it is led by unbelievers, however Allah is not going to enable the oppressive state to stay even whether it is led by Muslims. And it’s stated that the world will endure with justice and unbelief, but it surely is not going to endure with oppression and Islam.” On this gentle, the defining criterion of Islamic governance is justice. With out it, no matter spiritual proclamations, such governance ceases to be Islamic in any significant sense.

You’ve identified how present IR frameworks inadequately seize the ethical and cosmological dimensions of Islamic political principle. What may an IR principle rooted within the Islamic custom appear to be?

Fairly totally different from the present IR frameworks! An IR principle rooted within the Islamic custom would mark a profound departure from the dominant IR paradigms of realism, liberalism, and constructivism, all of that are grounded moderately explicitly in Western secular-modernist epistemologies. In essence, fashionable IR theories have been created in response to fashionable Western geopolitical circumstances. As a substitute, an Islamic IR framework could be constructed upon a moral-cosmological ontology anchored in divine unity (tawḥīd), justice (ʿadāla), umma, and khilāfa, and provide a radically totally different imaginative and prescient of world order, political legitimacy, and normative accountability.

I’d argue that, at its most basic degree, Islamic cosmology denies the Hobbesian assumption that the worldwide realm – a priori – is outlined by anarchy and infinite energy competitors. As a substitute, Islamic cosmology conceives of the world as a morally ordered creation underneath God’s sovereignty (ḥākimiyya) during which each people and human collectives are accountable ethical brokers. States will not be autonomous actors pitted in an never-ending zero-sum contest for survival, however moderately are stewards entrusted with the success of divine justice. This marks a profound departure from any of in the present day’s dominant IR paradigms.

As well as, Islamic IR would prioritize ethics over materials pursuits, defining respectable worldwide conduct not when it comes to nationwide self-interest or utility maximization, however in relation to divine injunctions regarding justice, covenantal accountability, and the welfare of creation. Parallel to foregrounding ethics over pursuits, whereas fashionable IR is structured virtually totally across the Westphalian state system and sovereignty as territorial exclusivity (one has to surprise: what would occur to IR theorizing if the Westphalian nation-state system ever did ever come to an finish?), Islamic IR is organized across the umma as a transnational physique sure by shared religion, legislation, and ethical obligation. This doesn’t suggest uniform political rule, however a way of interdependence, solidarity, and collective accountability, significantly in responding to injustice, oppression (ẓulm), and international domination. Inside an Islamic IR paradigm, extra highly effective Islamic polities could be morally obliged to intervene in circumstances the place a weaker sister state is being oppressed, particularly when the oppressor is a non-Muslim entity. Lastly, not like secular IR which treats faith as an object of research or a cultural variable, Islamic IR would draw immediately on Islamic textual sources, authorized principle, and moral philosophy as epistemic foundations. Earlier thinkers like al-Māwardī (d. 450/1058), Ibn Khaldūn (d. 808/1406), and al-Shāṭibī (d. 790/1388), who’re usually seen as peripheral to fashionable IR, could be repositioned as central theorists in an Islamic political vocabulary of worldwide life.

As anybody aware of the rugged terrain of IR theorizing is aware of, difficult the varied shibboleths and silos that make up in the present day’s main IR theories is an uphill battle to say the least. In spite of everything, many individuals have staked whole careers dogmatically attaching themselves to at least one principle or one other and are unlikely to welcome a brand new participant into the sport. Nevertheless, one factor that has turn out to be more and more agreed upon by most IR students in the present day is that none of main theories adequately clarify the complicated world of worldwide relations. I consider that if the worldwide umma can turn out to be extra coherently organized, Islamic IR theories will not be ignored as they usually are in the present day. Muslims could make Islamic IR related by making Islamic civilization a related participant on the worldwide geopolitical chessboard once more.