"'Keep religion and politics separate!' For decades, scholars assumed that less religion would lead to a more peaceful and unified form of politics. And yet, as religious identity recedes from American public life, the opposite appears to be the case. Our post-religious politics are growing more polarized, anxious, and unstable each day. Could a return to ancient religious wisdom and community be the key to healing what secular politics can't fix?
In Can Religion Save Democracy? two friends and colleagues—a Christian theologian and a Muslim political scientist—make a bold case: If American democracy is going to survive, it will require more religion, not less. Drawing on wisdom from their respective religious traditions, they explore
- why secularism has only deepened our divides,
- what ancient insights from Christianity and Islam can strengthen our common life,
- how spiritual practices contribute something critical and irreplaceable to democracy, and
- how citizens can navigate a new world of deep polarization and mistrust.
This is not a call for theocracy or religious authoritarianism. It's a hopeful, clear-eyed vision showing how religious faith offers vital tools to renew the soul of democracy in a divided nation."
"A provocative case for why a better world is only possible with American power by Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid.
From acclaimed author Shadi Hamid comes an urgent and deeply personal argument for why American dominance, despite its many flaws, remains the world's best hope. Hamid traces his journey from opposing America's role in the world to reluctantly embracing it—while grappling with how recent events, from Russia's invasion of Ukraine to Israel's devastating war in Gaza, have challenged his convictions.
Drawing on his unique perspective as both an American and a Muslim who came of age in the shadow of the September 11 attacks, Hamid contends with the contradictions of American power: how a nation founded on moral purpose so often fails to live up to its ideals. Hamid confronts head-on America's failures, from the war in Iraq to support for authoritarian regimes across the Middle East. Yet, he argues that in a world where power is a fact and someone must wield it, the alternative to American leadership isn't a morally perfect superpower—it's the brutal authoritarianism of countries like China and Russia.
At once idealistic and pragmatic, this is a book about embracing our power as the only moral option in a world beset by tragedy. Because America is a democracy, it retains the potential to correct past mistakes and change for the better. That part is up to us. Bracing and timely, The Case for American Power is an ambitious work on what may be the most fundamental question facing America today: How should we think about the power we have—while we still have it?"
"What happens when democracy produces 'bad' outcomes? Is democracy good because of its outcomes or despite them? This 'democratic dilemma' is one of the most persistent, vexing problems for America abroad, particularly in the Middle East—we want democracy in theory but not necessarily in practice.
When Islamist parties rise to power through free elections, the United States has too often been ambivalent or opposed, preferring instead pliable dictators. With this legacy of democratic disrespect in mind, and drawing on new interviews with top American officials, Shadi Hamid explores universal questions of morality, power, and hypocrisy. Why has the United States failed so completely to live up to its own stated ideals in the Arab world? And is it possible for it to change?
In The Problem of Democracy, Hamid offers an ambitious reimagining of this ongoing debate and argues for 'democratic minimalism' as a path to resolving democratic dilemmas in the Middle East and beyond. In the seemingly eternal tension between democracy and liberalism, recognized by the ancient Greeks and the American founders alike, it may be time to prioritize one over the other, rather than acting as if the two are intertwined when increasingly they are not."
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