I don't want to start any flamewars, but how much responsibility does Islam have in this development? Are there any Islam-majority countries whose governments aren't garbage?
"Thinkers within the AKP — notably former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu — harbored reservations about the compatibility of Western political and social institutions with their predominantly Muslim society. But the AKP leadership never acted upon this idea, choosing instead to undermine aspects of Ataturk’s legacy within the framework of the republic. That is no longer the case."
The fact that not a single muslim country can be called a democracy does raise some question about the religion itself and its current set of values.
The AKP is an Islamic party and we've been discussing it's threat to secularism and democracy in Turkey vigorously for many years. The supposed (self-)censorship of which you speak doesn't exist.
For the record, elections are coming up in Indonesia, the largest muslim country. And yes conservative Islam and Islamism are a threat to democracy in many democratic Muslim countries. Which is why it is opposed by moderate democratic muslims (like the 49% that voted no in Turkey).
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/17/world/asia/jakarta-electi...
"As of 2012, Indonesia is the only Muslim-majority nation acknowledged as fully democratic by both Freedom House and Economist democracy indexes."
Bangladesh has been ruled by a woman (a long running rivalry between Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia) since 1991 pretty much continuously.
All three have secular, and at least nominally democratic governments. Not without their problems, far from it. There are many reasons for these, domestic, colonial, Islamic neihbours, etc... but I think your comment betrays an extremely superficial view of the world.
Isn't the hallmark of a healthy democracy a strict separation of church and state, regardless of the religion concerned?
Really? I'd have chosen different words, or none at all.
Iran isn't a dictatorship.
I'm sure there are more, but these are off the top of my head.
To be clear, Iran is not totalitarian, but definitely shades of dictatorship.
It really feels like a repeat of communism. The rise of an ideology across the world. It's not an homogeneous block. Various muslim ethnic groups hate each others, as did the Maoists, Stalinists, Trotskyist, etc. It happens pretty much everywhere there is a muslim population. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lybia, Egypt, Yemen, Somalia / Eritrea, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, etc. Western leaders like to pretend that islamists are a minority of extremist groups but the reality is that pretty much anytime there has been a free-ish election in any of these countries, the islamists toped the polls, or got an outright majority.
I think it will get worse before it gets better.
Iran certainly cannot be called a full democracy, the religious council has to approve candidacies for President - it isn't even clear if the current President Rouhani can pose as a candidate!
But there are some Muslim democracies working better, like Indonesia and Malaysia.
This is all a reaction to changing times, with globalization a key driver in loss of status. Some cultures can handle it, some can't.