Center For Global Policy Podcasts

Newlines Institute's Kamran Bokhari talks with Dr. Muqtedar Khan, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware and a Newlines Institute Senior Fellow (2019-20), about his new book, Islam & Good Governance: A Political Philosophy of Ihsan. Professor Khan says he was prompted to write the book by two factors. The first was a realization that bad governance is the reason why Muslim countries are in such bad shape -- something he says is reflected in millions of Muslims’ “voting by their feet” and leaving the Muslim world to live elsewhere. The second factor, Khan says, is that the desire to bring Islam into the public sphere has led to some “unfortunate experiments” like al Qaeda and the Islamic State, which have harmed not only Muslim societies but the broader world. The book articulates ways in which to bring Islam into the public sphere as a force for love and compassion rather than tension, Khan says. Ihsan, Khan explains, is a concept that has been translated a