| Summary: | This review article analyzes Asef Bayat's Making Islam Democratic: Social Movements and the Post-Islamist Turn and Life as Politics: How Ordinary People Change the Middle East. In the context of recent social upheavals in the Middle East and the disciplinary fragmentation in the study of Islamic activism, Bayat seeks to expose the struggle of the ordinary Muslim in the face of political power. Through this review article, it is explored Bayat's concept of “non-movements”, which encompasses the fragmented and often silent actions of millions of marginalized individuals and groups (such as women, youth, and subaltern classes) in “street politics.” The extent of the change generated by nonviolent social movements and the relationship between Islam and democracy are also explored.
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