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The study of the rise of Islamic conservatism in the context of local politics has not been the main focus of studies on Islamic conservatism in Indonesia. Studies on Islamic conservatism have so far emphasized the national political aspect, which illustrates that there has been a change in the dynamics of Islam towards a conservative turn. This article responds to various studies on Islamic conservatism in Indonesia by focusing on the emergence of local Islamic conservatism movements in West Sumatra Province after the New Order. West Sumatra is one of the regions predominantly inhabited by ethnic Minangkabau, which has long been known as a driving force in the Indonesian Islamic renewal and modernism movement. This research uses a qualitative method, with a case study approach, by interviewing actors, religious groups, traditional and religious leaders, and local Islamic organizations. This study found that the change in the spectrum of Islam from Islamic modernism to Islamic conservatism was influenced by several factors. First, the agency factor of post-New Order political openness was utilized by local Islamic organizations to promote religious conservatism. Second, the structural factor of political opportunities is the momentum in the promotion of Islamic conservatism. Third, Local identity was used as an instrument to promote Islamic conservatism in West Sumatra. This study is different from previous studies, as historical factors are the main factors in the proliferation of local Islamic conservatism movements such as in West Java, South Sulawesi, Solo, and West Sumatra. Rising of religious Islamic conservatism has been expanding and increasing in the last two decades in Indonesia. The phenomenon of increasing Islamic conservatism is not only a national phenomenon but has also developed in the context of local politics in the province of West Sumatra, Indonesia. This change in Islamic orientation towards religious conservatism is contrary to the history of local Minangkabau Islam as an entity in Islamic renewal and Islamic modernism in Indonesia in the past. This article explains the change in the religious spectrum from modernism to Islamic conservatism that occurred in West Sumatra, which is little attention to the main concern of researchers on Islamic conservatism in Indonesia. Previous studies of Islamic conservatism in Indonesia tend to emphasize national phenomena and has not been a concern on Islamic conservatism in the context of local politics, especially in West Sumatra.

This study aims to examine how Islamist groups employ the fatwas issued by the Majelis Ulama Indonesia/MUI (Indonesian Ulema Council) as a means of political leverage. Specifically, the analysis is based on 2016's MUI blasphemy fatwa case involving the former Jakarta Governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok). Through a qualitative and sociological approach in analyzing politics and religious issues, this research reveals that the 2016 religious blasphemy fatwa in the case of Ahok is more politically motivated. Historically, this fatwa deviates from the traditional approach of MUI, which primarily emphasizes the strengthening of Islamic law with a focus on adherence to Islamic norms. The results also indicate that while fatwas concerning political issues and blasphemy have been issued by the MUI since its establishment in 1975, Ahok's case has become a crucial political tool for these groups. The fatwa has placed MUI further into the realm of Indonesian politics than it had previously been. The establishment of Gerakan Nasional Pengawal Fatwa/GNPF-MUI (MUI National Fatwa Guard Movement) has been instrumental in shaping the 2017's North Jakarta District Court decision of the blasphemy case, solidifying its status as a significant developing political entity. It has allowed them to align with opposition political parties and candidates during 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial and 2019 presidential elections and to oppose current government policies. Additionally, the study identifies justifications for employing fatwas as practical political tools, including the development of fatwa models that address practical political issues and changes in Indonesian politics that increasingly recognize the power of Islamic groups in election contests. MUI has a flexible role in society with some affiliating with the government, and others operating as a civil organization from a social perspective. This ambiguous position in MUI's hierarchy permits the institution to serve as a justification tool for the government or a political tool for the opposition, depending on the situation.

This article discusses how Islamic conservatism has affected public discourse and policymaking on gender and sexuality and its impact on the struggle for gender equality and sexual rights in contemporary Indonesia. It particularly seeks to examine and analyse how Muslim women in the Family Love Alliance produced a counter-discourse against feminism in their struggle to oppose the ratification of the sexual violence eradication bill. While research on Islam and gender in Indonesia has primarily focused on Islamic feminism, little research has addressed the counter-discourse against Islamic feminism produced by Muslim women and how this might influence ideas of and advocacy for women's rights and gender equality. Some scholars on Indonesian Islam have also argued that rising Islamism has turned the country more religiously conservative. However, scholarly understanding of the relationship between Islamic conservatism and gender remains limited. Drawing on my fieldwork in 2018 and 2019 and informed by social movement theory, this study captures how AILA women activists represent a conservative Islamic backlash against gender equality movements in contemporary Indonesia's public sphere.

Far Right and Islamist Populism: How They Disrupt the Hegemonic Order undertakes the challenging task of bringing dialectical logic together with the empirical study of discursive and ideological antagonisms. Examining the European far right, as represented by Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, and Hizb ut-Tahrir as the Islamic interlocutor, the book demonstrates the inner logic by which two opposing political ideologies create a single populist front. In their shared practice of opposing and disrupting the hegemonic order, they draw on each other to encapsulate the contradictory desires and discontents of people in a mutually constituted Muslim Other. These cleavages and dissonances are reconciled in a bipolar identification of the 'people' versus the 'ummah' to establish a new hegemonic formation. The book demonstrates the reality and seriousness of this symbiotic relationship for pluralist democracies and harmonious coexistence. It explores how different, alternative formulations of populism drawing on the works of Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Slavoj Zizek, among others, can function as a counter-movement to the influence of far right and Islamist populist politics.

What citizens think about Muslim immigrants has important implications for some of the most pressing challenges facing Western democracies. To advance contemporary understanding of what ‘Islamophobia’ really is – for example, whether it is a dislike based on immigrants’ ethnic background, religious identity or specific religious behaviors – this study fielded a representative online survey experiment in the UK in summer 2015. The results suggest that Muslim immigrants are not per se viewed more negatively than Christian immigrants. Instead, the study finds evidence that citizens’ uneasiness with Muslim immigration is first and foremost the result of a rejection of fundamentalist forms of religiosity. This suggests that common explanations, which are based on simple dichotomies between liberal supporters and conservative critics of immigration, need to be re-evaluated. While the politically left and culturally liberal have more positive attitudes toward immigrants than right-leaning individuals and conservatives, they are also far more critical of religious groups. The study concludes that a large part of the current political controversy over Muslim immigration is related to this double opposition: it is less about immigrants versus natives or even Muslim versus Christians than about political liberalism versus religious fundamentalism.

Purpose: This study aims to provide a comprehensive and objective view to investigate whether the motives of strong financial managers to adopt an accounting conservatism strategy have significant effects on improving financial growth opportunities in the context of banks listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange, while knowing how this relationship is affected by litigation risks. Design/Methodology/Approach: Using data from Saudi financial databases, this study examines how litigation risk moderates the relationship between accounting conservatism and financial growth in Saudi listed banks. Basu’s (1997) model and accrual-based metrics measure conservatism, whereas assets, liabilities, and business age are used to measure financial growth. Litigation risk factors included previous lawsuits. Validity was ensured using fixed-effects regression and robustness tests. Findings: The study found that accounting conservatism has a mixed impact on financial growth, litigation risk moderates the relationship between conservatism and financial growth, and litigation risk has a positive impact on accounting conservatism. Practical Implications: Use a balanced strategy to maintain accounting conservatism, lower litigation risk while maintaining the accuracy of financial statements, take legal risk into account when evaluating the quality of financial reporting, increase transparency without impeding growth, create guidelines tailored to a particular bank, and fortify governance to reduce lawsuits while permitting long-term financial growth. Originality/Value: In order to bridge the gap between conservatism strategies and long-term financial stability in emerging economies, this study examines how managerial decisions in accounting conservatism affect the financial growth of Saudi banks, incorporating litigation risk as a moderating factor. It also contributes to financial policies, risk management, and regulations.

Conservative accounting in Islamic banking is a crucial issue. This research aims to analyze the influence of executive compensation, the debt covenant, political cost, the composition of the commissioner board, the audit committee, and operating cash flow on the principle of accounting conservatism practiced in Islamic banking in Indonesia. Using data for 13 Islamic banks from 2014 to 2018 and employing panel regression, this study revealed that debt covenant, political cost, and operating cash flow significantly influence accounting conservatism. This result reconfirms the Positive Accounting Theory and Free Cash Flow Theory. However, the other three factors, i.e., executive compensation, the composition of the board of commissioners, and the audit committee were found to have no impact on accounting conservatism. From the findings, the study recommends that policy makers should improve the practice of good corporate governance in Islamic banking, thus the issue of conservative accounting methods could be minimized.

Does Islamic political control affect women's empowerment? Several countries have recently experienced Islamic parties coming to power through democratic elections. Due to strong support among religious conservatives, constituencies with Islamic rule often tend to exhibit poor women's rights. Whether this reflects a causal relationship or a spurious one has so far gone unexplored. I provide the first piece of evidence using a new and unique data set of Turkish municipalities. In 1994, an Islamic party won multiple municipal mayor seats across the country. Using a regression discontinuity (RD) design, I compare municipalities where this Islamic party barely won or lost elections. Despite negative raw correlations, the RD results reveal that, over a period of six years, Islamic rule increased female secular high school education. Corresponding effects for men are systematically smaller and less precise. In the longer run, the effect on female education remained persistent up to 17 years after, and also reduced adolescent marriages. An analysis of long-run political effects of Islamic rule shows increased female political participation and an overall decrease in Islamic political preferences. The results are consistent with an explanation that emphasizes the Islamic party's effectiveness in overcoming barriers to female entry for the poor and pious.

This article discusses the relationship between Sekolah Islam (Salafism-influenced Islamic schools) and urban middle-class Muslims. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the City of Serang (Kota Serang), near Jakarta, this paper argues that these conservative and puritan Muslims demonstrate their Islamic identity politics through their engagement with Sekolah Islam. The analysis of in-depth interviews with and close observations of parents of students and school custodians (preachers or occasionally spiritual trainers) at several Sekolah Islam reveals that they have attempted to pursue ‘true’ Islamic identity and have claimed recognition of their identity as the most appropriate. The pursuit of a ‘true’ Islamic identity has infused Islamic identity politics, and there is an oppositional relationship between local Islamic traditions and Salafism, as seen in Sekolah Islam. The relationship between Islam and identity politics becomes intricate when it is transformed into public symbols, discourses, and practices at many Sekolah Islam. This paper shows that through their understanding and activities at Sekolah Islam, these Muslims are avid actors in the contemporary landscape of Islamic identity politics in Indonesia. By taking examples from Sekolah Islam in Indonesia, this article unveils social transformations that may also take place in the larger Muslim world.