Halduskultuur

Preface: The Governance aspects of Islamic Public Value

Wolfgang Drechsler — 2025-08-25

The current theme issue of Halduskultuur is one of the publications emerging from “Islamic Public Value” (IPV), a John Templeton Foundation grant based at University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (UCL IIPP), of which the co-editors, and the authors, are members. The project aims to uncover, and present as legitimate, the perspectives of otherwise underrepresented and underexplored Islamic institutions undertaking polycentric governance and administration and creating public value to better the lives of their constituents and neighbours, and this is the publication with a specific, one might even say classic, Governance focus.

Vakuf Administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Joseph J. Kaminski — 2025-08-25

This article first offers a historical overview of vakufs in the land known today as Bosnia and Herzegovina. It then briefly outlines the role that the Islamska zajednica u Bosni i Hercegovini (Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Vakufska direkcija (Vakuf Directorate) have played in the oversight of the Bosnia and Herzegovina’s vakufs. The final section of this article offers an original case study of the Gazi Husrev-Begov Vakuf where, via original document analysis and oral interviews conducted with the administrative leadership of the Gazi Husrev-Begov Vakuf, we discuss its leadership structure, unique rules and regulations, and overall functioning within the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s broader Islamic institutional apparatus. We will conclude by arguing that, by and large, vakufs have been effectively managed in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s over the years and that they share both Weberian and distinctly non-Weberian traits which make them a unique case to further explore when looking at non-Western models of administration.

Comparative Analysis of Shura Councils in Qatar and Saudi Arabia

Abdulfatah Said Mohamed — 2025-08-25

Shura, a Quranic principle rooted in mutual consultation and accountability, serves as a foundational element of Islamic governance, embodying values such as justice, inclusivity, and collective decision-making. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of the Majlis Al-Shura in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, examining their structures, roles, and alignment with Islamic public value within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. Recent constitutional amendments in Qatar, following the November 5, 2024, referendum, have significantly altered the structure of its Shura Council. Qatar formerly used a hybrid system with partial elections before shifting to full appointment by the Emir. However, the new constitutional revisions abolished elections, making all members fully appointed by the Emir, aligning Qatar’s governance structure more closely with Saudi Arabia’s traditional model. Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council has long followed a fully appointed model. Their approaches to lawmaking and public engagement reflect evolving interpretations of Islamic governance. The study draws on legal texts and stakeholder insights to explore how each council balances Islamic values with modern governance. The key challenges facing Qatar since the abolishment of elections include reduced public participation, limitations in legislation, and changing women’s roles in governance. The study calls for greater transparency and civic engagement to align reform with Islamic values.

Exploring Islamic Public Administration: Ethnographic and Socio-Legal Approaches

Rustamjon Urinboyev — 2025-08-25

This article aims to present and develop methodological tools and analytical insights for the empirical study of Islamic Public Administration (PA). To achieve this, it reviews some of the most common theoretical and analytical approaches in ethnography and socio-legal studies and highlights their relevance and contributions to research on Islamic PA. Specifically, it demonstrates how to (a) conduct ethnographic fieldwork on Islamic PA institutions and (b) analyze, conceptualize, and write about this type of ethnographic fieldwork within PA research. Theoretically, the article draws on socio-legal theories to construct a conceptual framework for analyzing living Islamic administrative traditions within local communities. The central argument is that employing ethnographic and socio-legal methods enables us to view Islamic PA as a living tradition, expressed through the mundane, everyday administrative practices and traditions found in various Muslim contexts. To substantiate this argument, the article presents empirical material from the author’s ethnographic study of Mahalla institutions in Uzbekistan, illustrating how to conduct and write about Islamic PA research in practice. By doing so, this chapter aims to illuminate theoretical and methodological aspects of ethnographic fieldwork, with the hope of inspiring new empirically oriented studies on Islamic PA.

Where we are (headed): Knowledge, Social Cohesion, and Public Value in Islamic Public Administration

Andrew Massey — 2025-08-25

This article addresses issues explored in the research project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, and published in the book, ‘Islamic Public Value: theory, practice, and administration of indigenous cooperative institutions,’ edited by Wolfgang Drechsler, Salah Chafik and Rainer Kattel. This special edition of Halduskultuur, is another of several outputs from the work. This article engages with a range of observations regarding the role of Islam in historical, cultural and political terms in public administration. We begin by asking, ‘How do we know what we know?,’ and link it to the growing competition to Western Public Administration posed by other perspectives and understandings, in particular the wider concept of Islamic Public Value from a range of countries, comprising the world’s largest Muslim country (Indonesia), some of the smaller European Islamic populations (including Kosova), and, a range of post-Soviet Islamic republics. The work in this research project, including in the book, returns the notions of context and temporality to the study and understanding of Islamic Public Administration; the history and impact of Islamic governance on Europe and the rest of the world especially from the time of the capture of Damascus onwards and the halt of the eastward expansion of Arab armies after the battle of the river Talas in 751. Though trade along the Silk Road continued to expand Islamic influence. As Ruskin Bond observed, ‘The past is always with us, for it feeds the present,’ The work that has emerged from this project explores and expands our knowledge of the interaction between different systems and cultures in a refreshing and instructive way.

Is it worth reforming PA?

Bardyl Dobra — 2025-08-25

We publish here the moderated conversation among four scholar-statesmen with a special focus on public administration, introduced in the text, that took place as a panel discussion at the second international Public Administration Reform conference in Prishtina, Kosova, on 26 September 2024. Based on the actual transcript, all participants edited their remarks for publication and were free to expand or even delete, but the colloquial panel style had to be retained and no notes were added, but – given the nature of the panelists – still not all answers actually address the questions asked. Nonetheless, we believe that this unique constellation of experts in at least three dimensions makes the discussion and its contents both relevant and interesting for readers of Halduskultuur.