India, June 23 -- In Muslim-majority nations, demands for Islamic law often arise from increasing frustration with authoritarian rule, but recent developments show it rarely delivers accountable governance.

Francis Fukuyama, the influential American political scientist, offered an insightful take on why many Muslims in authoritarian settings demand the rule of Shariah. Reflecting on Iran's 2009 Green Movement, he quoted the scholar Noah Feldman to argue that this demand is less about imposing harsh theocracy than about seeking constraints on brute power.

In classical Islamic systems, independent religious scholars (ulema) interpreted Shariah to limit even omnipotent sultans, providing a semblance of rule of law and justice. Modern secul...