Authority without Territory: The Aga Khan Development Network and the Ismaili Imamate (Literatures and Cultures of the Islamic World)

The Ismaili imamate's in the 21st century is particularly characterized by a shift in authority and its style of leadership. This shift is specifically embodied in the institutionalization of the office of imamate, most visibly reflected in the activities of the Aga Khan Development Network, a bifocal leadership of the Imam, which focuses on both the faith and the world without abandoning or downplaying one for the sake of the other. The Ismaili imamate and Community have been decoupled from territorial nation-state and they are not defined or directed by nationalistic or narrow identity-centered ideologies. While retaining elements from traditional, charismatic and legal-bureaucratic ideal-types, the Ismaili imamate surpasses the barriers and restrictions of the Weberian ideal-types and represents a novel image of a Shi?i Muslim community which has successfully adapted to modernity without losing its essential values or ethical commitments. The intellectual and rational dimensions of Ismailism inherited from their history have critically shaped the existing conditions of Ismailism, under the leadership of Aga Khan IV.