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• Pressures exerted by the power and dominance of an international development framework that remains fundamentally prescriptive and tends to actively and passively inhibit the growth of national and local variety that is not congruent with the overarching global neo-liberal boundaries .
• The diverse and evolving nature of Islam that leads to divisions within and between Islamic nation-states and inhibits the growth of the international Islamic financial sector and interaction between Islamic financial institutions .
• The distinctive and unique aspects and fundamentals of individual national political , economic , and social situations that demand both distinct interpretations of Islam , but also the constant evolution of Islamic financial institutions as they interact with the non-Islamic world .
Balancing these various tensions is never going to be easy . As the complexity theory inspired author Rihani makes clear , development is best understood as ,
… an uncertain evolution that has no beginning or end , no shortcuts , and few signposts on the way . Nations do not follow the same path … However , prospects for the future are conditioned by two factors that are difficult to predict and guard against in advance : local opportunities and constraints , and the activities of coevolving nations . ( Rihani� 2002 , p . 235 )
Nevertheless , some form of structure to support the development of the international Islamic financial system would offer obvious benefits for encouraging Islamic financial and economic interaction and in some ways act as a healthy challenge to the dominance of the and current neo-liberal international economic order — adding greater variety to the international system . Hence , to answer our earlier question , a more coordinated international Islamic financial system is possible and beneficial . However , there are several lessons that must be kept in mind .
• It is essential that the Islamic financial system learns from and adopts core elements of the existing system such as its general financial rules , stability , openness , and exchangeability — thereby increasing healthy interaction within the system .
• At the same time , it must try to avoid overly prescriptive and rigid strategies that strip out the ability of nation-states and local actors to adapt and evolve to suit their particular needs .
• Interact with the existing international financial system , but , where possible , defend your uniqueness and flexibility . From the mainstream neo-liberal financial framework diversity is often seen as a weakness . From a complexity perspective , though it does not guarantee success , it is often a hidden strength .
What this implies is that the creation of a sustainable international Islamic financial system will require a continual dialogue between local , national , and international financial actors in order to continually and flexibly steer a course that balances the aforementioned tensions . As mentioned earlier , relying solely on highly educated international financial elites to design and direct the system will have a tendency to align the system with the dominant neo-liberal
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