Academic Research

If we are to believe the latest works of Alain Touraine, contemporary sociology is in a crisis. The last two decades have brought about unexpected and dynamic change to our societies; rapid shifts in the social world that a myriad of social theory attempts to explain. Since the fall of communism, we have observed changes which were hardly predictable by
anyone.

The project addresses the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in democratization processes, bridging social science approaches to social movements and democracy. The project starts by revisiting the "transitology" approach to democratization and the political process approach to social movements, before moving towards more innovative approaches in both areas. From the theoretical point of view, a main innovation will be in addressing both structural preconditions as well as actors' strategies, looking at the intersection of structure and agency. In an historical and comparative perspective, I aim to develop a description and an understanding of the conditions and effects of the participation of civil society organizations in the various stages of democratization processes. Different parts of the research will address different sub-questions linked to the broad question of CSOs' participation in democratization processes: a) under which (external and internal) conditions and through which mechanisms do CSOs support democratization processes? b) Under which conditions and through which mechanisms do they play an important role in democratization processes? c) Under which conditions and through which mechanisms are they successful in triggering democratization processes? d) And, finally, what is the legacy of the participation of civil society during transitions to democracy on the quality of democracy during consolidation? The main empirical focus will be on recent democratization processes in EU member and associated states. The comparative research design will, however, also include selected comparisons with oppositional social movements in authoritarian regimes as well as democratization processes in other historical times and geopolitical regions. From an empirical point of view, a main innovation will lie in the development of mixed method strategies, combining large N and small N analyses, and qualitative comparative analysis with in-depth, structured narratives.

In the 2010s, Islamist activism has been on the rise across the Middle East and North Africa for decades now. In the light of the post-revolutionary elections in Egypt and Tunisia, Islamist parties are sweeping the polls supported by the overwhelming majority of voters. This dissertation investigates the dynamic of this support for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. The explanation of individual activists’ motivation behind this form of middle-class activism has been investigated by exploring individual beliefs, emotions and identities. Activists’ motivational explanations and representation do not develop in a vacuum, outside of a specific context. Explaining the configuration of collective action therefore requires an analysis of a pattern of social characteristics using a spectrum of social movement theories. The long-term contentious relationship between the various Egyptian authoritarian regimes and the Muslim Brotherhood produced an Islamist resistance culture with a particular set of incitements for would be activists. Middle-class activists have primarily been motivated by the Brotherhood’s ability to educate its followers through a multi-stage membership process. During this process youth activists have acquired a strengthened sense of individual purpose. They also possses organizational skills and have successfully ascended the social ladder, leading to a feeling of moral superiority and a degree of personal autonomy even within an authoritarian socio-political context. The social movement organization serves as a facilitator of structured dissent and its success depends ultimately on its ability to recognize the basic needs of a frustrated population. Sympathizers of a particular social movement organization in turn seek realistic forms of dissent which correspond to their system of values and practices.

The article (4667 w.) analyses the term Islamism and its contemporary uses:

"Islamism is one of many sociopolitical concepts that are continuously contested in scholarly literature. It is a neologism debated in both Muslim and non-Muslim public and academic contexts. The term Islamism at the very least represents a form of social and political activism, grounded in an idea that public and political life should be guided by a set of Islamic principles. In other words, Islamists are those who believe that Islam has an important role to play in organizing a Muslim-majority society and who seek to implement this belief. As such, Islamist activism is a public manifestation of religiously informed political will, often expressed as resistance to various types of competing ideas, policies, and even lifestyles. The ideological dimension of Islamism has developed primarily during the second half of the twentieth century.

The primary method of diffusion of activists’ ideas has always been through the persuasion of the Muslim masses—daʿwah or tarbīyah. This form of awareness-raising campaigns has been used by virtually all Islamist groups, be they violent (radical) or nonviolent (moderate). Increasingly, many Islamist groups have adjusted their claims to sociopolitical realities in various political contexts, translating these claims through liberal and human rights discourse . Many of the organizations have toned down their previous emphasis on the past, resulting in increased popular support and gradual Islamization of the political discourse centering on democratization of their societies. Most notably, Islamists have become increasingly aware of the sociopolitical and economic “needs” of the populations they addressed. They have responded by organizing social welfare and education programs, as well as political parties and lobby associations. Such organizations are frequently labeled as moderate Islamists." ...

Contemporary Salafism is a multifaceted phenomenon that is increasingly receiving attention from scholars of sociology and religion in general and Islam in particular. This special issue is a part of this trend wherein we present a collection of case studies all focused on one or several important elements of Salafism in different socio-political contexts. Herein, the scholars discuss various manifestations of Salafism, primarily as a religious phenomenon, by using a range of different theoretical and methodological models. The issue is the result of presentations at several conferences and workshops during the last couple of years.

Salafis refer to their understanding of Islam as authentic. This claim has resonated well with a substantial number of young Muslims. The article sets out to identify this assertion’s main components and its appeal among Egyptian youth immediately before and after the 2011 popular revolt. In other words, what is specific in the Salafi approach to the issue of authenticity? By answering this question, I aim to offer a better understanding of why this religiously inspired movement has become so attractive. By examining the narratives of Egyptian Salafis, I suggest that the allure of strict religious life transcends a Muslim’s search for identity, for it is, in reality, driven by a deep-rooted desire for certainty, purpose, and a form of collective individualism. Salafism, broadly defined, offers a very modern form of socialized spirituality that hinges largely on a discourse of authenticity and prophetic originality, a discourse that resonates with many of today’s young Muslims.

The debate about the compatibility of modernity and (the) Islamic tra- dition is, at this point, centuries old. This article analyzes some of its most recent expressions. The guiding question here is one about the meaning(s) of modernity and its impact on our general understanding of this particular religious tradition. We are often led to believe that this tra- dition is uniquely ill-equipped to absorb or make use of modernity’s con- ceptual repertoire and its supposed liberating power. It therefore follows that the proponents of Islam and of liberalism are at odds with each other, primarily due to the assumption that they occupy different paradigms of understanding, knowledge, and even of hopes and aspirations. This arti- cle seeks to identify some elements of this, arguably erroneous, presump- tion by presenting an overview of several oft-repeated arguments related to modernity and Islamic ethics. Modernity, as it relates to shifting public conceptions of freedom in Muslim-majority societies, has proven to have tremendous mobilizing power. Social actors continuously contest such ideas as freedom, religion, and related issues in the realm of civil society. One such discursive shift underway is the ‘Arab Spring’, arguably one of the strongest indicators of the ongoing process of modernity within Arab societies on multiple levels – a process that is deeply unsettling and entirely open-ended in terms of cultural and socio-political outcomes.

Muhammads död innebar rimligtvis  en kris för den unga muslimska för-
samlingen. Muhammad hade inte bara fått kontinuerliga uppenbarel-
ser från Gud, utan också genom uppenbarelserna kunnat uttolka och
förklara Guds vilja för sina följeslagare. Under åren i Medina hade han varit
både en religiös och politisk ledare och mycket tyder på att han inte på något
tydligt sätt utsett en efterträdare till dessa viktiga roller, vilket innebar att det
tidigt fanns olika meningar om detta bland muslimer. De följande kapitlen
kommer närmare behandla hur muslimer, enligt de källor vi har att tillgå,
svarat på dessa utmaningar.
Den osäkerhet som Muhammads död innebar tycks ha lett till en makt-
kamp och olika röster höjdes om hur muslimerna skulle ledas. Vissa, som
ibland kallas shiat ‘Ali (‘Alis parti) menade att Muhammads kusin och svärson
‘Ali skulle leda muslimerna, medan andra inte ansåg det för självklart. Denna
meningsskiljaktighet är inledningen till splittringen mellan vad som senare
kommer att utvecklas till sunnitisk och shiitisk islam. Dessa två huvudgrenar
av islam har utvecklat olika historienarrativ som skildrar de historiska händel-
serna olika, genom att betona vissa aspekter av dessa händelser och nedtona
andra (Robinson 2003; al-Azmeh 2007).
Sunnimuslimer beskriver till exempel den period som ska behandlas i det-
ta kapitel som ett förverkligande av en påstådd profetia av Muhammad, en-
ligt vilken han skulle komma att efterföljas av rättledda ledare som i sin tur
skulle exemplifiera hur muslimer bör organiseras och styras. Perioden mellan
632–661 uppfattas ofta som en viktig religiös referens för många sunniter. Shi-
amuslimer är å andra sidan kritiska gentemot de första tre av Muhammads
efterträdande ledare, varför deras historieskrivning ser annorlunda ut på flera
punkter. Detta kapitel fokuserar på en sunnitisk historiografi, medan utveck-
lingen inom shiitisk islam kommer att behandlas i nästa kapitel.

The new French documentary Les Salafistes (The Salafis) that pre-miered January 26, 2016, in a small number of French theaters offers iconographic imagery seldom seen in the public space: a string of interviews with some of the leading jihadist militants in Mali, Tunisia, Algeria, and Iraq coupled with ghastly images of violence perpetrated by militant groups. The intention appears to be to show the irrationality of and paradox in the jihadis' discourse and actions. Unfortunately, the directors have succeeded only in reproducing already existing stereotypes of Salafis. The lack of any appropriate contextualization that problematizes the recent rise of violence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is perhaps the film's major flaw. Despite the directors' ambition to let violent extremists discredit their own project, the documentary presents an essentialist argument that reproduces Orientalist imageries of a savage religion. Without the appropriate commentary and background overview to the conflicts featured in the film, the audiences are left alone with an extremist narrative that confirms the evocations of the West's moral, cultural, and political superiority over the East.

"The idea of citizenship (muwatana) for many, if not most, activist Salafis represents an expression of belonging to a community of believers within or without the confines of state borders. This communitarian understanding ties in with their particular theological understanding of religious, and therefore social and political, boundaries between communities – an us vs. them worldview – that implies that some of the rights and responsibilities of “believers” are not available to “unbelievers” or to the wrong kind of “believers.” Like many other fundamentalist religious movements (e.g. Ḥaredi Jewish groups, the Vishva Hindu Parishad, or the Buddhist Madhatha movement, and even pre-modern Calvinists), Salafi groups are keen to separate friends from enemies and the righteous from the unrighteous. What is more, the particular Salafi worldview ultimately produces strict, dichotomising sets of practices that perpetuate the continuous conflict between “friends and enemies,” wherein members of the in-group are on God’s side and those of the out-group are not. The method of separating these opposites permeates not only their religious and social activities, but also marks their political activism.


Chapter  in the book edited by Roel Meijer and Nils Butenschøn, The Crisis of Citizenship in the Arab World: Citizen Rights, Religion, Clientelism and Authoritarianism, (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2017).

In the minds of the general public, Salafism is a radical reactionary movement comprised of fundamentalists motivated by a nitpicking religious zeal. Bearing this in mind, one cannot help but wonder why some young Muslims are attracted to the supposed religio-anarchism and chaos that makes up its worldview. Despite the current mass-production of analyses and descriptions, little serious attention has been given to the affinities that some adolescent Muslims have for this kind of religious life. This article explores these affinities through a critical analysis of the discursive nexus between a regimented religious lifestyle and utopian visions of “the perfect community.” It further suggests that this nexus represents one of the central motivational forces behind much of its adherents’ current activism. This interconnection between the social agents’ desire for a specific lifestyle (manhaj) and their utopian visions of it is revealed in the elective affinities between these two “forces.” The article offers a deeper insight into the motivational dynamics and Salafi subjectivities of this global movement’s emotional capital, one of its trademarks.

Key words: Salafism, Utopian visions, Elective affinities, Religious mobilization, Saved sect

in the Muslim World, (2016) Vol. 106, No. 3: 474-500.