Arab Islamists from Opposition to Power: A Critical Appraisal

Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention, 2018

This book emerges from the observation that much has changed in the field of political Islam following the popular uprisings that rocked the authoritarian status quo in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in 2010-11, nowadays widely referred to as the Arab uprisings or 'Arab Spring'. Prominent instances of such change include the dramatic rise to (and fall from) power of moderate Islamist political parties/groupings in Egypt and Tunisia-forces that had been violently repressed and/or dismantled by pre-uprisings authoritarian regimes-, the pluralisation of the field of Islamist political players, including most notably the formation of Salafi parties and their ascent to political prominence in electoral and institutional politics, the escalation of sectarian conflict between the region's Sunni and Shi'a communities, exacerbated by war in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, as well as the emergence of the jihadi-Salafi organisation al-Dawla al-Islamiyya (Islamic State, IS) which advances formal ruling pretentions over territories in Syria and Iraq, a new quality to such groups. All of these developments suggest that a renewed analysis and approach to the study of Islamist political and social actors are needed. While extant pre-uprisings scholarship had already noted part of these dynamics and devoted efforts to their analysis-such as for instance the case of Salafi participation in electoral politics, or the growing relevance of the sectarian variable in MENA politics-it can hardly account for their development in the new environment that the 'Arab Spring' has brought about. A cursory look at the scholarship available on the subject of political Islam post-2011 seems to suggest, in fact, that the uprisings constitute just one phase in the long history of Islamist political and social forces present in the MENA, a history characterised by periods of political opposition, inclusion and co-option by authoritarian leaders.

Gulf Center for Strategic Studies, 2019

ISLAMISM AND REVOLUTION ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST, 2023

Despite the modest harvest of the Arab Spring, Islamist movements and groups have been significantly impacted by the Arab uprisings. After decades of repression and exclusion, Islamists became a key player in the new political scene after the Arab Spring. In Egypt, as well as in Tunisia, Morocco, Yemen, Syria, and Libya, Islamists’ discourse, strategy, and behavior have shaped the outcome of the Arab uprisings. However, Islamists’ role and performance varied from one case to another. For example, whereas Islamists succeeded in gaining and maintaining power in Tunisia and Morocco, they failed to do so in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. Likewise, while the inclusion of Islamists led to their views and ideology becoming moderated in some cases, it created challenges and problems in others. Therefore, this book attempts to answer two key questions: first, how did the Arab Spring affect Islamists’ ideology, strategy, and organizations? Second, how can we explain Islamists’ different responses to the Arab Spring and what do these responses tell us about Islamists’ diversity and heterogeneity

Report - Chr. Michelsen Institute

This report provides an overview of the political Islam in the Middle East, with a special emphasis on the Islamic resurgence in the Levant (Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria). Following an introduction to the ideological roots of present-day Islamist movements, the report examines the prospects for popular democracy amidst widespread political violence. In brief, the report shows that Islam need not be incompatible with democracy and that there is a tendency to neglect the fact that many Middle Eastern countries have been engaged in a brutal suppression of Islamist movements, causing them to take up arms against the state. In the third section the report reviews some of the theories used to explain the Islamic revival and discusses their empirical significance. The conclusion argues in favour of moving beyond the “gloom and doom” approach that portrays Islamism as an illegitimate political expression and a potential threat to the West (“Old Islamism”). Instead, th...

2 When I was at the Department [of State], we pursued a policy of excluding the radical fundamentalists in Algeria, even as we recognized that this was somewhat at odds with our support of democracy. Generally speaking, when you support democracy, you take what democracy gives you. […] If it gives you a radical Islamic fundamentalist, you're supposed to live with it. We didn't live with it in Algeria because we felt that the radical fundamentalists' views were so adverse to what we believe in and what we support, and to what we understood the national interests of the United States to be. And so, you can't put down a hard and fast rule to apply in each and every case. James A. Baker III, September 1994 1 Present day autocrats are continuing to bargain with their people: their very existence and identity in exchange for yet again foregoing freedom and democracy. With the same cynicism, Arab autocrats are trying to strike another bargain with the West: either you support us (autocrats) or face the deluge (Muslim fanatics). Of the three forces competing for Arab public space, autocrats have a monopoly of state coercive powers and resources and have used them brutally. Theocrats have the monopoly of the mosque and the claim of virtue and have used them shrewdly and loudly. Democrats are squeezed in between, outgunned by the autocrats and outnumbered by the theocrats, but with claims of legitimacy and the support of a silent majority. Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, November 2006 2 America respects the right of all peaceful and law-abiding voices to be heard around the world, even if we disagree with them. And we will welcome all elected, peaceful governments -provided they govern with respect for all their people.

1995

2014

In the three and a half years since the popular uprising in Tunisia inaugurated the socalled 'Arab Spring', new political dynamics have been unleashed across the Middle East and North Africa. In four countries-Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen-sitting rulers were deposed, leading to some form of regime change. In each case Islamist movements sought, in different ways, to fill the void. Initially, as the Muslim Brotherhood and Ennahda surged into prominence in Egypt and Tunisia respectively, the star of political Islam seemed to be on an unstoppable rise. The Islah Party, main vehicle of the Brothers in Yemen, moved to centre stage in the wake of president Saleh's departure. The Muslim Brotherhood's less than decisive electoral showing in Libya did not much detract from the overall impression that across the region a new era of Islamism was dawning. Islamism, it suddenly seemed, may not only be compatible with democratisation but could act as a potential catalyst for it in the Arab world.