Although regarded as a single community of Islamists, Islamic political movements utilise vastly different means to pursue their goals. This book examines why some Islamic movements facing the same socio-political structures pursue different political paths, while their counterparts in diverse contexts make similar political choices. Based on qualitative fieldwork involving personal interviews with Islamic politicians, journalists, and ideologues - conducted both before and after the Arab Spring - author Esen KirdiAY draws close comparisons between six Islamic movements in Jordan, Morocco and Turkey. She analyses how some Islamic movements decide to form a political party to run in elections, while their counterparts in the same country reject doing so and instead engage in political activism as a social movement through informal channels. More broadly, the study demonstrates the role of internal factors, ideological priorities and organisational needs in explaining differentiation within Islamic political movements, and discusses its effects on democratisation.

Islamic Political Movements and Power in the Arab World: The Rise and Fall represents a comprehensive study of contemporary Islamic political movements and their prospects. Undertaken by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research and employing a scholarly, methodological approach, it addresses the prominent transformations that have occurred within certain Islamic political organizations as a result of what the media have dubbed the “Arab Spring”—namely those Islamic parties and movements which came to power in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. In addition, new Islamic parties and organizations have emerged, thus re-shaping the political environments of several Arab countries. This volume provides an examination of the political rise of Islamists in the wake of the so-called “Arab Spring” and deconstructs the experience of Islamic political parties and movements in government. It discusses the negative effects and implications of Islamists’ efforts to inject religion into the practice of politics and to politicize religion, which have led to increased religious and political polarization in a number of Arab countries and undermined efforts to build the national consensus needed to achieve peace, economic development, social justice and democratic transformation. The authors of the papers presented herein raise pertinent questions concerning the future of Islamic political movements in the Arab World, particularly in light of certain movements’ negative experiences of governance, the internal developments being witnessed in various Arab countries, and the regional and international transformations affecting the Arab world as a whole.

Islamic Political Movements and Power in the Arab World: The Rise and Fall represents a comprehensive study of contemporary Islamic political movements and their prospects. Undertaken by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research and employing a scholarly, methodological approach, it addresses the prominent transformations that have occurred within certain Islamic political organizations as a result of what the media have dubbed the “Arab Spring”—namely those Islamic parties and movements which came to power in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. In addition, new Islamic parties and organizations have emerged, thus re-shaping the political environments of several Arab countries. This volume provides an examination of the political rise of Islamists in the wake of the so-called “Arab Spring” and deconstructs the experience of Islamic political parties and movements in government. It discusses the negative effects and implications of Islamists’ efforts to inject religion into the practice of politics and to politicize religion, which have led to increased religious and political polarization in a number of Arab countries and undermined efforts to build the national consensus needed to achieve peace, economic development, social justice and democratic transformation. The authors of the papers presented herein raise pertinent questions concerning the future of Islamic political movements in the Arab World, particularly in light of certain movements’ negative experiences of governance, the internal developments being witnessed in various Arab countries, and the regional and international transformations affecting the Arab world as a whole.

Islamic political movements utilise vastly different means to pursue their goals. This text examines why some Islamic movements facing the same socio-political structures pursue different political paths, while their counterparts in diverse contexts make similar political choices.

For years, scholars hypothesized about what Islamists might do if they ever came to power. Now, they have answers: confusing ones. In the Levant, ISIS established a government by brute force, implementing an extreme interpretation of Islamic law. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tunisia's Ennahda Party governed in coalition with two secular parties, ratified a liberal constitution, and voluntarily stepped down from power. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, the world's oldest Islamist movement, won power through free elections only to be ousted by a military coup. The strikingly disparate results of Islamist movements have challenged conventional wisdom on political Islam, forcing experts and Islamists to rethink some of their most basic assumptions. In Rethinking Political Islam, two of the leading scholars on Islamism, Shadi Hamid and William McCants, have gathered a group of leading specialists in the field to explain how an array of Islamist movements across the Middle East and Asia have responded. Unlike ISIS and other jihadist groups that garner the most media attention, these movements have largely opted for gradual change. Their choices, however, have been reshaped by the revolutionary politics of the region. The groups depicted in the volume capture the contradictions, successes, and failures of Islamism, providing a fascinating window into a rapidly changing Middle East. It is the first book to systematically assess the evolution of mainstream Islamist groups since the Arab uprisings and the rise of ISIS, covering 12 country cases. In each instance, contributors address key questions, including: gradual versus revolutionary approaches to change; the use of tactical or situational violence; attitudes toward the nation-state; and how ideology, religion, and political variables interact. For the first time in book form, readers will also hear directly from Islamist activists and leaders themselves, as they offer their own perspectives on the future of their movements. Islamists will have the opportunity to challenge the assumptions and arguments of some of the leading scholars of Islamism, in the spirit of constructive dialogue. Rethinking Political Islam includes three of the most important country cases outside the Middle East-Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan-allowing readers to consider a greater diversity of Islamist experiences. The book's contributors have immersed themselves in the world of political Islam and conducted original research in the field, resulting in rich accounts of what animates Islamist behavior.

Turkey, officially a secular state, voted in an Islamist party in 2002, 2007 and 2011. How far does this reflect the trend which has seen the rise of political Islam across the Middle East? Does this indicate a growing tendency in the direction of Islamisation amongst the Turkish population? If not, what are the underlying reasons behind the electoral triumphs of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (the AKP)? Kayhan Delibas seeks to answer these questions through an in-depth examination of the appeal of this political party, exploring its ideology, the routes and motives which produce party activists and local party organisations. Concluding that the AKP's success has been built on its criticism of growing inequalities, widespread corruption, unemployment, poverty and lack of basic services, Delibas draws a nuanced portrait of modern Turkish society and the relationship between religion and politics. Delibas offers an explanation, based on research carried out amongst grassroots activists, for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Turkey.Islamic movements are often described as anti-modernist, thought to be supported by fundamentalist groups living in a bygone age, isolated from the rest of the modern world. In recent years, particularly since the events of 9/11, such movements have also been seen as a threat to the Western way of life. But Delibas argues that these movements, and particularly those in Turkey, did not arise out of religious fervour or hatred of Western civilisation, as is often claimed. Rather, they were founded, and have thrived, as a response to socio-economic and political conditions that have been aggravated by neoliberal economic policies, rapid urbanisation and the globalization of culture. By exploring the structural conditions in which an Islamic movement emerged and become popular in a seemingly secular state, The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey offers vital analysis for all those researching modern Turkey and the growth of Islamist politics throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

Rethinking Political Islam offers a fine-grained and definitive overview of the changing world of political Islam in the post-Arab Uprising era.