POLI SCI 351 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Islamic Action Front, Iraqi Islamic Party, Sayyid Qutb
24 May 2018
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Department
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What explains the prominence of Islamist politics in the Middle East
What explains variations in its forms and outcomes?
Islamism: set of movements and approaches dedicated to increasing the role of Islam in
public life (Brown)
Islamic Revivalism/Reformism: Early Trends
• Mid 1800s - Jamal Al-Din, Al-Afghani, Muhammed Abduh
o Challenge: how to face European domination
o Concern: Islamic world had become backward
o Solution: adopt some Western ways for Islamic revival
▪ Commerce, science, etc
• Till mid-1900s - Rashid Rida, Hassan al-Banna, Sayid Qutb
o Challenge: how to resist European domination
o Concern: there was too much westernization, loss of tradition
o Solution: recover religious authenticity
▪ 1928: Muslim Brotherhood
• In most countries, the major Islamist group traces to the Muslim Brotherhood
o Egypt - Muslim Brotherhood
o Palestine - Hamas
o Syria - revolt in Hama (1982)
o Jordan - Islamic Action Front
o Sudan - National Islamic Front
o Iraq - Iraqi Islamic Party
o Israel - Islamic Movement
o Bahrain - Al Islah
• From late 1970s
o 2 main events in revival of Islamism - Iranian revolution, oil boom / wealth
o Failures of secular-nationalist-populist state
▪ Islamism rises as an opposition group
o Successful grassroots mobilization
o Political liberalization -> electoral presence
• Since 2011 Arab Spring
o Non-ideological waves during Arab Spring
▪ Not calling for Islam, just for change
o Victorious in first post-authoritarian elections
o Popular backlash after initial experience in government
▪ Egypt, Tunisia
▪ Brown: shifts from elections to coping
Islamism: Different Stands
• Islamic activism (working within existing regimes)
o Rise as opposition movements and parties in post-independence regimes
(20th century)
o Reform agenda
o Accept nation-state, work within that framework
▪ Varies by context
o Often biggest challenger to authoritarian regime
• Salafi Movement
o Ultra-conservative, Sunni Islam (al-Queda)
o Core idea is to return to the example of the Prophet
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