The Carnegie Endowment for Peace has an interesting, if brief, summary of a report on Islamists in politics. At present, the full report is not available on line, but print copies may still be available through a request to this link.
Islamists in Politics: The Dynamics of Participation
Marina Ottaway, Amr HamzawyIslamist movements participating in politics in the Middle East have reached an important crossroad. Despite some electoral success, they have failed to influence policy and are criticized by their base for abandoning their religious commitments. Islamist movements must convince their supporters that political participation is the best way to affect government in the long term, despite seemingly poor short term gains.
Marina Ottaway and Amr Hamzawy examine the experiences of “participating Islamist movements” in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Yemen. Islamists are torn between their need to compromise on some social and political issues to be effective political players and the risk of alienating their core supporters.
…
Note: I’m traveling today, driving from Washington, DC to Florida. You may safely anticipate little posting as a result.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
January:04:2009 - 11:39
what the f is an “islamist” anyways, one of the most ridiculous term I’ve ever heard.
[Edited to remove obscenity. The word doesn't faze me, but I don't want this blog blocked by some robo-filter or worse.]
January:04:2009 - 15:42
It is unclear from the article what the relevance of this may be to our nation.
There are no political parties, and Islamism and Islam is already deeply and pervasively present within all governmental laws.
I offer this as a question and observation, and not as a derogatory notation.
January:04:2009 - 17:54
Actually, no… it’s an academic term (at least) that describes those who see Islam as a political tool rather than simply a religious one. A ‘term of art’, if you will.
In passing, I’d ask that you watch your language. This blog is read by many, some of whom will be offended (not my intent), some of whom may have it blocked for objectionable language (even more not my intent).