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| Islamism | |
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| Name | Islamism |
Islamism is a transnational current of political movements that seek to shape public life according to interpretations of Islamic law and religious principles. Its proponents have appeared in diverse contexts including the late Ottoman reform debates, the Arab Revolt (1916–1918), the decolonization era, and post‑Cold War politics across Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Scholars distinguish strands that range from electoral groups like Justice and Development Party (Turkey) and Ennahda Movement to armed organizations such as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, while debates invoke concepts from Sharia and writings of thinkers like Sayyid Qutb, Abul A'la Maududi, and Muhammad Iqbal. Academic literature uses terms from studies of political Islam, comparative politics, and sociology in analyses connected to cases like Iranian Revolution and Muslim Brotherhood. Terminology is contested in analyses by authors publishing in venues tied to University of Oxford, Harvard University, and American University.
Origins are traced through reformist networks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries linked to figures in the Ottoman Empire, reformists around Istanbul, and activists influenced by events such as the Young Turk Revolution and the collapse of the Habsburg Empire. Interwar and postwar movements coalesced around parties and organizations including the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat-e-Islami, and regional responses to Suez Crisis, Algerian War, and Partition of India. The 1979 Iranian Revolution and the 1990s withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan reshaped transnational networks and influenced donors, activists, and militant formations linked to events such as the Soviet–Afghan War.
Currents include conservative reformists influenced by legal scholarship tied to institutions like Al-Azhar University and revivalists drawing on modernist jurists, alongside revolutionary currents inspired by texts from Sayyid Qutb and organizational models exemplified by Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami. Other tendencies encompass Salafi movements that trace intellectual lineage to scholars referenced in studies at King Saud University and jihadi currents associated with leaders such as Osama bin Laden and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. There are also pragmatic currents aligned with parties like Ennahda Movement and Justice and Development Party (Morocco) that participate in elections and coalition politics.
Representative parties and movements include Muslim Brotherhood, Justice and Development Party (Turkey), Ennahda Movement, Jamaat-e-Islami, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and armed groups such as Hezbollah (Lebanon), Taliban, and Al-Shabaab. These organizations have engaged with institutions like parliaments in Tunisia, Turkey, and Pakistan and with supranational organizations such as the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Electoral successes and bans have occurred in national contexts including the aftermaths of the Arab Spring, the 1997 Indonesian legislative election, and the 2002 Swedish general election debates over migration and integration.
Movements interact with religious authorities including Al-Azhar University, the office of the Grand Mufti of Egypt, and jurists from seminaries in Qom and Najaf, producing contested legal opinions about fatwa issuance, constitutional design, and family law reforms debated in courts like the Egyptian Court of Cassation and assemblies such as the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Tensions have arisen between movement leaders and clerical establishments in episodes involving figures like Rached Ghannouchi, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and scholars tied to Darul Uloom Deoband.
Tactics range from participation in elections, grassroots social services similar to programs run by Hezbollah (Lebanon) and Muslim Brotherhood, legal advocacy in constitutional courts, to insurgent operations exemplified by campaigns in Iraq, Syria, and Somalia. Movements have used media outlets, charities registered in jurisdictions such as Geneva and Kuwait City, and transnational funding networks linked to philanthropic actors in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Countermeasures by states utilize measures from legal bans to counterterrorism campaigns led by coalitions including NATO partners and regional forces in operations against groups like ISIS.
In North Africa, parties such as Ennahda Movement and events like the Tunisian Revolution illustrate electoral engagement and constitutional negotiation. In the Levant, actors include Hezbollah (Lebanon) and political developments in Lebanon, while in South Asia organizations like Jamaat-e-Islami and the Deobandi movement shaped debates in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Southeast Asian dynamics are seen in Indonesia and Malaysia with parties such as Parti Islam Se-Malaysia; Central Asian and Caucasus cases involve groups reacting to the legacies of the Soviet Union and state policies in Kazakhstan and Chechnya.
Critics from liberal and secular circles cite concerns raised in debates around Universal Declaration of Human Rights, judicial rulings in constitutional courts, and human rights reports by organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch about issues including minorities, gender equality, and freedom of expression. Supporters counter with references to social welfare successes in municipalities and to electoral mandates in places such as Tunisia and Turkey. Responses by states and international organizations have included legal proscription, engagement strategies, and counterextremism programs carried out in collaboration with bodies like the United Nations and regional security partnerships.
Category:Political movements