Political Islam at a Crossroads

The Carnegie Endowment has a new paper out by Marina Ottaway and Amr Hamzawy titled “Islamists in Politics: The Dynamics of Participation”. In it, they examine the experiences of politically active Islamist groups in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Yemen. They find the groups increasingly torn between the compromising demands of participatory government and maintaining ideological purity to appeal to their core supporters. The report concludes that Islamists that are free from the constant threat of repression by the state are far more likely to moderate their views and play by democratic rules.

“While participation is not invariably a process of further democratization and moderation, it is also clear that non-participation—either enforced by governments or chosen by the leadership of Islamist parties and movements—is a guarantee that a process of moderation will not take place.”

Read the full report here.