The purpose of this thesis is to try to understand the moderation process of the Tunisian Islamic political party Ennahda between the years of 2011-2016. This case is studied within the context of the democratisation process that took place in Tunisia, in the five years after the Arab spring and the idea that political Islam might provide a path to democracy in the Middle East and North Africa. The theoretical framework chosen for understanding this process was in form of a theory about under which circumstances religious political parties politically moderate. The method used was a qualitative content analysis. The analysis was conducted by dividing the chapters into thematic topics that emerged out of the material with the framework then being applied to those themes. The research found that the theory provided theoretical understanding for why the Ennahda Movement became more moderate, especially when looking at factors regarding political entrepreneurship. However, other factors such as a dedication to democratic values, non-violence, and a willingness to change throughout its history, also proved important in the case of moderation within the Ennahda Movement.

The theme of this research paper is political Islam and democratic transition in the MENA. The study is delimited to the Ennahda Movement and the Muslim Brotherhood as two prominent political Islamist movements, focusing specifically on their experiences during the democratic transition period. It employs a comparative analytical framework, drawing on a qualitative analysis of primary and secondary databases, including survey data, statistics tables, documentaries, media sources, and scholarly works. Through a comparative lens and within three theoretical anchors, the study explores the puzzle of contradictory outcomes, with Tunisia experiencing a relatively successful democratic transition while Egypt faced setbacks and a return to authoritarian rule. By examining their ideologies, governance styles, reform approaches, and responses to in-and-external challenges, the study illustrates the key factors resulting in their divergent trajectories.  The study findings indicate that the Ennahda's adoption of a bottom-up reform approach, inclusive leadership philosophy, and flexible governance style; not to mention the ability to tackle in-and-external challenges effectively, contributed to the success of the democratization process in Tunisia. In contrast, the Brotherhood faced serious challenges due to its top-down reform approach, exclusive leadership philosophy, and rigid governance style; let alone the disability to handle in-and-external challenges adequately, led to the failure of the democratization process in Egypt. The study concludes that leadership philosophy, governance ways, reform approaches, and capacity to navigate in-and-external challenges play pivotal roles in shaping the trajectories of Islamist political movements in the course of democratic transitions.

The Islamist movements operate in all the countries of the Middle East and North Africa region. The mother organization, which is also best-known among the movements, is the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, whose ideas spread quickly into other countries in the region. Although the Islamist movements are ideologically different, they have one similar attribute - focus on various social issues as well as the fact that they originally profiled as charity organizations and they have only recently entered the political scene. The main goal of this diploma thesis is to analyze and compare the activities and achievements of the Muslim Brotherhood (The Freedom and Justice party) and The Movement of Islamic Tendency (The Ennadhda party) within the political systems in Egypt and Tunisia. The thesis also aims at verifying explanatory cleavage of Islamist electorate based on the cleavage theory within Egypt and Tunisia. The biggest success of the Islamist movements so far meant the changes after the Arab Spring. Following this event the Islamist movements won the first free parliamentary election in both countries. However, the political activities of the Muslim Brotherhood did not last so long in Egypt - nowadays the movement exists only illegally and it has been in a difficult position. On the contrary, the...

No description available.