Following the creation of Ikatan Cendekiawan Muslim Indonesia ICMI, Indonesian Muslim Intellectual Association) on December 6, 1990, an event which had shaken the Indonesian political scene, discussion of the relation and affinity between Islam and the state once again came to the fore. The controversy surrounding ICMI's establishment revolved around two basic questions, namely, whether it was a political maneuver by the New Order government, or a true manifestation of the Muslim community's aspirations. The resulting situation prompted a large number of responses from people of various backgrounds. Support, opposition and neutrality towards ICMI arose during its five year existence (1990-1995). These responses took cognizance of the hidden motives behind the New Order's political support of the organization, as well as the government's new appreciation and accommodation of Islam and Muslim demands. / The present thesis will thus note, evaluate and analyze these responses in light of the specific context surrounding ICMI's establishment, as well as the numerous analyses extended by various political observers. The thesis will also seek to explain why ICMI became a phenomenon welcomed by most Indonesian Muslims.

Islamic resurgent movements have striven to accomplish an Islamic way of life off their own version of an Islamic state, struggling against the socio-economic and political objectives of governments. While autocratic governments have used religion to ensure their legitimacy, Islamic resurgence has professed to have as its objective the establishment of an Islamic dispensation. Resurgent movements aspire towards a greater unity of religion and politics, domains that cannot be separated. Religion provides them with a framework for the transformation. However, factors responsible for the anger and alienation of the Islamic resurgence are still disputed. Their modus operandi is often frowned upon, overshadowing their driving forces. Therefore the purpose of this study is to determine the true motivations, objectives and modus operandi of Islamic resurgence in Egypt. The role of Islam in their motivation, aim and modus operandi is scrutinised together with other crucial factors which need to be investigated. While ideology determines the broad political and socio-economic paradigm, religion serves as the guiding principle for their implementation. The application of religious principles, in turn, is determined by personalities and circumstances. While Islam has a set of generally agreed upon specifications, interpretations have different deviations in every historical context. As a matter of fact, the unique factors pertaining to time and place are experienced during each political period in the history of Egypt influenced resurgence. This study contends that the motivational factors for the development of Islamic resurgent movements during the 20th and 21st century may be said to be a response to Westernisation brought about by external sources, government and civil society or the West itself. On the other hand, animosity towards a foreign culture seems to be more a reaction against the manner in which the foreign culture has been imposed and not to be directed in the first place against those that represent the foreign culture. Thus, it is not so much aimed against the Western world as against the manner in which the political and socio-economic conditions in the Muslim world have been allowed to develop, albeit with Western help. Even though some argue that the objectives of resurgent movements of an Islamic dispensation are idealistic, not attainable and a threat to the West, this manner of arguing misses the point. The thesis maintains that, in the absence of an inclusive and acceptable political and socio-economic system, an external system has been adopted, and this has added to alienation. As a result both the government and the system have been rejected. Positively stated, the objectives of Islamic resurgent movements seem to have been to achieve an inclusive political system within the frame of reference of the Islamic religion. The aim was not so much to achieve an Islamic state, as a dispensation in which the stipulations of Islam were central aspects. For resurgent movements, Islam had to be more than tokenism providing legitimacy to leaders. In achieving their objectives a variety of modi operandi have been applied, ranging from moderate measures to calling for total-Jihad. A multifaceted society has also determined the differences in modus operandi and objectives of the Islamic resurgent movements. The approaches of Islamic resurgent movements are diverse and they do not have a common agenda or modus operandi. To analyse the objectives of Islamic resurgent movements according to their violent manifestations only is to misunderstand their arguments. These movements are usually seeking a system inclusive of Islam simply because it is their way of life, their culture. Radical and moderate reactions have been determined by convictions based on different diagnoses of the problems at hand as well as different diagnoses of how to deal with the problems within the appropriate spheres of politics, religion and socio-economics. Because Islam provides unity to man, resurgent movements will always seek their objectives of getting rid of political and socio-economic exclusion and replacing it with a system inclusive of all. However, Muslims will have to find a way of achieving their aims and objectives in a modern world. In this process, the outside world can facilitate, but not dictate. Unless future governmental changes in Egypt provide a political and socially integrated society and have promised goods and services delivered, resurgence will continue to appear in various formats. At the same time, generating a workable system would have to take place in relative isolation without coercion from the West for political gain or political dominance. / Prof. J.F.J. van Rensburg

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This dissertation examines how transnationalism can affect Islamists’ moderation in both Egypt and Morocco. In this dissertation, I do an in-depth comparative case study analysis to assess the prospects of moderation of two Islamists political entities, the Muslim Brotherhood as a transnational social movement and the Morocco Party of Justice and Development (JDP), which has no transnational ties. Both the Muslim Brotherhood and PJD came to power after the Arab uprising in 2011 and were key players in the democratic transitions in both countries; however, the entities are not related. Further, the dissertation will explore the moderation level of the Muslim Brotherhood and PJD. Current literature on Islamists and moderation theory focuses on political inclusion, political learning and repression as factors that would affect the moderation of an Islamist group. Looking at Islamists as a transnational social movement is a new aspect in the study of Islamism. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This study examines the shift of Turkish foreign policy from an alliance with the West to a close relationship with Muslim leaders in the 21st century. It attempts to understand the reasons why Turkish foreign policy has shifted from Atatèurk's principles of noninterference and neutrality to the ambition of making Turkey a global actor. In this respect it probes and assesses the determinants of Turkish foreign policy in the last decade under the rule of Prime Minister Erdogan, Foreign Minister Davutoglu and the governing political party, the Justice and Development Party. In arguing that Turkish foreign policy has in the last decade been primarily shaped by the shift in the religious political ideology of the governing elites as well as the rise of Kurdish nationalism, the study seeks to determine the direction of Turkish foreign policy in the near term. / by Ivana Griacova. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The autonomy of the shari` a courts in Ottoman-Egypt during the 16th and 17th centuries, is the subject of this thesis. Specifically, it pursues the question of formalization (the incorporation of courts and their functionaries into the civil apparatus of the state) and, relatedly, the legal innovations which accompanied this policy (the merger of siyasa to shari `a and the development of the qanun ), gauging the implications of both for the judiciaries independence from the state. With regards to procedural law, it finds the courts to be the autonomous domain of its practitioners, muftis and qadis, while concluding that formalization renders the efficacy of the courts dependent on the fortunes of the state. With respect to the two innovations described above, it finds that in the contemplative realm of law, the manipulations of the state spurred certain legal trends without affording the state a place in the domain of law.

No description available.

This study analyzes various perspectives of modernization theory in some Middle Eastern countries and examines the impact of modernization, both in its western and eastern formula, on the legitimacy and stability of these countries. It also examines those external factors that influenced these countries' internal and external policies. The study's major hypothesis is that Modernization + Secularization = Instability, whereas Modernization - Secularization = Stability in Middle Eastern Islamic countries. Secularization is a component of both the western and eastern paths; consequently, a Middle Eastern country that attempts to modernize and secularize along either of these paths is doomed to instability. The hypothesis suggested herein is analyzed in regard to twelve Middle Eastern countries. The principal conclusions are that the collapse of the Shah's regime in 1979 was a direct result of his western and secular policies; Egypt's political and economic instability was a result of its unsuccessful oscillation between west and east; Lebanon's limited experience with liberal democracy was a failure because of internal secularization and sectarian politics, and external interference by foreign powers; the instability of the Ba'athist regimes of Syria and Iraq is a consequence of their secular socialist policies; and South Yemen's Marxist-Leninist policies were a major cause for its unstable political regime. Even though Libya's Third International Theory of Modernization, based on an Islamic framework, seems to generate political stability for Qadhafi's regime, his latest adoption of Marxist-Leninist ideology may delegitimize his rule; on the other hand, the latest external pressures by the United States and Western European powers on Libya have legitimized Qadhafi's rule and boosted his popularity, for the time being. In contrast, Algeria's pragmatic socialism has been carefully tailored to its Islamic tradition and therefore has resulted in one of the major stable political systems in the Middle East. Contrary to the pessimist modernization theorists who predict the demise of the traditional monarchies when attempting to rapidly modernize, modernization in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Morocco seems for the most part to have been accompanied by political stability due to their exclusion of the secular component of the western path.