This dissertation aims to understand how Islamist ideology differs across Islamist political parties in majority-Muslim countries. It asks why, despite drawing from the same religious source, the ideology of Islamist parties differs significantly and ranges from a wide spectrum, reaching from rigid conservative ideologies to flexible and even liberal. In order to address this question, the first step I pursue is to create a classification of different types of Islamism based on a spectrum of Islamist thought and behavior. I call the most literalist approach which aims at top-down Islamization Traditionalist Islamism, while the most flexible variety which argues for a bottom-up approach and relies on secular civil law is is labelled Neo-Islamism. Political parties that do not clearly fall under any of these categories and mix characteristics of both are grouped under the Hybrid Islamism category. I argue that if they could, all Islamist parties would moderate their ideology in order to achieve electoral success. However, both the position of the party vis-a-vis other parties in the system, and a high degree of dependence on an internal clique or an external movement create constraints and limitations which prevent parties from moderating their ideological profile. I find support for my argument by comparing five different Islamist parties in Indonesia. I further strengthen my case by introducing several hadow cases from Turkey, Malaysia and Tajikistan (under the authoritarian regime).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/621747 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Nikolaev, Roman, Nikolaev, Roman |
| Contributors | Kurzer, Paulette, Kurzer, Paulette, Kurzer, Paulette, Ghosn, Faten, Cyr, Jennifer |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Electronic Dissertation |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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