Recent events suggest Islamism is a relatively new trend; however, Islamist organizations have functioned in the Middle East as entrenched social movements, religious groups, and even political parties since the onset of the 20th century. Moreover, the portrayal of these organizations as stagnant or reified is inaccurate; these groups often display both verbal and behavioural signs of tactical, strategic, and in some cases, ideological change over time. This study explores if and how Islamist organizations change their platforms and pattern of action in the context of the state-led liberalization (and its aftermath) that swept the Middle East in the 1970s and 80s. This period of time is quite revealing with respect to state-Islamist relations due to economic constraints compelling the state to negotiate with domestic social forces that it would have otherwise repressed. In many of these phases of controlled liberalization, the state and prominent Islamist groups entered into an informal 'pact', which delineated the demands, promises, and boundaries involved in this process of 'opening'. This study suggests that it is not solely the violent or non-violent approach by the state to these groups that determines whether Islamists employ conflictive or cooperative patterns of action. Instead, this study hypothesizes that it is the convergence or divergence of the state from the 'pact' that determines the Islamist response; this allows us to better understand Islamist activity that seems 'unexpectedly' cooperative or conflictive vis-a-vis the state. The case studies of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan and Egypt, and the Front Islamique du Salut in Algeria allow for a comparative exploration of this phenomenon.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.79803 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Procyshen, Crystal |
| Contributors | Brynen, Rex (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Political Science.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001986186, proquestno: AAIMQ88677, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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