IICRR scholar Dr Paola Rivetti together with Dr  Hendrik Kraetzschmar (University of Leeds) has co-edited a  book Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention published by Edinburgh University Press.  This book scrutinises the political strategies and ideological evolution of Islamist actors and forces following the Arab uprisings. The book features 22 case studies explaining the diverse trajectories of political Islam since 2011 in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen. It provides a comprehensive analysis of political Islam covering intra-Islamist pluralisation and conflict, governance and accountability issues, ‘secular-Islamist’ contention, responses to neo-liberal development and the resurgence of sectarianism and militancy. It offers a set of innovative approaches to the study of political Islam in the post-Arab spring era that open new possibilities for theory development in the field.

 

What role does political Islam play in the genealogy of protests as an instrument to resist neo-liberalism and authoritarian rule? How can we account for the internal conflicts among Islamist players after the 2011/2012 Arab uprisings? How can we assess the performance of Islamist parties in power? What geopolitical reconfigurations have the uprisings created, and what opportunities have arisen for Islamists to claim a stronger political role in domestic and regional politics? These questions are addressed in this book, which looks at the dynamics in place during the aftermath of the Arab uprisings in a wide range of countries across the Middle East and North Africa. Chapters include:

“Political Islam and the Arab Uprising” by Paola Rivetti and Hendrik Kraetzschmar

“Participation not Domination: Morsi on an Impossible Mission?” by Mariz Tadros

“Governing after Protests. The Case for Political Participation in Post-2009 Iran” Paola Rivetti and Alam Saleh

“The Group that wanted to be a State: The ‘Rebel Governance’ of the Islamic State” by Truls H. Tønnessen

“Islamic and Islamist Women Activists in Qatar Post-Arab uprisings: Implications for the Study of Refusal and Citizenship” by Wanda Krause and Melissa Finn

“Is Islamism Accommodating Neo-liberalism? The Case of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood” by Angela Joya

“A Critique from Within: The Islamic Left in Turkey and the AK Party’s Neo-Liberal Economics” by Nazlı Çağın Bilgili and Hendrik Kraetzschmar

“Rise and Endurance: Moderate Islamists and Electoral Politics in the Aftermath of the ‘Moroccan Spring’” by Mohammed Masbah

“Does Participation Lead to Moderation? Understanding Changes in Egyptian Islamist Parties post-Arab Spring” by Barbara Zollner

“Islamist Political Societies in Bahrain: Collateral Victims of the 2011 Popular Uprising” bby Marc Valeri

“Kuwait’s Islamist Proto-parties and the Arab Uprisings: Between Opposition, Pragmatism and the Pursuit of Cross-Ideological Cooperation” by Luciano Zaccara, Courtney Freer and Hendrik Kraetzschmar

“Secular Forms of Politicised Islam in Tunisia: The Constitutional Democratic Rally and Nida’ Tunis” by Anne Wolf

“Political Parties and Secular-Islamist Polarisation in Post-Mubarak Egypt”  by Hendrik Kraetzschmar and Alam Saleh

“The Complexity of Tunisian Islamism: Conflicts and Rivalries over the Role of Religion in Politics” by Francesco Cavatorta

“The Reconfiguration of the Egyptian Islamist Social Movement Family after Two Political Transitions” by Jerôme Drevon

“Iraq’s Shi‘a Islamists after the Uprisings: The Impact of Intra-sectarian Tensions and Relations with Iran” Ibrahim al-Marashi

“The Impact of Islamist Trajectories on the International Relations of the Post-2011 Middle East” Katerina Dalacoura

“Islamism in Yemen: From Ansar Allah to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” Vincent Durac

“Sectarianism and Civil Conflict in Syria: Reconfigurations of a Reluctant Issue” by Laura Ruiz de Elvira Carrascal and Souhail Belhadj

“Out of the Ashes: The Rise of an anti-Sectarian Discourse in post-2011 Iraq” Chérine Chams El-Dine

“Conclusion: New Directions in the Study of Islamist Politics” by Jillian Schwedler