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Τα Ισλαμικά Κόμματα της Αντιπολίτευσης και το Δυναμικό για δέσμευση της ΕΕ

Toby Archer

Heidi Huuhtanen

Υπό το πρίσμα της αυξανόμενης σημασίας των ισλαμιστικών κινημάτων στον μουσουλμανικό κόσμο και

τον τρόπο που η ριζοσπαστικοποίηση έχει επηρεάσει τα παγκόσμια γεγονότα από τις αρχές του αιώνα, το

Είναι σημαντικό για την ΕΕ να αξιολογήσει τις πολιτικές της έναντι των παραγόντων που μπορεί να είναι χαλαρά

αποκαλείται «ισλαμικός κόσμος». Είναι ιδιαίτερα σημαντικό να ρωτήσετε εάν και πώς να συμμετάσχετε

με τις διάφορες ισλαμιστικές ομάδες.

Αυτό παραμένει αμφιλεγόμενο ακόμη και εντός της ΕΕ. Μερικοί πιστεύουν ότι το Ισλαμικό εκτιμά αυτό

που βρίσκονται πίσω από τα ισλαμιστικά κόμματα είναι απλώς ασυμβίβαστα με τα δυτικά ιδανικά της δημοκρατίας και

ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα, ενώ άλλοι βλέπουν τη δέσμευση ως ρεαλιστική αναγκαιότητα λόγω της αυξανόμενης

εγχώρια σημασία των ισλαμιστικών κομμάτων και η αυξανόμενη εμπλοκή τους στη διεθνή

υποθέσεων. Μια άλλη προοπτική είναι ότι ο εκδημοκρατισμός στον μουσουλμανικό κόσμο θα αυξηθεί

ευρωπαϊκή ασφάλεια. Η εγκυρότητα αυτών και άλλων επιχειρημάτων σχετικά με το αν και πώς το

Η ΕΕ πρέπει να δεσμευτεί μπορεί να δοκιμαστεί μόνο με τη μελέτη των διαφορετικών ισλαμιστικών κινημάτων και

τις πολιτικές τους συνθήκες, χώρα ανά χώρα.

Ο εκδημοκρατισμός αποτελεί κεντρικό θέμα των δράσεων κοινής εξωτερικής πολιτικής της ΕΕ, όπως στρώθηκε

στο άρθρο 11 της Συνθήκης για την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση. Πολλά από τα κράτη που εξετάζονται σε αυτό

έκθεση δεν είναι δημοκρατική, ή όχι πλήρως δημοκρατικά. Στις περισσότερες από αυτές τις χώρες, Ισλαμιστής

κόμματα και κινήματα αποτελούν σημαντική αντίθεση στα κυρίαρχα καθεστώτα, και

σε ορισμένες αποτελούν το μεγαλύτερο αντιπολιτευτικό μπλοκ. Οι ευρωπαϊκές δημοκρατίες έπρεπε εδώ και καιρό

να αντιμετωπίσει κυβερνητικά καθεστώτα που είναι αυταρχικά, αλλά είναι νέο φαινόμενο να πατάς

για δημοκρατική μεταρρύθμιση σε κράτη όπου θα μπορούσαν να έχουν οι πιο πιθανοί δικαιούχοι, από το

άποψη της ΕΕ, διαφορετικές και μερικές φορές προβληματικές προσεγγίσεις της δημοκρατίας και της

σχετικές αξίες, όπως τα δικαιώματα των μειονοτήτων και των γυναικών και το κράτος δικαίου. Αυτές οι χρεώσεις είναι

συχνά στράφηκε ενάντια στα ισλαμιστικά κινήματα, Επομένως, είναι σημαντικό για τους ευρωπαίους φορείς χάραξης πολιτικής

έχουν ακριβή εικόνα των πολιτικών και των φιλοσοφιών των πιθανών εταίρων.

Οι εμπειρίες από διαφορετικές χώρες τείνουν να υποδηλώνουν ότι όσο περισσότερη ελευθερία είναι ισλαμιστές

επιτρέπονται τα πάρτι, τόσο πιο μετριοπαθείς είναι στις πράξεις και τις ιδέες τους. Σε ΠΟΛΛΟΥΣ

υποθέσεις ισλαμιστικά κόμματα και ομάδες έχουν εδώ και καιρό απομακρυνθεί από τον αρχικό τους στόχο

για την ίδρυση ενός ισλαμικού κράτους που θα διέπεται από τον ισλαμικό νόμο, και έχουν καταλήξει να δέχονται βασικά

δημοκρατικές αρχές του εκλογικού ανταγωνισμού για την εξουσία, η ύπαρξη άλλων πολιτικών

συναγωνιστές, και τον πολιτικό πλουραλισμό.

ΕΝΑ ΚΟΙΝΟ ΠΑΡΕΛΘΟΝ ΓΙΑ ΕΝΑ ΚΟΙΝΟ ΜΕΛΛΟΝ

Martin Rose

the response by both muslim and non-muslim scholars, intellectuals

and religious leaders to the Clash of Civilisations theory has been

swift and astute, not only at theoretical but also practical levels. ο

Alliance of Civilizations and the Common Word initiatives, among

many others, have developed a large number of projects and encounters

not only of inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue but also of active

engagement and participation of people of different faiths, cultures and

communities working together in a manner and at a scale that may be

unprecedented in the history of humanity. Much more sustained work

is, ωστόσο, needed to bring about a better understanding and more

peaceful co-existence.
The British Council has recently celebrated its work with the Muslim

community and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (UK).

Το Ισλάμ και η Δημιουργία της Κρατικής Εξουσίας 2006 the AMSS and the British Council’s Counter-Point jointly

produced the British Muslims: Media Guide, the first ever such guide

to be produced in the West describing Britain’s Muslim communities,

their history, and present and future aspirations. The success of the

Guide, which was positively received at all levels in the UK and which

inspired similar initiatives in other countries, was one of the factors

behind the British Council’s new and ambitious Our Shared Europe

Project. This project seeks to find common ground and build shared

values, perspectives and behaviours based on mutual respect and trust.

Its aim is to create a shared understanding among all Europeans of

Islam’s past and present contribution to European societies and identities.

If the Our Shared Europe Project engages and fully reflects the

many myriads of our shared diversity then it will have come a long way

towards realising the new era of respect and peaceful coexistence that

is challenging the suppositions of the old. By giving its 2009 Building

Bridges Award to this project the AMSS is stressing the importance of

creating a climate of respect, dialogue, hope, and real engagement,

along with initiatives that build bridges and promote universal ethical

values and an inclusive view of our shared planet .

The Lives of Hasan al Banna & Syed Qutb.

Η Μουσουλμανική Αδελφότητα (Ikhwan al Muslimeen) was founded by Hasan al-Banna (1906-1949) in the Egyptian town of al- Isma’iliyyah in 1928. The son of an Azharite scholar, who earned his livelihood by repairing watches, Hasan al-Banna showed from his early
school-days an inclination and great zeal for calling people to Islamic values and traditions. His strong sense of religiosity and spiritual awareness drove him to join the Hasafiyyah tariqah, one of many Sufi tariqahs that were widespread in Egypt at that time. Even though he was not formally associated with this tariqah after he founded the Ikhwan, he, nevertheless, maintained a good relation with it, as indeed with other Islamic organizations and religious personalities, and persisted in reciting the litanies (awrad, pl. of wird) of this tariqah until his last days. Though Hasan al-Banna joined a modern-type school of education, he promised his father that he would continue to memorize the Qur’an, which he did, in fact later, at the age of twelve. While at school, he took part in the activities of some religious associations and clubs which were promoting it and calling for the observance of Islamic teachings .

Σαγίντ Κουτμπ: The Karl Marx of the Islamic Revolution

Leslie Evans

Σαγίντ Κουτμπ (Οκτώβριος 9, 1906-Αύγουστος 29, 1966), the Egyptian literary critic, philosopher, and theorist of the contemporary jihadist movement is only becoming a familiar name in the West in recent years, but his voluminous writings have had and continue to have enormous impact in the Muslim world. It is not an overstatement to say that it is hardly possible to understand the reasoning and goals of the Islamic militants without some familiarity with the outlook Qutb (pronounced KUH-tahb) enunciated.
A search of Amazon.com returns no less than seven books in English about Sayyid Qutb as well as collections of his writings and many of his own books in translation. The two works touched on here are only a random sampling of a very large literature which is again but a minute fraction of what exists in Arabic. These two are quite different in scope and attitude. Adnan Ayyub Musallam, a Palestinian native of Bethlehem, holds a doctorate from the University of Michigan
and is currently professor of history, politics, and cultural studies at Bethlehem University in the West Bank. His generally sympathetic but critical biography concentrates on the evolving politics of Qutb’s affiliations and thought. The quite brief and more critical piece by Paul Berman for the New York Times looks at Qutb’s theology and helps to clarify his argument with Christianity and Western secularism.
Brilliant from his earliest youth, Sayyid Qutb was an unlikely figure to serve as the inspiration for a global revolutionary movement. Although for a brief period he was a member of the militant Muslim Brothers, where he served as an editor not as an organizer, he spent most of his life as a lone intellectual. Where Marx, the theorist of world communism, labored in the British Museum, Sayyid Qutb wrote his most influential works in an Egyptian prison, where he spent most of the last eleven years of his life, until his execution by the Nasser government in 1966. Even his turn to Islam in any serious way did not take place until he was past forty, yet in prison in his fifties he produced a controversial rethinking of the religion that reverberates around the world.
Qutb was born in the village of Musha, between Cairo and Aswan into a family of small landowners. He was sent to the local madrasa, the government school, rather than the still more religious kuttab, the Islamic school, but he won a contest between the two schools for the best memorization of the Qur’an. He recalled his life there in his only biographical work, “Child from the Village,” recording local customs and superstitions. From that period he acquired a belief in the world of spirits that he carried with him all his life

Το πολιτικό Ισλάμ στη Μέση Ανατολή

είναι Knudsen

Αυτή η έκθεση παρέχει μια εισαγωγή σε επιλεγμένες πτυχές του φαινομένου συνήθως

αναφέρεται ως «πολιτικό Ισλάμ». Η έκθεση δίνει ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στη Μέση Ανατολή, σε

ιδιαίτερα τις λεβεντινές χώρες, και σκιαγραφεί δύο πτυχές του ισλαμιστικού κινήματος που μπορεί

θεωρούνται πολικά αντίθετα: δημοκρατία και πολιτική βία. Στην τρίτη ενότητα η αναφορά

ανασκοπεί μερικές από τις κύριες θεωρίες που χρησιμοποιούνται για να εξηγήσουν την ισλαμική αναζωπύρωση στη Μέση Ανατολή

(Εικόνα 1). Σε επιστολή, η έκθεση δείχνει ότι το Ισλάμ δεν χρειάζεται να είναι ασυμβίβαστο με τη δημοκρατία και

ότι υπάρχει μια τάση να παραμελείται το γεγονός ότι πολλές χώρες της Μέσης Ανατολής υπήρξαν

επιδόθηκε σε μια βάναυση καταστολή των ισλαμιστικών κινημάτων, προκαλώντας τους, κάποιοι υποστηρίζουν, να αναλάβουν

όπλα κατά του κράτους, και πιο σπάνια, ξένες χώρες. Η χρήση πολιτικής βίας είναι

ευρέως διαδεδομένη στη Μέση Ανατολή, αλλά δεν είναι ούτε παράλογο ούτε παράλογο. Σε πολλές περιπτώσεις μάλιστα

Ισλαμιστικές ομάδες γνωστές για τη χρήση βίας έχουν μετατραπεί σε ειρηνική πολιτική

κόμματα που συμμετείχαν με επιτυχία στις δημοτικές και εθνικές εκλογές. Παρόλα αυτά, ο ισλαμιστής

Η αναβίωση στη Μέση Ανατολή παραμένει εν μέρει ανεξήγητη παρά τις επιδιώξεις ορισμένων θεωριών

ευθύνεται για την ανάπτυξή του και τη λαϊκή απήχησή του. Γενικά, οι περισσότερες θεωρίες υποστηρίζουν ότι ο ισλαμισμός είναι α

αντίδραση στη σχετική στέρηση, ιδιαίτερα την κοινωνική ανισότητα και την πολιτική καταπίεση. Εναλλακτική λύση

οι θεωρίες αναζητούν την απάντηση στην ισλαμιστική αναβίωση εντός των ορίων της ίδιας της θρησκείας και της

ισχυρός, υποβλητικό δυναμικό του θρησκευτικού συμβολισμού.

Το συμπέρασμα συνηγορεί υπέρ της μετάβασης πέρα ​​από την προσέγγιση «κατήφεια και καταστροφή».

απεικονίζει τον ισλαμισμό ως μια παράνομη πολιτική έκφραση και μια πιθανή απειλή για τη Δύση ("Παλαιός

Ισλαμισμός»), και μιας πιο διαφοροποιημένης κατανόησης του τρέχοντος εκδημοκρατισμού του ισλαμιστή

κίνημα που λαμβάνει χώρα τώρα σε όλη τη Μέση Ανατολή («Νέος Ισλαμισμός»). Αυτό

Η σημασία της κατανόησης των ιδεολογικών ριζών του «Νέου Ισλαμισμού» είναι στο προσκήνιο

μαζί με την ανάγκη για ενδελεχή γνώση από πρώτο χέρι των ισλαμιστικών κινημάτων και αυτών

οπαδοί. Ως κοινωνικά κινήματα, υποστηρίζεται ότι πρέπει να δοθεί περισσότερη έμφαση

κατανοώντας τους τρόπους με τους οποίους ήταν σε θέση να εκμεταλλευτούν τις φιλοδοξίες όχι μόνο

των φτωχότερων στρωμάτων της κοινωνίας αλλά και της μεσαίας τάξης.

STRATEGIES FOR ENGAGING POLITICAL ISLAM

SHADI HAMID

AMANDA Kadlec

Political Islam is the single most active political force in the Middle East today. Its future is intimately tied to that of the region. If the United States and the European Union are committed to supporting political reform in the region, they will need to devise concrete, coherent strategies for engaging Islamist groups. Ακόμη, the U.S. has generally been unwilling to open a dialogue with these movements. Similarly, EU engagement with Islamists has been the exception, not the rule. Where low-level contacts exist, they mainly serve information-gathering purposes, not strategic objectives. Οι ΗΠΑ. and EU have a number of programs that address economic and political development in the region – among them the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the Union for the Mediterranean, and the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) – yet they have little to say about how the challenge of Islamist political opposition fits within broader regional objectives. ΜΑΣ. and EU democracy assistance and programming are directed almost entirely to either authoritarian governments themselves or secular civil society groups with minimal support in their own societies.
The time is ripe for a reassessment of current policies. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, supporting Middle East democracy has assumed a greater importance for Western policymakers, who see a link between lack of democracy and political violence. Greater attention has been devoted to understanding the variations within political Islam. The new American administration is more open to broadening communication with the Muslim world. Meanwhile, the vast majority of mainstream Islamist organizations – including the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jordan’s Islamic Action Front (IAF), Morocco’s Justice and Development Party (PJD), the Islamic Constitutional Movement of Kuwait, and the Yemeni Islah Party – have increasingly made support for political reform and democracy a central component in their political platforms. Επιπλέον, many have signaled strong interest in opening dialogue with U.S. and EU governments.
The future of relations between Western nations and the Middle East may be largely determined by the degree to which the former engage nonviolent Islamist parties in a broad dialogue about shared interests and objectives. There has been a recent proliferation of studies on engagement with Islamists, but few clearly address what it might entail in practice. As Zoé Nautré, visiting fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, puts it, “the EU is thinking about engagement but doesn’t really know how.”1 In the hope of clarifying the discussion, we distinguish between three levels of “engagement,” each with varying means and ends: low-level contacts, strategic dialogue, and partnership.

Επίλυση του Ισλαμιστικού Διλήμματος της Αμερικής: Lessons from South and Southeast Asia

Shadi Χαμίντ
ΜΑΣ. Οι προσπάθειες για την προώθηση της δημοκρατίας στη Μέση Ανατολή έχουν από καιρό παραλύσει από το «ισλαμικό δίλημμα»: θεωρητικά, θέλουμε δημοκρατία, αλλά, στην πράξη, φόβος ότι τα ισλαμικά κόμματα θα είναι οι κύριοι ωφελούμενοι οποιουδήποτε πολιτικού ανοίγματος. Η πιο τραγική εκδήλωση αυτού ήταν η καταστροφή της Αλγερίας 1991 και 1992, όταν οι Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες στάθηκαν σιωπηλά, ενώ οι στρατευμένοι κοσμικοί στρατιώτες ακύρωσαν τις εκλογές αφού ένα ισλαμιστικό κόμμα κέρδισε την κοινοβουλευτική πλειοψηφία. Πιο πρόσφατα, η κυβέρνηση Μπους υπαναχώρησε από την «ατζέντα της για την ελευθερία» αφού οι ισλαμιστές τα πήγαν εκπληκτικά καλά στις εκλογές σε ολόκληρη την περιοχή, συμπεριλαμβανομένης της Αιγύπτου, Σαουδική Αραβία, και των παλαιστινιακών εδαφών.
Αλλά ακόμη και ο φόβος μας για τα ισλαμικά κόμματα -και η συνακόλουθη άρνηση να εμπλακούμε μαζί τους- ήταν ασυνεπής, ισχύει για ορισμένες χώρες αλλά όχι για άλλες. Όσο περισσότερο μια χώρα θεωρείται ζωτικής σημασίας για τα αμερικανικά συμφέροντα εθνικής ασφάλειας, τόσο λιγότερο πρόθυμες ήταν οι Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες να δεχτούν ισλαμιστικές ομάδες να έχουν εξέχοντα πολιτικό ρόλο εκεί. Ωστόσο, σε χώρες που θεωρούνται λιγότερο στρατηγικά σημαντικές, και όπου διακυβεύονται λιγότερα, the United States has occasionally taken a more nuanced approach. But it is precisely where more is at stake that recognizing a role for nonviolent Islamists is most important, και, here, American policy continues to fall short.
Throughout the region, the United States has actively supported autocratic regimes and given the green light for campaigns of repression against groups such as the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest and most influential political movement in the region. In March 2008, during what many observers consider to be the worst period of anti-Brotherhood repression since the 1960s, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice waived a $100 million congressionally mandated reduction of military aid to Egypt. The situation in Jordan is similar. The Bush administration and the Democratic congress have hailed the country as a “model” of Arab reform at precisely the same time that it has been devising new ways to manipulate the electoral process to limit Islamist representation, and just as it held elections plagued by widespread allegations of outright fraud
and rigging.1 This is not a coincidence. Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries that have signed peace treaties with Israel. Εξάλλου, they are seen as crucial to U.S. efforts to counter Iran, stabilize Iraq, and combat terrorism.

Islamist parties : Τριών ειδών κινήσεις

Tamara Cofman

Between 1991 και 2001, the world of political Islam became significantly more diverse. Σήμερα, the term “Islamist”—used to describe a political perspective centrally informed by a set of religious interpretations and commitments—can be applied to such a wide array of groups as to be almost meaningless. It encompasses everyone from the terrorists who flew planes into the World Trade Center to peacefully elected legislators in Kuwait who have voted in favor of women’s suffrage.
Παρόλα αυτά, the prominence of Islamist movements—legal and illegal, violent and peaceful—in the ranks of political oppositions across the Arab world makes the necessity of drawing relevant distinctions obvious. The religious discourse of the Islamists is now unavoidably central to Arab politics. Conventional policy discussions label Islamists either “moderate” or “radical,” generally categorizing them according to two rather loose and unhelpful criteria. The first is violence: Radicals use it and moderates do not. This begs the question of how to classify groups that do not themselves engage in violence but who condone, justify, or even actively support the violence of others. A second, only somewhat more restrictive criterion is whether the groups or individuals in question
accept the rules of the democratic electoral game. Popular sovereignty is no small concession for traditional Islamists, many of whom reject democratically elected governments as usurpers of God’s sovereignty.
Yet commitment to the procedural rules of democratic elections is not the same as commitment to democratic politics or governance.

Islamist Parties : Ευλογία ή όλεθρος για τη δημοκρατία?

Amr Hamzawy

Nathan J. καφέ

What role do Islamist movements play in Arab politics? With their popular messages and broad followings within Arab societies, would their incorporation as normal political actors be a boon for democratization or democracy’s bane? For too long, we have tried to answer such questions solely by speculating about the true intentions of these movements and their leaders. Islamist political movements in the Arab world are increasingly asked—both by outside observers and by members of their own societies—about their true intentions.
But to hear them tell it, leaders of mainstream Arab Islamist movements are not the problem. They see themselves as democrats in nondemocratic lands, firmly committed to clean and fair electoral processes, whatever outcomes these may bring. It is rulers and regimes that should be pressed to commit to democracy, say the Islamists, not their oppositions. We need not take such Islamist leaders at their word. Πράγματι, we should realize that there is only so much that any of their words can do to answer the question of the relationship between these movements and the prospects for democracy.
While their words are increasingly numerous (Islamist movements tend to be quite loquacious) and their answers about democracy increasingly specific, their ability to resolve all ambiguities is limited. Πρώτα, as long as they are out of power—as most of them are, and are likely to remain for some time—they will never fully prove themselves. Many Islamist leaders themselves probably do not know how they would act were they to come to power.

Πολιτικό Ισλάμ: Έτοιμοι για αρραβώνα?

Emad El-Din Σαχίν

The voluminous literature on reform and democratization in the Middle East region reveals a number of facts: a main obstacle to reform is the incumbent regimes that have been trying to resist and circumvent genuine democratic transformations; political reform cannot be credible without integrating moderate Islamists in the process; and external actors (mainly the US and the EU) have not yet formulated a coherent approach to reform that could simultaneously achieve stability and democracy in the region. This paper explores the possibilities and implications of a European engagement with moderate Islamists on democracy promotion in the region. It argues that the EU approach to political reform in the Middle East region needs to be enhanced and linked to realities on the ground. Political reform cannot be effective without the integration of non-violent Islamic groups in a gradual, multifaceted process. It should be highlighted that the process of engagement is a risky one for both the EU and the Islamists, yet both stand to gain from a systematic dialogue on democracy. To reduce the risks, the engagement with political Islam should come within a broader EU strategy for democracy promotion in the region. In fact, what the Islamists would expect from Europe is to maintain a
consistent and assertive stand on political reforms that would allow for a genuine representation of the popular will through peaceful means.
In this regard, a number of questions seem pertinent. Does the EU really need to engage political Islam in democratic reforms? Is political Islam ready for engagement and will it be willing to engage? How can an engagement policy be formulated on the basis of plausible implementation with minimal risks to the interests of the parties involved?

Το λάθος μέτρο του πολιτικού Ισλάμ

Martin Kramer

Perhaps no development of the last decade of the twentieth century has caused as much confusion in the West as the emergence of political Islam. Just what does it portend? Is it against modernity, or is it an effect of modernity? Is it against nationalism, or is it a
form of nationalism? Is it a striving for freedom, or a revolt against freedom?
One would think that these are difficult questions to answer, and that they would inspire deep debates. Yet over the past few years, a surprisingly broad consensus has emerged within academe about the way political Islam should be measured. This consensus has
begun to spread into parts of government as well, especially in the U.S. and Europe. A paradigm has been built, and its builders claim that its reliability and validity are beyond question.
This now-dominant paradigm runs as follows. The Arab Middle East and North Africa are stirring. The peoples in these lands are still under varieties of authoritarian or despotic rule. But they are moved by the same universal yearning for democracy that transformed Eastern Europe and Latin America. True, there are no movements we would easily recognize as democracy movements. But for historical and cultural reasons, this universal yearning has taken the form of Islamist protest movements. If these do not look
like democracy movements, it is only a consequence of our own age-old bias against Islam. When the veil of prejudice is lifted, one will see Islamist movements for what they are: the functional equivalents of democratic reform movements. True, on the edges of these movements are groups that are atavistic and authoritarian. Some of their members are prone to violence. These are theextremists.” But the mainstream movements are essentially open, pluralistic, and nonviolent, led bymoderates” ή “reformists.” Thesemoderatescan be strengthened if they are made partners in the political process, and an initial step must be dialogue. But ultimately, the most effective way to domesticate the Islamists is to permit them to share or possess power. There is no threat here unless the West creates it, by supporting acts of state repression that would deny Islamists access to participation or power.

ΙΣΛΑΜΙΣΤΙΚΑ ΚΙΝΗΜΑΤΑ ΚΑΙ Η ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΚΗ ΔΙΑΔΙΚΑΣΙΑ ΣΤΟΝ ΑΡΑΒΙΚΟ ΚΟΣΜΟ: Εξερευνώντας τις Γκρίζες Ζώνες

Nathan J. καφέ, Amr Hamzawy,

Μαρίνα Ottaway

During the last decade, Islamist movements have established themselves as major political players in the Middle East. Together with the governments, Islamist movements, moderate as well as radical, will determine how the politics of the region unfold in the foreseeable future. Th ey have shown the ability not only to craft messages with widespread popular appeal but also, and most importantly, to create organizations with genuine social bases and develop coherent political strategies. Other parties,
by and large, have failed on all accounts.
Th e public in the West and, in particular, the United States, has only become aware of the importance of Islamist movements after dramatic events, such as the revolution in Iran and the assassination of President Anwar al-Sadat in Egypt. Attention has been far more sustained since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As a result, Islamist movements are widely regarded as dangerous and hostile. While such a characterization is accurate regarding organizations at the radical end of the Islamist spectrum, which are dangerous because of their willingness to resort to indiscriminate violence in pursuing their goals, it is not an accurate characterization of the many groups that have renounced or avoided violence. Because terrorist organizations pose an immediate
threat, ωστόσο, policy makers in all countries have paid disproportionate attention to the violent organizations.
It is the mainstream Islamist organizations, not the radical ones, that will have the greatest impact on the future political evolution of the Middle East. Th e radicals’ grandiose goals of re-establishing a caliphate uniting the entire Arab world, or even of imposing on individual Arab countries laws and social customs inspired by a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam are simply too far removed from today’s reality to be realized. Th is does not mean that terrorist groups are not dangerous—they could cause great loss of life even in the pursuit of impossible goals—but that they are unlikely to change the face of the Middle East. Mainstream Islamist organizations are generally a diff erent matter. Th ey already have had a powerful impact on social customs in many countries, halting and reversing secularist trends and changing the way many Arabs dress and behave. And their immediate political goal, to become a powerful force by participating in the normal politics of their country, is not an impossible one. It is already being realized in countries such as Morocco, Ιορδανία, and even Egypt, which still bans all Islamist political organizations but now has eighty-eight Muslim Brothers in the Parliament. Πολιτική, not violence, is what gives mainstream Islamists their infl uence.

ΙΣΛΑΜΙΣΤΙΚΗ ΡΙΖΟΣΠΟΠΟΙΗΣΗ

PREFACE
RICHARD YOUNGS
MICHAEL EMERSON

Issues relating to political Islam continue to present challenges to European foreign policies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). As EU policy has sought to come to terms with such challenges during the last decade or so political Islam itself has evolved. Experts point to the growing complexity and variety of trends within political Islam. Some Islamist organisations have strengthened their commitment to democratic norms and engaged fully in peaceable, mainstream national politics. Others remain wedded to violent means. And still others have drifted towards a more quietist form of Islam, disengaged from political activity. Political Islam in the MENA region presents no uniform trend to European policymakers. Analytical debate has grown around the concept of ‘radicalisation’. This in turn has spawned research on the factors driving ‘de-radicalisation’, and conversely, ‘re-radicalisation’. Much of the complexity derives from the widely held view that all three of these phenomena are occurring at the same time. Even the terms themselves are contested. It has often been pointed out that the moderate–radical dichotomy fails fully to capture the nuances of trends within political Islam. Some analysts also complain that talk of ‘radicalism’ is ideologically loaded. At the level of terminology, we understand radicalisation to be associated with extremism, but views differ over the centrality of its religious–fundamentalist versus political content, and over whether the willingness to resort to violence is implied or not.

Such differences are reflected in the views held by the Islamists themselves, as well as in the perceptions of outsiders.

ΙΣΛΑΜ, ΙΣΛΑΜΙΣΤΕΣ, ΚΑΙ Η ΕΚΛΟΓΙΚΗ ΑΡΧΗ ΣΤΗ ΜΕΣΗ ΑΝΑΤΟΛΗ

James Piscatori

For an idea whose time has supposedly come, ÒdemocracyÓ masks an astonishing

number of unanswered questions and, in the Muslim world, has generated

a remarkable amount of heat. Is it a culturally specific term, reflecting Western

European experiences over several centuries? Do non-Western societies possess

their own standards of participation and accountabilityÑand indeed their own

rhythms of developmentÑwhich command attention, if not respect? Does Islam,

with its emphasis on scriptural authority and the centrality of sacred law, allow

for flexible politics and participatory government?

The answers to these questions form part of a narrative and counter-narrative

that themselves are an integral part of a contested discourse. The larger story

concerns whether or not ÒIslamÓ constitutes a threat to the West, and the supplementary

story involves IslamÕs compatibility with democracy. The intellectual

baggage, to change the metaphor, is scarcely neutral. The discussion itself has

become acutely politicised, caught in the related controversies over Orientalism,

the exceptionalism of the Middle East in particular and the Muslim world in general,

and the modernism of religious ÒfundamentalistÓ movements.

Πολιτικό Ισλάμ και Ευρωπαϊκή Εξωτερική Πολιτική

POLITICAL ISLAM AND THE EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY

MICHAEL EMERSON

RICHARD YOUNGS

Since 2001 and the international events that ensued the nature of the relationship between the West and political Islam has become a definingissue for foreign policy. In recent years a considerable amount of research and analysis has been undertaken on the issue of political Islam. This has helped to correct some of the simplistic and alarmist assumptions previously held in the West about the nature of Islamist values and intentions. Parallel to this, the European Union (EU) has developed a number of policy initiatives primarily the European Neighbourhood Policy(ENP) that in principle commit to dialogue and deeper engagement all(non-violent) political actors and civil society organisations within Arab countries. Yet many analysts and policy-makers now complain of a certain a trophy in both conceptual debate and policy development. It has been established that political Islam is a changing landscape, deeply affected bya range of circumstances, but debate often seems to have stuck on the simplistic question of ‘are Islamists democratic?’ Many independent analysts have nevertheless advocated engagement with Islamists, but theactual rapprochement between Western governments and Islamist organisations remains limited .

Islamist Parties , ΕΙΝΑΙ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΕΣ? Εχει σημασία ?

Tarek Μασούντ

Driven by a sense that “the Islamists are coming,” journalists and policy makers have been engaged of late in fevered speculation over whether Islamist parties such as Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood (MB) or Palestine’s Hamas really believe in democracy. While I attempt to outline the boundaries of the Islamist democratic commitment, I think that peering into the Islamist soul is a misuse of energies. The Islamists are not coming. Εξάλλου, as Adam Przeworski and others have argued, commitments to democracy are more often born of environmental constraints than of true belief. Instead of worrying whether Islamists are real democrats,
our goal should be to help fortify democratic and liberal institutions and actors so that no group—Islamist or otherwise—can subvert them.
But what is this movement over whose democratic bona fides we worry? Islamism is a slippery concept. Για παράδειγμα, if we label as Islamist those parties that call for the application of shari‘a, we must exclude Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (which is widely considered Islamist) and include Egypt’s ruling National Democratic Party (which actively represses Islamists). Instead of becoming mired in definitional issues, we would do better to focus on a set of political parties that have grown from the same historical roots, derive many of their goals and positions from the same body of ideas, and maintain organizational ties to one another—that is, those parties that spring from the international MB. These include the Egyptian mother organization (founded in 1928), but also Hamas, Jordan’s Islamic Action Front, Algeria’s Movement for a Peaceful Society, the Iraqi Islamic Party, Lebanon’s Islamic Group, and others.