RSSTodas as entradas etiquetadas con: "Amr Hamzawy"

ISLAMIST MOVEMENTS AND THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS IN THE ARAB WORLD: Exploring the Gray Zones

Nathan J. marrón, Amr Hamzawy,

Marina 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, con todo, 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, Xordania, and even Egypt, which still bans all Islamist political organizations but now has eighty-eight Muslim Brothers in the Parliament. política, not violence, is what gives mainstream Islamists their infl uence.

| Agosto 18, 2010 | comentarios 0
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Boletín árabe de reforma

grupo de investigadores


Exipto: A regresión na plataforma do partido dos Irmáns Musulmáns?

Amr hamzawy


A redacción da plataforma de partidos dos Irmáns Musulmáns envía sinais sobre as opinións políticas do movemento

e posicións. Aínda que xa foi moi difundido, o documento aínda non ten final
aprobación do gabinete de orientación do movemento.
O tratamento detallado da política sobre a plataforma, social, e as cuestións económicas marcan unha importante partida
desde posicións anteriormente menos desenvolvidas, articulado entre outras cousas a 2004 iniciativa de reforma e a 2005
plataforma electoral para os candidatos parlamentarios da Irmandade. Esta quenda aborda un dos máis
críticas importantes á Irmandade, é dicir, a súa promoción de vagos ideolóxicos e relixiosos

lemas e incapacidade de elaborar prescricións específicas de políticas.
O documento suscita problemas preocupantes, con todo, respecto á identidade dunha futura Irmandade

partido político, así como a posición do grupo en varias cuestións políticas e sociais. Lanzado no
contexto de permanente desfasamento entre o réxime exipcio e a Irmandade, revela significativo
ambigüidades e quizais regresión no pensamento do movemento.
Primeira, os redactores optaron por non abordar a relación futura entre o partido e o movemento. En

facendo iso, ignoraron intencionadamente ideas importantes discutidas recentemente no movemento,
especialmente entre os membros do bloque parlamentario. Inspirado nas experiencias dos partidos islamistas en
Marrocos, Xordania, e Iemen, estes membros propugnan unha separación funcional entre un partido e
o movemento, co primeiro centrouse principalmente na participación política e o segundo en relixiosos
activismo. Ademais do seu tratamento superficial da natureza do partido e da súa organización interna, o
A plataforma non inclúe ningunha declaración clara sobre a apertura de membros a todos os exipcios, independentemente da súa situación
relixión, un dos requisitos para establecer un partido político segundo a constitución exipcia.
Segundo, o borrador da plataforma Brotherhood identifica a implementación de sharia como un dos principais do partido

obxectivos. Aínda que isto é coherente coa interpretación do artigo do grupo 2 da Constitución exipcia
(“O islam é a relixión do estado, e o dereito islámico é a principal fonte de lexislación”), parte do
espírito pragmático de diversas declaracións e iniciativas da Irmandade desde entón 2004 en que menos énfase
deuse a cuestión da sharia. O regreso a un foco na sharia na plataforma provocou posicións
fundamentalmente contra o carácter civil do estado e os dereitos de cidadanía con independencia relixiosa
afiliación.

| Agosto 01, 2010 | comentarios 0
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Egypt’s Local Elections Farce Causes and Consequences

Mohamed Herzallah

Amr Hamzawy

Egypt’s local elections of April 8, 2008 were a confirmation of a backwardslide in Egyptian politics. They were plagued by social unrest and politicaldiscord. In the weeks prior to the elections, labor protests escalated,precipitating a harsh crackdown that resulted in at least two fatalities and many injuries.The country’s largest opposition force, the Muslim Brotherhood, decided at the last minute to boycott the elections. Voter turn out did not exceed 5 percent and the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP),facing virtually no competition, landed a sweeping victory—winning roughly95 percent of the seats at stake.These developments bring to light a broader deterioration in Egyptian politics.Three elements of this process stand out and deserve careful attention:•

Primeira, the burgeoning social crisis caused by out of control inflation, acrippled welfare system, and persistent unemployment;

• Second, a return to the old authoritarian practices of the rulingestablishment; e

• Third, worrying signs that call into question the very existence of aviable opposition capable of advancing reform through the political process.

| febreiro 25, 2010 | comentarios 0
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The Draft Party Platform of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood

Nathan J. marrón
Amr Hamzawy

In the late summer 2007, amid great anticipation from Egypt’s ruling elite and opposition movements, the Muslim Brotherhood distributed the first draft of a party platform to a group of intellectuals and analysts. The platform was not to serve as a document for an existing political party or even one about to be founded: the Brotherhood remains without legal recognition in Egypt and Egypt’s rulers and the laws they have enacted make the prospect of legal recognition for a Brotherhood-founded party seem distant. But the Brotherhood’s leadership clearly wished to signal what sort of party they would found if allowed to do so.

With the circulation of the draft document, the movement opened its doors to discussion and even contentious debate about the main ideas of the platform, the likely course of the Brotherhood’s political role, and the future of its relationship with other political forces in the country.1 In this paper, we seek to answer four questions concerning the Brotherhood’s

party platform:

1. What are the specific controversies and divisions generated by the platform?


2. Why and how has the platform proved so divisive?


3. Given the divisions it caused as well as the inauspicious political environment,

why was a platform drafted at this time?


4. How will these controversies likely be resolved?


We also offer some observations about the Brotherhood’s experience with

drafting a party platform and demonstrate how its goals have only been partly

met. Ultimately, the integration of the Muslim Brotherhood as a normal political

actor will depend not only on the movement’s words but also on the deeds

of a regime that seems increasingly hostile to the Brotherhood’s political role.

| febreiro 15, 2010 | comentarios 0
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