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Temptations of Power - Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East (Hardcover)
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Temptations of Power - Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East (Hardcover)
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In 1989, Francis Fukuyama famously declared that we had reached
"the end of history," and that liberal democracy would be the
reigning ideology from now on. But Fukuyama failed to reckon with
the idea of illiberal democracy. What if majorities, working
through the democratic process, decide they would rather not accept
gender equality and other human rights norms that Western
democracies take for granted? Nowhere have such considerations
become more relevant than in the Middle East, where the Arab
uprisings of 2011 swept the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist
parties into power. Since then, one question has been on everyone's
mind: what do Islamists really want? In Temptations of Power, noted
Brookings scholar Shadi Hamid draws on hundreds of interviews with
Islamist leaders and rank-and-file activists to offer an in-depth
look at the past, present, and future of Islamist parties across
the Arab world. The oldest and most influential of these groups,
the Muslim Brotherhood, initially dismissed democracy as a foreign
import, but eventually chose to participate in Egyptian and
Jordanian party politics in the 1980s. These political openings
proved short-lived. As repression intensified, though, Islamist
parties did not - as one may have expected - turn to radicalism.
Rather, they embraced the tenets of democratic life, putting aside
their dreams of an Islamic state, striking alliances with secular
parties, and reaching out to Western audiences for the first time.
When the 2011 revolutions took place, Islamists found themselves in
an enviable position, but one they were unprepared for. Up until
then, the prospect of power had seemed too remote. But, now, freed
from repression and with the political arena wide open, they found
themselves with an unprecedented opportunity to put their ideas
into practice across the region. Groups like the Brotherhood
combine the features of political parties and religious movements.
However pragmatic they may be, their ultimate goal remains the
Islamization of society and the state. When the electorate they
represent is conservative as well, they can push their own form of
illiberal democracy while insisting they are carrying out the
popular will. This can lead to overreach and, at times, significant
backlash, as the tragic events in Egypt following the military
takeover demonstrated. While the coup and the subsequent crackdown
were a devastating blow for the Islamist "project," premature
obituaries of political Islam, a running feature of commentary
since the 1950s, usually turn out to be just that - premature. In
countries as diverse as Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Egypt, and Yemen,
Islamist groups will remain an important force whether in the ranks
of opposition or the halls of power. Drawing from interviews with
figures like ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, Hamid's
account will serve as an essential compass for those trying to
understand where the region's varied Islamist groups have come
from, and where they might be headed.
General
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