When victory is not an option
Subtitle: Islamist movements in Arab politics
By: Nathan J. Brown
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Ithaca
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9780801450365; 9780801477720
Subjects: Politics and government; Islam and politics; Political parties; Islamic fundamentalism
Description: "Throughout the Arab world, Islamist political movements are joining the electoral process. This change alarms some observers and excites other. In recent years, electoral opportunities have opened, and Islamist movements have seized them. But those opportunities, while real, have also been sharply circumscribed. Elections may be freer, but they are not fair. The opposition can run but it generally cannot win. Semiauthoritarian conditions prevail in much of the Arab world, even in the wake of the Arab Spring. How do Islamist movements change when they plunge into freer but unfair elections? How do their organizations (such as the Muslim Brotherhood) and structures evolve? What happens to their core ideological principles? And how might their increased involvement affect the political system? In When Victory Is Not an Option, Nathan J. Brown addresses these questions by focusing on Islamist movements in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, and Palestine."--Page 4 of cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Partially political movements in semiauthoritarian systems; title: Running to lose? : elections, authoritarianism, and Islamist movements; title: Beyond analogy mongering : ideological movements and the debate over the primacy of politics; title: The model and the mother movement; title: The model in practice in four semiauthoritarian settings; title: Can Islamists party? : political participation and organizational change; title: Ideological change : flirtation and commitment; title: Arab politics and societies as they might be; title: Islamist parties and Arab political systems as they are.