Political Aspects of Contemporary Islamism

Grinin L.Ye.,

Leading Researcher of the Laboratory for Destabilization Risk Monitoring, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Principal Researcher, Institute for Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, leonid.grinin@gmail.com

elibrary_id: 250272 | ORCID: 0000-0003-0278-2619 | RESEARCHER_ID: D-8842-2012

Korotayev A.V.,

Professor, Head of Socio-Political Destabilization Risk Monitoring Laboratory, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Professor, Faculty of Global Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University, akorotayev@gmail.com

elibrary_id: 72980 | ORCID: 0000-0003-3014-2037 | RESEARCHER_ID: N-1160-2018

DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2019.06.07

Rubric: Orbis Terrarum: the World of Islam and Contemporary Policy

For citation:

Grinin L.Ye., Korotayev A.V. Political Aspects of Contemporary Islamism. – Polis. Political Studies. 2019. No. 6. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2019.06.07

The study has been supported by a grant of the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 14-18-03615).

Abstract

It is impossible to understand modern Islamic (especially Arab) societies without taking into account the influence of Islamism as an ideology, cultural environment, mode of action, and lifestyle. Unfortunately, Islamism in many ways has remained a "phenomenon lurking behind the surface." In this article we will focus on the analysis of some political aspects of modern Islamism, showing how Islamism behaves when in opposition (where it feels more confident) and what happens when Islamists come to power in a legitimate way. We would like to show that Islamism is not something superficial, but the deepest and most comprehensive substance of Islamic societies. Therefore, it is extremely important to distinguish between radical and moderate Islamism, relying on the latter to weaken the former, since moderate Islamism can grow to be a positive and promising part of the political spectrum of Islamic countries. We believe that it is impossible to reduce the danger of radical terrorist Islamism by force alone. We can hope that this will decline if it can be divided by moderate Islamism and make the latter more respectable, open, and involved in normal political life.

Keywords

Islamism, radical Islamism, moderate Islamism, fundamentalism, the Middle East, Islamic societies, politicized Islam.

Full Text

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