Islamist parties and political normalization in the muslim world

241 Pages·2014·3.333 MB·English

by  Quinn Mecham

Islamist Parties
and Political Normalization
in the Muslim World

IslaMIst PartIes
and
POlItIcal NOrMalIzatION
in the
MuslIM WOrld
edited by
QuINN MechaM
and
JulIe cherNOv hWaNg
university of pennsylvania press
philadelphia
Copyright(cid:2)2014UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Allrightsreserved.
Exceptforbriefquotationsusedforpurposesofrevieworscholarlycitation,
noneofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformbyanymeans
withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher.
Publishedby
UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania19104-4112
www.upenn.edu/pennpress
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
ISBN978-0-8122-4605-6
Contents
Introduction:TheEmergenceandDevelopment
ofIslamistPoliticalParties 1
quinnmechamandjuliechernovhwang
1. IslamistPartiesasStrategicActors:ElectoralParticipation
andItsConsequences 17
quinnmecham
2. WhenIsNormalizationAlsoDemocratization?IslamistPolitical
Parties,theTurkishCase,andtheFutureofMuslimPolities 40
muratsomer
3. PatternsofNormalization:IslamistPartiesinIndonesia 58
juliechernovhwang
4. BetweenaRockandaHardPlace:Reform,Reticence,
andRealignmentsofthePan-MalaysianIslamicParty 84
josephchinyongliowandwenlingchan
5. SearchingforPoliticalNormalization:ThePartyofJustice
andDevelopmentinMorocco 112
drissmaghraouiandsalouazerhouni
6. MappingtheTerrainofReforminYemen:IslahoverTwoDecades 134
staceyphilbrickyadav
7. IslamistParties,Elections,andDemocracyinBangladesh 156
aliriaz
vi Contents
Conclusion:TheNewDynamismofIslamistParties 175
juliechernovhwangandquinnmecham
Notes 193
ListofContributors 221
Index 225
Acknowledgments 231
Introduction
The Emergence and Development
of Islamist Political Parties
quinn mecham and julie chernov hwang
In the wake of the Arab uprisings of 2011, Islamist political parties have
emerged at the forefront of formal politics in a number of countries,
including Egypt, Tunisia,and Morocco. In Egypt, for example, which held
the country’s freest ever electoral competition in 2011–2012, Islamist par-
tiescombinedtowinmorethantwo-thirdsoftheparliamentaryseatsinan
assembly electedto help design the newEgyptian constitution.The parties
oftheEgyptianMuslimBrotherhoodandtheirSalafistcompetitorsdemon-
strated remarkable political dominance in the wake of a political uprising
that was not in itself an Islamist revolution. Despite regime changes that
have propelled Islamists in some countries into the bright lights of high
politics,Islamistpartieshavelongplayedanimportantroleinbothformal
and informal political life in a wide range of countries in the Middle East
and beyond. They have historically been important political players in the
Muslim-majority countries of Asia, although they have sometimes re-
mained parties of a dedicated minority. Why have Islamist parties spread
throughout so much of the Muslim world and been so successful in their
politicalcontexts?Whyhavetheybeenmoresuccessfulattheballotboxin
someMuslim-majoritycountriesthaninothers?Howhasthepotentialfor
capturing power and participating in governments changed these parties
over time? Answering these questions will be critical to understanding the
politicaltrajectoryofmanycountriesthatdefinethemselvesatleastinpart
bytheirIslamicidentity.
This volume is a collective effort by a number of notable scholars to
examinetheevolutionandbehaviorofIslamistpartiesacrosstwoverydif-
ferentregionsoftheworldwithlargeMuslimpopulations:theMiddleEast
2 QuinnMechamandJulieChernovHwang
and Asia. The challenge of examining one type of political party across a
diverse set of countries with divergent political histories is both a difficult
oneandadeliberateone.ScholarshiponIslamistpartiesasone,reasonably
distincttypeofpoliticalpartyhasbeenincreasingoverthelastdecade,and
we have seen a number of prominent contributions that examine Islamist
parties in particular country contexts, both in the Middle East and in the
Muslim-majority countries of Asia. In this volume we have expanded the
comparison to include six countries across both regions presented back to
back in order for students or specialists in either region to compare the
experiences of these parties under diverse political conditions. These cases
are presented in the context of a theoretical framework for Islamist party
participationinelectoralcontests.
We orient the volume around a number of key questions and ideas
that have emerged from contemporary studies of Islamist movements and
parties, as well as studies of party behavior more generally. Examples of
these questions include the following. What, if anything, makes Islamist
parties distinct from other types of parties? How similar are their political
platformsandtheirconstituenciestooneanother?HowdoIslamistparties
relate to non-Islamist parties as potential competitors or collaborators?
How do ties to broader Islamist movements affect their behavior in elec-
tions?Howdoesparticipationinanelectoralsystemaffectthebehaviorand
ideologyofanIslamistpartyovertime?HowdoIslamistpartiesinteractin
compromisedelectoralsystems,inwhichregimeincumbentshavesubstan-
tive competitive advantages? These are the puzzles that drive the inquiries
oftheauthorsinthechaptersthatfollow.
Islamistpartiesarecurrentlymoreimportantpoliticalplayersthanever
before. In some countries they have competed in elections for many dec-
ades, such as in Malaysia where the forerunners of the Pan-Malaysian
IslamicParty(PAS)begancompetinginthe1950s,orinTurkey,wherethe
National Order Party (MNP) and National Salvation Party (MSP) ran for
officeintheearly1970s.Islamistpartiessubsequentlyemergedasimportant
political competitors in more than half a dozen other countries by the
1990s, and continued to grow significantly during the 2000s. In the early
2000s,morethanadozencountrieswitnessedtheelectoralparticipationof
Islamistparties;thisnumbergreatlyexpandedinthelasthalfofthedecade,
with approximately twenty countries worldwide holding an election in
whichIslamistpartiescompetedforlegislativeseats.Countriesorterritories
thathaveseenIslamistparties orblocscompeteinrecentelectionsinclude
EmergenceandDevelopmentofIslamistParties 3
Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran,
Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, The Maldives, Mauritania,
Morocco,Pakistan,Palestine,Tajikistan,Tunisia,Turkey,andYemen.Since
popular uprisings in the Arab world began to challenge regimes and
attempt to overthrow long-standing leaders beginning in 2011, Islamist
parties or blocshave dominated elections in Tunisia, Morocco,Egypt, and
Kuwait, making them the most important political groupings in these
countries. There has never been a more interesting time to study Islamist
parties, and we believe that there will be opportunity to further test and
refine the hypotheses presented here, as the political behavior of these
newlycompetitivepartiesevolves.
In this volume, we define Islamist parties as political parties that seek
to win votes in the electoral arena, and that articulate a political agenda
derived in large part from an Islamic worldview. They are political parties
that use Islamic religious narratives to make political claims on the state,
which may includeconcernsfor Islamicsocialand cultural norms,Islamic
models of governance, or resource allocation toward religious institutions.
Often, but not universally, Islamist parties articulate some degree of sup-
portfortheapplicationofIslamiclawintheirsocieties.Seriousdiscussions
of Islamic law are common in Malaysia, for example, while they have less
resonance in Morocco, and are beyond the political pale in Turkey. While
we use Islamic as an adjective to describe characteristics of Islam as a reli-
gioustradition,weconfineIslamisttorefertopoliticalactorsandactivities
that make reference to Islamic norms or ideals. In most cases, the parties
underconsiderationinthisvolumeself-identifyasIslamist,andinallcases
they are viewed as a comparatively Islamist choice when set against their
domestic competitors (though they differ considerably from one another
acrosscountrycases).
Inmanyways,Islamistpartiesaresimilartootherpoliticalparties,and
one of the central themes of this volume is that they are subject to many
of the pressures and incentives that other parties face, regardless of their
ideological platform. We seesubstantial evidencethat Islamistparties have
a great many overlaps with other types of religiously affiliated parties, as
well as parties that cater to a particular identity group, such as ethnically
delineatedparties.Indeed,Islamistpartiesmaynotbetoodifferentintheir
behavior from Jewish or Hindu religious parties, early Christian parties in
Western Europe, or even Marxist-oriented or far-right European parties,
which have sought to challenge the political status quo from a minority