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The Accommodationists Speak:Goals and Strategies of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2009

Sana Abed-Kotob
Sana Abed-Kotob
Affiliation:
Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Center for International Development and Conflict Management, University of Maryland, Tydings Hall, College Park, Md. 20742, U.S.A.
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Extract

With the Islamist movement gaining momentum and recruits throughout the Near and Middle East and North Africa, it is vital that scholars and practitioners make an attempt to understand the objectives and strategies expressed by the groups within this movement. It is also imperative that we acknowledge that the Islamic resurgence is not a monolithic phenomenon, but is characterized by factions and voices that diverge on their approach to major themes such as the nature of society, the preferred relationship between Islamist activists and the political system, methodology for alleviating socioeconomic frustrations and spiritual laxity, and the temporal framework within which Islamist goals are to be achieved. The more “radical” or militant of these groups insist upon revolutionary change that is to be imposed on the masses and political system, whereas the more moderate groups, epitomized by the new Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, call for gradual change that is to be undertaken from within the political system and with the enlistment of the Muslim masses.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , August 1995 , pp. 321 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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References

NOTES

Author's note: I am grateful to the H. B. Earhart Foundation for funding my research, and to the anonymous referees who gave their constructive advice. A previous version of this article was presented at the 1993 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., 2–5 September.

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