ISLAMISM, REVOLUTION AND CHANGING ORDER IN MUSLIM WORLD: A CASE STUDY OF EGYPT
Crenshaw,
M (1981) conducted study with the objective of finding the reason behind
terrorism occurrence, its process and finally its socio-political impacts. She acknowledges that although terrorism has
been studied widely, analysis of its causes has not been widely undertaken
since it was approached form the historical perspective. Thus, to further
understand the phenomena of terrorism from a different angle, this paper
outlined three conditions for causes of terrorism some of which were ignored in
previous studies and they are: psychological causes, absence of opportunity for
political participation and grievances such as economic and social[1].
Psychological study of terrorism is challenged when it comes to identifying
traits that can be attributed to terrorism, which is hard to study, thus
limiting this approach. Additionally, any individual who appears to be of “normal”
character and behaviour might be capable of committing an act of terror. Interestingly,
terrorism can have positive impact on attitudes where it can bring out a
revolutionary condition, morale building among the group, as well as challenge
government positively. Hence, reasons
for terrorism varies from opposing the government, disrupt and discredit it, as
well as acting as a tool for variety of goals like emancipation to political
independence as in the case of IRA in Ireland.
It is
undeniable that new form of terrorism has emerged over the past couple of
years. Their objective of instilling fear in the population might be the same
irrespective of their goals and geography, however, their methods of
facilitating their agenda varies. For example the issue of globalisation is
very important in order to determine whether disappearance of borders is a
direct cause or facilitator of terrorism and acts of terror. Interestingly, although the author has
covered literally every aspect of terrorism, there are some question that
arises in area of modernisation, there are terrorist groups that are
anti-modernisation, anti-westernisation of their respective communities, yet
they use western and modern means to communicate with their followers and also
as a forum to address their perceived enemies. Additionally, this advancements
in technology and modernisation, also brings into focus the role of media and
citizen journalism that are used by citizens of this world to not only report
but also share information globally. Thus questions needs to be addressed that
the author did not widely cover, “is modern media and emergence of social
network sites encouraging terrorism in any way?” are media and journalism
giving terrorists reason to further their grievances? Are grievances of these
people heard before they turn to violence” all these questions which have not
been answered need to be addressed in order to further understand the phenomena
of terrorism.
It is
undeniable that Crenshaw gave an explicitly insightful look into terrorism, its
causes and impact as well. However, with an emerging trend of terrorism, an all
inclusive approach that also focuses on female terrorists will not only give an
additional value to psychological study but also change the dynamic of the
study of terrorism overall. For example are women voluntarily joining terrorist
groups or are being forced into it? Is their gender a determinant where there
are few men to carry out suicide attacks? Are they victims of male
manipulation? Only by knowing the theoretical approach can we know and understand not only the
psychological but also cultural reasons as to why a teenage Somali girl decided
to blew herself up and kill other innocent people in the process[2].
Burman (2003), by using Egypt as an example,
described emergence of Islamism, which will not only guide political but also
personal life of citizens in much of the Muslim world. Rise of Islamism in
illuminated by looking at literatures of civil societies and revolutions.
Unlike revolutions that were experienced in other parts of the world, the one
that is foreseen in much of the Arab world, rise of Islamism facilitated by a
situation where the state is inefficient in performing its duties thus losing
its legitimacy. Thus what is seen is not a successful revolution but a
situation where the regime secede power to the challenger and gives up control
over cultural and other societal functions, an outcome that theory and
literature did not foresee. This condition is attributed to Islamists
penetration of civil societies, and its presence in civil society is not
benign, but a proof of political failure and emergence of radicalism that is
opposed to liberal ideals[3].
Burman’s theoretical underpinnings concerning rise
of Islamism in Egypt and its involvement in civil society is an eye opening
piece. Although the literature mainly focused on revolution, it can be noted
that the Islamists like the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt are less revolutionary;
rather, they evolved over time to be at where they are now currently, as the
majority in house of representatives in the new Egypt after the 2011
revolution. This makes Islamism in Egypt quite at odds with the recent Arab
spring, although there is resemblance to revolution in their grass-root change
that involves changes in education, Muslim brotherhood did not take to the
streets to protest against the government. The revolution was not an initiative
of the Muslim brotherhood or the Salafis, it was the Egyptian youth who stood
up, used resources like social media to mobilise themselves to “reclaim” Egypt,
overthrow the regime and restore order that was eroded by corruption.
Author’s
argument’s that revolution is unforeseen in near future was not only
challenged, but the basis of the argument itself is quite questionable.
Unexpectedly, protests in Tahrir square did not have religious rhetoric as did
the Iranian revolution of 1979, even though majority of the population were
Muslim/or practice Islam[4].
This can be attributed to the fact that Islamism has lost its public appeal and
so is the Iranian model. Additionally, accepting Islamism or extreme
interpretation of Islam has caused much more harm and backlash towards ordinary
Muslims who found al-Qaeda’s philosophy repulsive towards teachings of Islam[5].
Finally,
new government and political order in Egypt started with the mobilization of
youth driven by desire for democratic governance and transparency, and if
according to the author, Islamists will infiltrate civil society and use bottom-up approach/from grass-roots to
tilt the society in its favour, so can democracy. Democracy, and its ideals in
Egypt was underestimated by the author, rather she expressed fear of rise of
Islamism that it can cause radicalism and promote illiberal political system.
This scenario would have been possible in early 1980’s and 90’s in the Middle
East, when Iranian model was not tested by time, however, currently the
situation is different, where populations demand more civil liberties and
economic freedom than theological driven government and policies.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Asef
Bayat, ( 2011). The Post-Islamist
Revolutions:What the Revolts in the Arab World Mean. Foreign affairs. URL: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67812/asef-bayat/the-post-islamist-revolutions?page=3
Larry Diamond. Developing Democracy in Africa:African and International Imperatives. Stanford University. URL: http://democracy.stanford.edu/Seminar/DiamondAfrica.htm
Sameh Naguib, (June 2011). The Islamists and the Egyptian Revolution. Socialist review.
Sheri Berman, (June 2003). Islamism, Revolution, and Civil Society: Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 1, No. 2 pp. 257-272
Martha Crenshaw, (Jul., 1981), The Causes of Terrorism: Comparative Politics, Vol. 13, No. 4 pp.
379-399
Larbi Sadiki (2012). Civic Islamism: The
Brotherhood and Ennahdha. URL: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/20111112101016147679.html
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