Islamist Movements During the Tunisian Transition and Syrian Crisis: The Power of Practices

Islamism haunted post-2011 movements for democratisation in the Arab world. Political liberalisations opened space for Islamist movements - from the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist to Jihadists and the Islamic State - and seemed to threaten the liberal character of reforms. Going against this popular perception of Islamism as defined by an illiberal ideology, this book provides a ground breaking analysis of the concrete practices of Islamist movements to assess their impact on post-2011 activism. It traces the establishment of Islamic schools, charity organisations, courts and political parties; articulations of Islamic collective identities, enforcement of public norms and provision of public services during the Tunisian transition and the Syrian crisis (2011-2021). Teije H. Donker argues that Islamists are caught in an enduring struggle to define their own impact by rendering religion distinct among the practices that make up social and political conflict. This results in a phenomenon that defies easy categorisations and morphs with social and political developments in the region.

Teije H. Donker is a by-fellow at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge. As a political sociologist, his work stands at the intersection of social movement studies and Middle East area studies. He received his Ph.D from the European University Institute, had a postdoctorate at the department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen, Norway, and a three year lecturership at the department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge. He is a co-author of Social Movements and Civil War: When Protests for Democratization Fail (Routledge, 2017).