The New Spirit of Islamism - by Ezgi Basaran (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book explains the aspirations and concerns of Islamist actors in the aftermath of the Arab Uprisings by looking at the relationship between Turkey's ruling AKP, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Tunisia's Ennahda. It presents the first scholarly study of the interplay between the AKP, Ennahda and the MB, characterising the actors, the structure and the main features of the relationship and thereby illuminating a political confluence among these three critical Islamist entities in the aftermath of the Arab Uprisings"--

Book Synopsis

This book explains the aspirations and concerns of Islamist actors in the aftermath of the Arab Uprisings by looking at two sets of relationships between Turkey's ruling AKP and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and the AKP and Tunisia's Ennahda. It presents a unique analysis of the interplay between the AKP, Ennahda and the Muslim Brotherhood, characterizing the actors, the structure and the main features of the relationship and thereby illuminating a political confluence among these three critical Islamist entities in the aftermath of the Arab Uprisings.

Existing scholarship has assumed that this relationship revolves primarily around an ideological Islamist agenda, however, this research demonstrates a more complex and nuanced situation. Ezgi Basaran puts forward that the interplay was not based on an aspiration of building an ideological Islamist bloc in the MENA region, but rather revolved around the concept of political success and had a strong neoliberal ethos. Basaran draws on data collected from over 60 interviews with high-level members of the AKP, Ennahda and Muslim Brotherhood to demonstrate how, in the hope of achieving success and legitimization, Ennahda and the Muslim Brotherhood have relied on the managerial prescriptions provided by the AKP. The contents of this success formula were derived from the AKP's experience as an Islamist party in power since 2002 and includes tactics on crisis evasion, legitimization, winning elections and maintaining power.

Review Quotes

A wholly original account of the way in which Islamism has been reshaped globally by market forces. Basaran tells a fascinating story about the initiative to make Islamism in the Arab world more responsive to a variety of constituencies, with Turkey's ruling party serving as both instructor and example of how to exit the movement's Cold War ideas and practices. And the context for this extraordinary set of experiments was provided by the mass movements of the Arab Spring, which put Islamism to its greatest test.
Faisal Devji, Professor, University of Oxford, UK

By Examining the interplay among the Turkish AKP, Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and Tunisian al-Nahda in the wake of the Arab uprisings, Ezgi Basaran offers an innovative perspective to examine the evolution of Islamism in the current times. The book is particularly instructive in showing what happens when the oppositional Islamic movements transition into governing bodies. A very valuable contribution to our understanding of political Islam today.
Asef Bayat, Professor, University of Illinois, USA

In this meticulously researched examination of the interplay between Islamist political parties, Ezgi Basaran offers invigorating insights into how the transnational diffusion of influence is more tactical than ideological. She robustly challenges reductionist assumptions that simply equate Islamism with Islamisation of state and society, and exceptionalist assumptions that underplay the conventional political calculus even Islamists must make. This work's impressive detail and analytical sharpness compel us to recognise the pragmatic interests at work in Islamists' interactions with each other and to see the pursuit of power and success as the normal stuff of Islamist political agendas.
James Piscatori, Emeritus Professor, Australian National University, Australia

About the Author

Ezgi Basaran is a journalist and academic, currently based at St.Anthony's College, University of Oxford, UK as a Research Associate. She previously reported from conflict zones in Iraq, Iran, and Israel and was the youngest ever editor of Radikal, which prior to its closure was the biggest centre-left news outlet in Turkey. Her first book in English, Frontline Turkey, was published by I.B. Tauris in 2017. She writes for major publications, including the BBC, the Financial Times, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.