Institutionalizing Violence : Strategies of Jihad in Egypt

## Abstract Institutionalizing Violence offers a detailed focus on the two most influential Egyptian jihadi groups—al-Jama‘a al-Islamiyya and Islamic Jihad. From the killing of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981 to their partial association with al-Qaeda in the 1990s, the two groups illustrate the range of choices that jihadis make overtime including creating political parties. Jerome Drevon argues that these groups’ comparative trajectories show that jihadis embracing the same ideology can make very different strategic decisions in similar environments. Drevon’s analysis of these groups’ histories over the past four decades illustrates the evolution of jihadism in Egypt and beyond. Institutionalizing Violence develops an institutional approach to radicalization to compare the two Egyptian groups’ trajectories based on ethnographic field research and hundreds of interviews with jihadi leaders and militants in Egypt. Drevon provides a unique perspective on how jihadi groups make and implement new strategic decisions in changing environments, as well as the evolution of their approaches to violence and non-violence. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. The Egyptian al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya and Islamic Jihad have shaped the trajectory of jihadi salafism since its inception and defined a key strategic divide between mass-movement mobilization and elitist avant-gardism. Despite their shared histories, however, al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya rejected al-Qaeda's transnational violence and became a political party after 2011, whereas Islamic Jihad has formed the backbone of Osama bin Laden's organization. These strategic divergences are puzzling since these groups emerged in the same country around congruent ideologies. Institutionalizing Violience develops an institutional approach to radicalization to compare the two groups' comparative trajectories. It is based on extensive field research conducted with their leaders and members in Egypt. The interviews provide a unique perspective on how jihadi groups make and implement new strategic decisions in changing environments, as well as the evolution of their approaches to violence and non-violence. "The Egyptian al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya and Islamic Jihad have shaped the trajectory of jihadi salafism since its inception and defined a key strategic divide between mass-movement mobilization and elitist avant-gardism. Despite their shared histories, however, al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya rejected al-Qaeda's transnational violence and became a political party after 2011, whereas Islamic Jihad has formed the backbone of Osama bin Laden's organization. These strategic divergences are puzzling since these groups emerged in the same country around congruent ideologies. Institutionalizing Violience develops an institutional approach to radicalization to compare the two groups' comparative trajectories. It is based on extensive field research conducted with their leaders and members in Egypt. The interviews provide a unique perspective on how jihadi groups make and implement new strategic decisions in changing environments, as well as the evolution of their approaches to violence and non-violence."-- Provided by publisher "This chapter presents the analytical framework of this book in the contentious politics research agenda. The book situates jihadi groups in a multilevel environment constituted by their political environment, social movement, the security services, the public, and a potential countermovement. This chapter argues that jihadi groups can successively radicalise in interaction with any of these actors. The first argument is that radicalisation forces them to institutionalise along one dimension. The second argument is that the succession of several phases of radicalisation and institutionalisation shapes their long-term trajectories and strategic choices"-- Provided by publisher