The Muslim Brotherhood : Evolution of an Islamist Movement - Updated Edition

How the Muslim Brotherhood rose to power in Egypt, and what it means for the Islamic world Following the Arab Spring, the Muslim Brotherhood achieved a level of influence previously unimaginable. Yet the implications of the Brotherhood's rise and dramatic fall for the future of democratic governance, peace, and stability in the region are disputed and remain open to debate. Drawing on more than one hundred in-depth interviews as well as Arabic-language sources never before accessed by Western researchers, Carrie Rosefsky Wickham traces the evolution of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt from its founding in 1928 to the fall of Hosni Mubarak and the watershed elections of 2011-2012. Highlighting elements of movement continuity and change, Wickham demonstrates that shifts in Islamist worldviews, goals, and strategies are not the result of a single strand of cause and effect, and provides a systematic, fine-grained account of Islamist group evolution in Egypt and the wider Arab world. In a new afterword, Wickham discusses what has happened in Egypt since Muhammad Morsi was ousted and the Muslim Brotherhood fell from power. The Muslim Brotherhood has achieved a level of influence nearly unimaginable before the Arab Spring. The Brotherhood was the resounding victor in Egypt's 2011-2012 parliamentary elections, and six months later, a leader of the group was elected president. Yet the implications of the Brotherhood's rising power for the future of democratic governance, peace, and stability in the region is open to dispute. Drawing on more than one hundred in-depth interviews as well as Arabic language sources not previously accessed by Western researchers, Carrie Rosefsky Wickham traces the evolution of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt from its founding in 1928 to the fall of Mubarak and the watershed elections of 2011-2012. Further, she compares the Brotherhood's trajectory with those of mainstream Islamist groups in Jordan, Kuwait, and Morocco, revealing a wider pattern of change. Wickham highlights the internal divisions of such groups and explores the shifting balance of power among them. She shows that they are not proceeding along a linear path toward greater moderation. Rather, their course has been marked by profound tensions and contradictions, yielding hybrid agendas in which newly embraced themes of freedom and democracy coexist uneasily with illiberal concepts of Shari'a carried over from the past. Highlighting elements of movement continuity and change, and demonstrating that shifts in Islamist worldviews, goals, and strategies are not the result of a single strand of cause and effect, Wickham provides a systematic, fine-grained account of Islamist group evolution in Egypt and the wider Arab world Title Copyright Dedication Contents Preface Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration CHAPTER ONE: Conceptualizing Islamist Movement Change CHAPTER TWO: The Brotherhood’s Early Years CHAPTER THREE: The Brotherhood’s Foray into Electoral Politics CHAPTER FOUR: The Wasat Party Initiative and the Brotherhood’s Response CHAPTER FIVE: The Brotherhood’s Seesaw between Self-Assertion and Self-Restraint CHAPTER SIX: Repression and Retrenchment CHAPTER SEVEN: The Brotherhood and the Egyptian Uprising CHAPTER EIGHT: Egypt’s Islamist Movement in Comparative Perspective CHAPTER NINE: The Muslim Brotherhood in (Egypt’s) Transition Afterword to the Paperback Edition Endnotes List of Interviews Selected Bibliography Index