Post-Islamism is a
neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
in
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
, the definition
and applicability of which has led to an intellectual debate.
Asef Bayat
Asef Bayat ( fa, آصف بیات) is an Iranian-American scholar. He is currently the Catherine and Bruce Bastian Professor of Global and Transnational Studies and Professor of Sociology and Middle Eastern studies at University of Illinois at Urban ...
and
Olivier Roy are among the main architects of the idea.
The term has been used by Bayat to refer to "a tendency" towards resecularizing of Islam after the "exhaustion" of political Islam; by
Olivier Carré to refer to a premodern era of Islamic history where the
political-military
A stratocracy (from :wikt:στρατός, στρατός, ''stratos'', "army" and :wikt:κράτος, κράτος, ''kratos'', "dominion", "power", also ''stratiocracy'') is a form of government headed by military chiefs. The Separation of power ...
and religious realms were separated; by Olivier Roy to a recognition that after repeated efforts Islamists had failed to establish a "concrete and viable blueprint for society".
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]
Terminology and definition
The term was coined by Iranian political sociologist Asef Bayat
Asef Bayat ( fa, آصف بیات) is an Iranian-American scholar. He is currently the Catherine and Bruce Bastian Professor of Global and Transnational Studies and Professor of Sociology and Middle Eastern studies at University of Illinois at Urban ...
, then associate professor of sociology at The American University in Cairo
The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs ...
in a 1996 essay published in the journal ''Middle East Critique
''Middle East Critique'' is a peer reviewed Middle Eastern studies journal published by Taylor & Francis for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University.
An editorial collective brought out the first issue of ''Critique: Critical Mi ...
''.
Bayat explained it as "a condition where, following a phase of experimentation, the appeal, energy, symbols and sources of legitimacy of Islamism
Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is ...
get exhausted, even among its once-ardent supporters. As such, post-Islamism is not anti-Islamic, but rather reflects a tendency to resecularize religion." It originally pertained only to Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, where "post-Islamism is expressed in the idea of fusion between Islam (as a personalized faith) and individual freedom and choice; and post-Islamism is associated with the values of democracy and aspects of modernity
Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...
". In this context, the prefix ''post-'' does not have historic connotation, but refers to the critical departure from Islamist discourse. Bayat later pointed in 2007 that post-Islamism is both a "condition" and a "project
A project is any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular goal.
An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of even ...
".
French politician Olivier Carré used the term in 1991 from a different perspective, to describe the period between the 10th and the 19th centuries, when both Shiite and Sunni Islam "separated the political-military
A stratocracy (from :wikt:στρατός, στρατός, ''stratos'', "army" and :wikt:κράτος, κράτος, ''kratos'', "dominion", "power", also ''stratiocracy'') is a form of government headed by military chiefs. The Separation of power ...
from the religious realm, both theoretically and in practice".
" Postmodern Islamism" and "New Age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...
Islamism" are other terms interchangeably used.
Olivier Roy argued in ''Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah'' in 2004 that "Islamists around the world" had been unable "to translate their ideology into a concrete and viable blueprint for society", leading "Muslim discourse" to enter "a new phase of post-Islamism".
Cases
In Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, the Reformists
Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement.
Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can e ...
and the group known as the ''Melli-Mazhabi
The Religious-Nationalists (plural form in fa, ملّیمذهبیها, Melli-Mazhabi ha, lit=The Nationalist-Religious Ones) or the National-Religious ( fa, ملّیمذهبی, Melli-Mazhabi as an adjective) are terms referring to a Poli ...
'' (who are ideologically close to the Freedom Movement) are described as post-Islamists.
The advent of moderate parties Al-Wasat Party
The al-Wasat Party ( ar-at, حزب الوسط, Hizb al-Wasat), translated in English as the Center Party, is a moderate Islamist political party in Egypt.
The party withdrew from the Anti-Coup Alliance on 28 August 2014. A court case was broug ...
in Egypt, as well as Justice and Development Party in Morocco appeared to resemble emergence of post-Islamism, however scholars rejected that they qualify as such. A similar characterization applies to the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS)
The Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS; ms, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia; ms, ڤرتي إسلام سمليسيا, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset) is an Islamist political party in Malaysia. As the party focused on Islamic fundamentalism, PAS's ...
.
A 2008 Lowy Institute for International Policy
The Lowy Institute is an independent think tank founded in April 2003 by Frank Lowy to conduct original, policy-relevant research about international political, strategic and economic issues from an Australian perspective. It is based in Sydney ...
paper suggests that Prosperous Justice Party
The Prosperous Justice Party ( id, Partai Keadilan Sejahtera, sometimes called the Justice and Prosperity Party), frequently abbreviated to PKS, is an IslamistAl-Hamdi, Ridho. (2017). ''Moving towards a Normalised Path: Political Islam in Contempo ...
of Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
and Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
are post-Islamist. According to Ahmet T. Kuru and Alfred Stepan
Alfred C. Stepan (July 22, 1936 – September 27, 2017) was an American political scientist specializing in comparative politics. He was the Wallace S. Sayre Professor of Government at Columbia University, where he was also director of the Cente ...
(2012), many analysts consider Turkish AKP an example of post-Islamism, similar to Christian democratic
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
parties, but Islamic. However, some scholars such as Bassam Tibi
Bassam Tibi ( ar, بسام طيبي), is a Syrian-born German political scientist and professor of international relations specializing in Islamic studies and Middle Eastern studies. He was born in 1944 in Damascus, Syria to an aristocratic famil ...
dispute this. İhsan Yılmaz argues that the party's ideology after 2011 is different from that of between 2001 and 2011.
The idea has been used to describe the "ideological evolution" within the Ennahda
The Ennahda Movement ( ar, حركة النهضة, Ḥarakatu n-Nahḍah; french: link=no, Mouvement Ennahdha), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia.
Fou ...
of Tunisia
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, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
.
See also
* Islamic democracy
There exist a number of perspectives on the relationship of Islam and democracy among Islamic political theorists, the general Muslim public, and Western authors.
In 2021, a number of Muslim majority countries are Islamic and secular democra ...
* Islamism
Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is ...
* Liberalism and progressivism within Islam
Liberalism and progressivism within Islam involve professed Muslims who have created a considerable body of Progressivism, progressive thought about Islamic understanding and practice. Their work is sometimes characterized as "Progressivism, prog ...
* Political aspects of Islam
Political aspects of Islam are derived from the Quran, ''ḥadīth'' literature, and ''sunnah'' (accounts of the sayings and living habits attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad during his lifetime), the history of Islam, and elements of ...
* Political Islam
Political Islam is any interpretation of Islam as a source of political identity and action. It can refer to a wide range of individuals and/or groups who advocate the formation of state and society according to their understanding of Islamic pri ...
References
Footnotes
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{{Islam topics, state=expanded
Islamism
Postmodernism
New Age
Political neologisms
Political theories
Political movements
1990s neologisms