Article
Radical-right parties are expected to do well in upcoming elections in four of the EU's biggest member states. If successful, they could prevent the union from addressing key challenges ahead.
Stefan Lehne
{
"authors": [],
"type": "pressRelease",
"centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
"centers": [
"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
],
"collections": [],
"englishNewsletterAll": "menaTransitions",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"programAffiliation": "MEP",
"programs": [
"Middle East"
],
"projects": [],
"regions": [
"Middle East",
"North Africa",
"Egypt",
"Lebanon",
"Jordan"
],
"topics": [
"Political Reform",
"Democracy"
]
}
REQUIRED IMAGE
Press Release
Press Release: Islamist Movements after the Lebanon War
Recent electoral successes by Islamist parties throughout the Arab world have shown those movements to be viable political opposition to many undemocratic regimes. Most analyses examine those movements only within their individual domestic political environments. Yet equally important is the impact of broader, regional issues on domestic politics and the resulting tensions with ruling regimes.
Published on Nov 15, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 15, 2006
Recent electoral successes by Islamist parties throughout the Arab world have shown those movements to be viable political opposition to many undemocratic regimes. Most analyses examine those movements only within their individual domestic political environments. Yet equally important is the impact of broader, regional issues on domestic politics and the resulting tensions with ruling regimes. The 2006 Lebanon War was such an issue and one that had a profound impact on Islamist political movements, testing their respect for pluralism and tolerance, and reframing their relations with their own domestic leadership.
In a new Carnegie paper, Islamist Movements in the Arab World and the 2006 Lebanon War, Amr Hamzawy and Dina Bishara examine the reaction of two Islamist movements – the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and the Jordanian Islamic Action Front (IAF) – to the war and its impact on domestic politics in Egypt and Jordan respectively. The authors find that these Islamist movements framed the war within an ideological reading of the Arab-Israeli conflict as an existential struggle between Muslims and Jews, increasing the widespread anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiment among their popular bases. To read this Carnegie paper, please go to: www.CarnegieEndowment.org/MiddleEast.
The authors also observe that the reaction of the Islamist movements further polarized the domestic scene in Egypt and Jordan and compromised the potential for consensual politics. Vehement criticism of official government policy by these Islamist movements may have resulted in a new escalation of conflict with these ruling regimes.
Direct link to PDF: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/cp_75_hamzawy_final.pdf
Amr Hamzawy is a senior associate in the Democracy and Rule of Law Project at the Carnegie Endowment. He is a noted Egyptian political scientist whose research focuses on the changing dynamics of political participation in the Arab world, and the political role of Islamist movements. He is the author of Contemporary Arab Political Thought: Continuity and Change (in German, 2005).
Dina Bishara is a research assistant in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and assistant editor of Carnegie’s Arab Reform Bulletin.
Press Contact: Trent Perrotto, 202/939-2372, tperrotto@CarnegieEndowment.org
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States. www.CarnegieEndowment.org
###
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
More Work from Carnegie Europe
- How Europe’s 2027 Elections Could Test EU Governance
- Germany’s Shattered ConsensusCommentary
An overwhelming victory by a far-right-wing party in a small state in eastern Germany will have major repercussions for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition.
Judy Dempsey
- Why MAGA’s Far-Right European Ties Will EndureCommentary
In supporting Europe’s far-right, MAGA and Russia both want the same thing: a weaker EU. Europe must defend itself without abandoning the openness these forces exploit.
Armida van Rij
- Assessing Information Ecosystems: How Governments Can Get Ahead of Hybrid ThreatsPaper
The hybrid warfare landscape is evolving rapidly, leaving policymakers without clear strategies. To better inform their work in addressing emerging challenges, governments must dig deeper into the underlying dynamics at play.
Raluca Csernatoni, Alicia Wanless
- Europe from Scratch: Visions for a New European OrderReport
As the EU confronts profound challenges, several leaders have called for fundamental reform to the union’s model—but only modest, superficial changes have resulted. What if Europe really could be reimagined from zero today: What should such a redesigned European order look like?
Richard Youngs, ed.
