Importance of the Islamist movement in the Middle East

The so-called 'Arab Spring' has highlighted the popularity and importance of the Islamist movement throughout the Middle East.

A new French volume Les islamistes au défi du pouvoir edited by Samir Amghar retraces the history and evolution of some of the key Islamist organizations in the region and asks what will happen when or if they take-over the political power. Will political power lead to increasing moderation and secularization?

DIIS researcher Julie Pruzan-Jørgensen has contributed to the volume with the chapter on Morocco. In her contribution, she traces the contradictory dynamics of political liberalization and moderation among the two main Islamist organizations in Morocco of which one recently and for the first time in the history of the country gained the reigns of parliamentary power.