“Our Cherished Political System”: Secularism and the Muslim Brotherhood through the Lens of Canadian Media

1969 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-61
Author(s):  
Sarah Moselle

 The resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February, 2011 in the face of massive political protests and demonstrations prompted a flurry of media attention in Canada. Popular media outlets were rife with speculation regarding the political future of Egypt’s foremost Islamist party, the Muslim Brotherhood. This article reports findings of an analysis of three news articles published in each of Canada’s two leading national English-language newspapers, the Globe and Mail and the National Post, in February 2011, using the key terms "Muslim Brotherhood" and "Egyptian Revolution." This analysis revealed a deep ambivalence regarding the place of secularism within democracy. In order to promote their respective ideological agendas of "open" and "closed" secularism respectively, the Globe and Mail and the National Post suppressed the historical and political complexities that facilitated the growth of the Muslim Brotherhood and differentiate it from other Islamist parties. This article highlights those complexities by examining the socio-political context that gave birth to the Muslim Brotherhood, the ways in which the Brotherhood differs from other Islamist parties, its response to autocratic control, and its relationship to democracy. In doing so, this investigation underscores the foundations of Canada’s ambivalence toward secularism at home and abroad.

Author(s):  
N. Lutsenko

The article examines the origins of political Islam in the Middle East and the terminological aspect of the problem. The stages of the formation of the Egyptian Islamic organization Muslim Brotherhood were clarified and its key ideological tenets were established. The political and socio-economic circumstances in which the organization was formed are outlined. Attention is drawn to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the military and economic presence in Egypt of the United Kingdom, which consolidated political Islamic parties. The process of transforming the Muslim Brotherhood from a "group of like-minded people" into a political party is considered. The political and legal ideas of the founder of the organization Hasan al-Banna are covered. which became the main strategy of the Muslim Brotherhood. The situation of the organization in the 30's and 40's was analyzed during the attempt of Nazi Germany to turn the Brothers into their own puppet. The article reveals the role in the organization of its ideologist Said Qutb. His main ideas and views, which formed the basis of the radical Muslim Brotherhood branch, are analyzed. The link between the radicalism of the organization and the ultra-conservative trend of Islam - "Salafism" - was noted. The connection of the Muslim Brotherhood with the Free Officers organization, which came to power in Egypt in 1952, has been disclosed. It was stated that the Brothers supported General Gamal Nasser in the struggle for power, which allowed them to take part in the parliamentary elections. It is stated that the Brothers' criticism of the policies of Gamal Nasser and Anwar Sadat on Israel led to a ban of the organization's activities in Egypt. It has been established that under the presidency of Hosni Mubarak, the "Brothers" tried to enter parliament in other parties. The place and role of the organization during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, which led the Muslim Brotherhood to power, were examined. The main reasons for the failure of the organization are indicated.


2018 ◽  
pp. 83-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Тimur Khairullin

A new force appeared in the face of the Qatar-Turkish Alliance during the events of the Arab spring on the political map of the Arab region. Using the pan-Arab network of the Muslim Brotherhood Association, as well as their ideology of moderate Islamism, the Qatar-Turkish Alliance temporarily managed to significantly strengthen its positions in Egypt. Proof of this is the coming to power in Egypt in 2012 of Muslim Brotherhood, which enjoyed financial and diplomatic assistance from Qatar and Turkey. However, a year later the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood was overthrown as a result of a successful counter-action by Saudi Arabia, which relied on the Egyptian military force and a number of Islamist groups of Salafi confession.


1995 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sana Abed-Kotob

With the Islamist movement gaining momentum and recruits throughout the Near and Middle East and North Africa, it is vital that scholars and practitioners make an attempt to understand the objectives and strategies expressed by the groups within this movement. It is also imperative that we acknowledge that the Islamic resurgence is not a monolithic phenomenon, but is characterized by factions and voices that diverge on their approach to major themes such as the nature of society, the preferred relationship between Islamist activists and the political system, methodology for alleviating socioeconomic frustrations and spiritual laxity, and the temporal framework within which Islamist goals are to be achieved. The more “radical” or militant of these groups insist upon revolutionary change that is to be imposed on the masses and political system, whereas the more moderate groups, epitomized by the new Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, call for gradual change that is to be undertaken from within the political system and with the enlistment of the Muslim masses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 83-103
Author(s):  
Mai Mogib Mosad

This paper maps the basic opposition groups that influenced the Egyptian political system in the last years of Hosni Mubarak’s rule. It approaches the nature of the relationship between the system and the opposition through use of the concept of “semi-opposition.” An examination and evaluation of the opposition groups shows the extent to which the regime—in order to appear that it was opening the public sphere to the opposition—had channels of communication with the Muslim Brotherhood. The paper also shows the system’s relations with other groups, such as “Kifaya” and “April 6”; it then explains the reasons behind the success of the Muslim Brotherhood at seizing power after the ousting of President Mubarak.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
abdul muiz amir

This study aims to find a power relation as a discourse played by the clerics as the Prophet's heir in the contestation of political event in the (the elections) of 2019 in Indonesia. The method used is qualitative based on the critical teory paradigm. Data gathered through literary studies were later analyzed based on Michel Foucault's genealogy-structuralism based on historical archival data. The findings show that, (1) The involvement of scholars in the Pemilu-Pilpres 2019 was triggered by a religious issue that has been through online social media against the anti-Islamic political system, pro communism and liberalism. Consequently create two strongholds from the scholars, namely the pro stronghold of the issue pioneered by the GNPF-Ulama, and the fortress that dismissed the issue as part of the political intrigue pioneered by Ormas NU; (2) genealogically the role of scholars from time to time underwent transformation. At first the Ulama played his role as well as Umara, then shifted also agent of control to bring the dynamization between the issue of religion and state, to transform into motivator and mediator in the face of various issues Practical politic event, especially at Pemilu-Pilpres 2019. Discussion of the role of Ulama in the end resulted in a reduction of the role of Ulama as the heir of the prophet, from the agent Uswatun Hasanah and Rahmatan lil-' ālamīn as a people, now shifted into an agent that can trigger the division of the people.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-169
Author(s):  
Liina Mustonen

Abstract In the aftermath of the Egyptian uprising in 2011 when Egypt witnessed the emergence of a new Islamist political elite, nostalgia for the country’s glorified past took on an increased political value for those who opposed the new rulers. A Cairo-based milieu of socioeconomically privileged actors, who anxiously observed the election victories of the Muslim Brotherhood, criticized the political developments in light of an imagined Egyptian past. In this article I analyze their discourses and practices and show how they instrumentalized notions of an ancient Egyptian civilization and Egypt’s imagined cosmopolitan past in their critique of the new rulers. It illustrates how, in the political climate of growing tensions after the election of Muhammad Morsi, references to an imagined past, one that was more tolerant, civilized and cosmopolitan, provided a critical resource for those who opposed the new rulers. In the article I locate these propagated visions of cosmopolitanism in the context of Egyptian nationalism and the grand narrative of the Egyptian state.


Author(s):  
Joel Gordon

This chapter examines the extent to which the Free Officers formed a political ethos that inclined them toward intervention in civilian politics during the conspiratorial stage. The Free Officers' movement was the culmination of a dramatic political reorientation among the officer corps between 1936 and 1952. They represented the generation that turned away from the political establishment and rejected the leadership of its elders. The soldier's relationship to his country, to his people, to his commanding officers and king gave the young officers a particular perspective on the decay of the liberal order. This chapter first provides a historical background on the Egyptian military before discussing the organization of the Free Officers, along with its political activism, developing ideology, and ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.


2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 685-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie Gingras

Résumé.Dans ce texte, nous tentons d'évaluer le rôle sociopolitique des journalistes en posant les éléments fondamentaux d'une conceptualisation du rôle des médias en démocratie et en analysant les résultats d'une recherche empirique sur l'engagement des journalistes envers la démocratie menée de l'été 2008 au printemps 2010. Notre étude prend appui sur la dichotomie entre un rôle actif des médias et un rôle instrumental face au système politique, dichotomie que nous faisons porter sur les journalistes. Nous prétendons que les médias et les journalistes jouent le rôle de « médiateurs » dans les sociétés libérales, c'est-à-dire d'agents individuels ou collectifs par qui transitent des messages explicites ou implicites; ces agents ajoutent une couche de sens par diverses méthodes dont la sélection des nouvelles, la hiérarchisation des sujets ou le cadrage de personnes ou d'événements.Abstract.This paper aims to assess the sociopolitical role of journalists through a conceptual approach linking media and democracy and through an analysis of the data resulting from an investigation of journalists' commitment to democracy that was conducted from the summer of 2008 to the spring of 2010. Our study is founded on the dichotomy between an active role for the media and an instrumental one in the face of the political system, and this dichotomy is applied to journalists. We believe that the media and journalists function as “mediators” in liberal societies, that is, as individual or collective agents through whom explicit or implicit messages pass; these agents add a layer of signification by diverse methods, among which are the selection of news, the categorization of issues or the framing of individuals or events.


Daedalus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 145 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nannerl O. Keohane

The goal of this essay is to clarify the relationship between leadership and equality as two essential constitutive factors of a democratic political system. The essay is motivated by concern about increasing inequalities in the political system of the United States and other countries that describe themselves as democracies. The first section notes the logical tension between leadership and equality, and spells out my understanding of the key terms I use in this essay. I show how the tension between leadership and equality poses a conundrum for democratic governance. Yet the crux of my argument is that profound socioeconomic inequalities pose the more basic threat. I identify disparities in power, as distinct from leadership, as the root of the problem here. Leadership and power are often conflated. Eliding the differences between the two impedes our understanding of the dilemmas we face. The classical answer to concerns about the abuse of power is to establish institutional constraints on political leadership. Yet good leadership is essential in solving the problems we confront. Because leaders can take significant steps to reduce inequality, leadership and equality are not always in tension. If we are to emerge from our current malaise, we must recognize and draw upon the positive contributions of leadership to efficacious democratic governance.


1969 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Kay

The United Nations at its present stage of development is a political system of formally coordinate Members, each able to place before the Organization the demands that flow from its own environment. One can hypothesize that a stable environment will yield a stable pattern of demands on the United Nations political system. Similarly it can be hypothesized that a change in the environment—the major components of which are the Member States—will change the pattern of demands made on the political system of the Organization. It is on just such a change that this article proposes to focus. In the period between 1955 and the end of 1968, 37 African states, largely devoid of experience in the contemporary international arena and struggling with the multitudinous problems of fashioning coherent national entities in the face of both internal and external pressures, joined the United Nations. The admission of these states substantially altered the Organization's environment and the demands being made upon it. It is suggested here that these changes have been so substantial as to alter the nature of the political process of the Organization. Concern will be focused successively upon the nature of the entry of the African states into the United Nations, a determination of the areas in which the African states have made demands upon the system, the constitutional structure of the Organization as it has evolved under the impact of the African states, the impact of the African states on the handling of major issues, and finally on trends and implications of the role of African states in the United Nations.


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