Den demokratiske islamisten?
En studie av tre islamistiska rörelser och deras demokratiseringspotential
DemocracyIslamIslamismDahlPolyarchal democracyHezbollah,The muslim brotherhoodFront islamique du salut.
ABSTRACTEssay in Political Science, Advanced Continuation Course, 61-80 credits, by Jonas Nilsson?The democratic islamist? - a study of three islamist movements and their potential role in ademocratization process?Supervisor: Jonas LindeThe purpose of this work has been to explain to what extent islamist movements can be said to bebearers of democratic values and if they have a role to play in future democratization processes. Thepurpose of this work is also to examine the democratic views of the different islamist movements andto compare them with each other in an effort to find a specific islamist definition of democracy.The essay is a qualitative analysis of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Front Islamique du Salut inAlgeria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The analytical framework is based on the political institutionsincluded in Robert A. Dahl polyarchial democracy. The institutions provided by the polyarchialmodel is used to define the islamist movements stand on democracy which is defined by three differentstandpoints. The movements can either accept, decline or modify the various institutions and theresults from the analysis helps us to evaluate the future role of islamist movements in thedemocratization process. The results also provides the opportunity to define a version of democracyspecific for the islamist movements. The conclusion I have made is that the islamist movementsincluded in the study have a part to play in a future democratization process. They have shown thattheir commitment to the democratic ideals defined by Dahl is quite extensive and that they asseparate movements have developed a more advanced view of the relationship between islam anddemocracy as a social order. Though democratic at first glance there are signs that the islamistsstandpoint on democracy comes with certain reservations. The most significant of thesereservarvations is the islamists regard of islam as an overarching ideology and the subordinate roleof man made political systems such as democracy. However, the islamists have found ways to handlethis problem and points out the inherent democratic values in islam and thereby tries to circumventthe problematic relationship between democracy and religion. The study also concludes that we candefine the islamist version of democracy as a specific form of democracy, a value-based participatorydemocracy. This conclusion is based on the islamist emphasis on the importance of ethics, decencyand virtue in a society, at the same time as they also emphasize the need for legitimacy provided bythe people through free, fair and frequent elections.