Neo-Islamism in the post-Arab Spring

Abstract

The Arab Spring revealed the rise of Islamists and a wave of Islamic movements across the region. The Islamist agenda is debatable on issues regarding their commitment to democracy, pluralism and individual freedom. Central to this is understanding their evolving definition of Islamism and how the players view themselves. The article provides a brief background on which to describe and define the modern Islamist. The features of Islamist political parties are described. The article offers a definition of neo-Islamism that reflects its most modern trends, including these key characteristics: non-traditional religiosity, gradualism, Islam modernization, nationalism and pragmatic relations with the West.

Keywords:

• Islamism
• neo-Islamism
• Arab Spring
• Islam and democracy
• moderate Islam

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions, which improved the quality of this work.