The Muslim Brotherhood: Evolution of an Islamist Movement - Hardcover

Wickham, Carrie Rosefsky

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691149402 ISBN 13: 9780691149400

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2013

Synopsis

The Muslim Brotherhood has achieved a level of influence nearly unimaginable before the Arab Spring. The Brotherhood was the resounding victor in Egypt's 2011-2012 parliamentary elections, and six months later, a leader of the group was elected president. Yet the implications of the Brotherhood's rising power for the future of democratic governance, peace, and stability in the region is open to dispute. Drawing on more than one hundred in-depth interviews as well as Arabic language sources not previously accessed by Western researchers, Carrie Rosefsky Wickham traces the evolution of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt from its founding in 1928 to the fall of Mubarak and the watershed elections of 2011-2012. Further, she compares the Brotherhood's trajectory with those of mainstream Islamist groups in Jordan, Kuwait, and Morocco, revealing a wider pattern of change. Wickham highlights the internal divisions of such groups and explores the shifting balance of power among them. She shows that they are not proceeding along a linear path toward greater moderation. Rather, their course has been marked by profound tensions and contradictions, yielding hybrid agendas in which newly embraced themes of freedom and democracy coexist uneasily with illiberal concepts of Shari'a carried over from the past. Highlighting elements of movement continuity and change, and demonstrating that shifts in Islamist worldviews, goals, and strategies are not the result of a single strand of cause and effect, Wickham provides a systematic, fine-grained account of Islamist group evolution in Egypt and the wider Arab world.

About this title

Review:

"A timely and incisive look into the history, politics, and future of the Muslim Brotherhood by the foremost expert on Islamism in Egypt. Carrie Rosefsky Wickham has constructed a detailed account of how the Brotherhood confronts the challenges before it, and why and when it embraces change. Everyone concerned with the future of Egypt should read this book."--Vali Nasr, author of The Shia Revival and The Dispensable Nation

"Given the profound political changes taking place in Egypt today, Wickham's in-depth, richly composed, and intimate analysis of the Muslim Brotherhood has never been so relevant or timely. This is a first-rate book on an important topic, written by a distinguished scholar, and utilizing an impressive array of sources."--John P. Entelis, Fordham University

"Meticulously researched and powerfully argued, Carrie Rosefsky Wickham's The Muslim Brotherhood is the most significant book about the Egyptian brotherhood since the publication in 1969 of Richard P. Mitchell's The Society of the Muslim Brothers. Essential for understanding the Egyptian uprising of 2011 and its aftermath."--James L. Gelvin, author of The Arab Uprisings: What Everyone Needs to Know

"Until now, there was no study that provides a portrait of the Muslim Brotherhood from its founding in the 1920s to today, and Wickham's comparative analysis of Jordan, Kuwait, and Morocco is unique in the literature. What is also distinctive about this book is that it does not concentrate on the extremism of Islamist movements, but rather on how they may become more active participants in regular political processes."--John O. Voll, Georgetown University

"Honorable Mention for the 2015 Hubert Morken Award for Best Book, Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association"

"[F]ine-grained, historically rich analysis."---Charles Tripp, London Review of Books

"In this richly researched book, Wickham provides the most in-depth analysis of the genesis and development of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood available in English. . . . This valuable contribution to the literature on mainstream Islamist movements will be useful to scholars and policymakers alike."--Library Journal

"[A] clearly written and balanced account of the Brotherhood from its modest beginnings to its coming to power."---Michael Burleigh, Literary Review

"[A] commanding study of the Brotherhood's long history."---Frederick Deknatel, National

"[An] excellent new history of the Muslim Brotherhood."---Christopher de Bellaigue, Guardian

From the Back Cover:

"A timely and incisive look into the history, politics, and future of the Muslim Brotherhood by the foremost expert on Islamism in Egypt. Carrie Rosefsky Wickham has constructed a detailed account of how the Brotherhood confronts the challenges before it, and why and when it embraces change. Everyone concerned with the future of Egypt should read this book."--Vali Nasr, author of The Shia Revival and The Dispensable Nation

"Meticulously researched and powerfully argued, Carrie Rosefsky Wickham's The Muslim Brotherhood is the most significant book about the Egyptian brotherhood since the publication in 1969 of Richard P. Mitchell's The Society of the Muslim Brothers. Essential for understanding the Egyptian uprising of 2011 and its aftermath."--James L. Gelvin, author of The Arab Uprisings: What Everyone Needs to Know

"Given the profound political changes taking place in Egypt today, Wickham's in-depth, richly composed, and intimate analysis of the Muslim Brotherhood has never been so relevant or timely. This is a first-rate book on an important topic, written by a distinguished scholar, and utilizing an impressive array of sources."--John P. Entelis, Fordham University

"Until now, there was no study that provides a portrait of the Muslim Brotherhood from its founding in the 1920s to today, and Wickham's comparative analysis of Jordan, Kuwait, and Morocco is unique in the literature. What is also distinctive about this book is that it does not concentrate on the extremism of Islamist movements, but rather on how they may become more active participants in regular political processes."--John O. Voll, Georgetown University

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0691149402
• ISBN 13: 9780691149400
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384