The Islamist Challenge And Africa

The Islamist Challenge and Africa examines Islamist militancy among Africans historically and at present, a topic largely ignored in the United States. It examines Islamist militancy’s longstanding presence in Africa and its diaspora, Islamist militancy’s distinct ideological features among Africans, and ways to minimize its violence.

The rise of Islamic movements in the Arab world over the last decade coincided with a move toward democratization throughout the region, yet after hopeful early signs, progress toward democratization has stalled or has even been reversed in all but a few countries. This book explores the linkages between the move to democratize and the Islamist challenge, focusing on the struggle among ruling elites, secularists, and the Islamists to define collective identity—that is, to define what common orientations unite the polity and how disagreements can be addressed, particularly regarding the place of Islam in politics. The author surveys democratization measures since 1980 and analyzes the nature of the Islamist challenge, exploring the factors behind the rise of fundamentalism, the agendas of various Islamic movements, and Islamist concepts of democracy. In a final section the author offers in-depth case studies of Egypt and Jordan.

This book focuses on the current issues and analytical approaches to the phenomenon of radicalisation in North Africa. Taking a comprehensive approach to the subject, it looks at the processes that lead to radicalisation, rather than the often violent outcomes.

This book examines the factors behind the survival and persistence of monarchical authoritarianism in Morocco and argues that state rituals of power affect the opposition forces ability to challenge the monarchy.

In 2019, Islamic State lost its last remaining sliver of territory in Syria, and its Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed. These setbacks seemed to herald the Caliphate's death knell, and many now forecast its imminent demise. Yet its affiliates endure, particularly in Africa: nearly all of Islamic State's cells on the continent have reaffirmed their allegiance, attacks have continued in its name, many groups have been reinvigorated, and a new province has emerged. Why, in Africa, did the two major setbacks of 2019 have so little impact on support for Islamic State? The Islamic State in Africa suggests that this puzzle can be explained by the emergence and evolution of Islamic State's provinces in Africa, which it calls 'sovereign subordinates'. By examining the rise and development of eight Islamic State 'cells', the authors show how, having pledged allegiance to IS Central, cells evolved mostly autonomously, using the IS brand as a means for accrual of power, but, in practice, receiving relatively little if any direction or material support from central command. Given this pattern, IS Central's relative decline has had little impact on its African affiliates-who are likely to remain committed to the Caliphate's cause for the foreseeable future.

In Morocco, Marvine Howe, a former correspondent for The New York Times, presents an incisive account of the Moroccan kingdom and its people, past and present. She provides a frank portrait of the late King Hassan, whom she credits with laying the foundations of a modern state, and she highlights the pressures his successor King Mohammed VI has come under to transform the monarchy into a modern democracy. Howe addresses emerging issues--equal rights for women, the correction of glaring economic disparities--and asks the question: can this ancient Muslim kingdom embrace democracy in an era of deepening divisions between Islam and the West?

A remarkable drama is unfolding in the countries of North Africa (the Maghrib) as militant Islamic movements challenge the existing political order. Amid disenchantment at the failure of national leaders to resolve social and economic problems, the region has been rocked by demands for more representative and responsive political systems, and Islamic movements have won the upper hand in the battle for grassroots support. In Islamism and Secularism in North Africa, leading scholars from the United States, Europe, and North Africa explore the Islamic challenge. Drawing on the disciplines of political science, history, sociology, and anthropology, the contributors examine the relations between religion, the state, and political opposition movements in North Africa. Although the contributors show that the Islamic revival has been energized by the acute current problems of corruption, political exclusion, and pauperization, they also argue that its roots can be found in North African history, and that the Islamist-secularist divide reflects deep intellectual, political, and social differences that are not likely to disappear.

On September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden declared "global jihad" on the West. In response to the day's attacks, the United States has waged its own global war on terrorism, which the Pentagon has described as a generational conflict similar to the Cold War. In The Islamic Challenge and the United States, Ehsan Ahrari takes a close look at this ideological conflict, focusing on the Middle East, Africa, and South and Central Asia. Arguing that the war on terrorism is founded on secular fundamentalism (an ideology that envisions Islam as dangerous and volatile because it mixes religion and politics) and the Enlightenment narrative, Ahrari suggests that the United States sees global jihadists as absolutist, irrational, obscurantist, and anti-modern. While violence on behalf of the Muslim community – ummah – is thus framed as reprehensible, violence on behalf of the Western nation-state is seen as sometimes necessary and often praiseworthy. Unsettlingly, this framework does not encourage careful scrutiny of America's historical dealings with the Muslim world. The belief that religion causes violence, Ahrari argues, may blind the West to its own forms of fanaticism. A timely analysis of one of the most contested issues of our times, The Islamic Challenge and the United States is a must-read for global security practitioners, policymakers, and general readers.