Between Religion and Politics

Two of the most respected and keenly observant analysts of Islamist movement politics in the Arab world have written a compelling book which explores the dynamics and consequences of Islamist groups' participation in the parliaments of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Yemen, and the Palestinian Authority. In a series of lucid and engaging case-study chapters, the book highlights the impact of such participation on Arab political systems and the changing character of Islamist groups themselves. The insights it offers make it essential reading for scholars, university students, and policy-makers alike. I look forward to assigning it in my courses!uCarrie Wickham, associate professor, Department of Political Science, Emory University

In this thought provoking tour de force Brown and Hamzawy vividly synthesize an up to date I and lucid balance sheet of the political participation of Islamist movements. Conceptually solid and empirically richly informed by various country-based cases, this work is certainly a must read for all those who are interested in Islamism.uKhaled Hroub, director of the Cambridge Arab Media Project (CAMP) at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge

In recent decades, Islamist political movements in many Arab countries have made a strategic investment in a political process that is stacked heavily against them. And they have succeeded by gaining more seats in parliaments and demonstrating their position as the only opposition movements with a popular base. Between Religion and Politics is a broad, cross-national study of Islamist parties in parliamentary elections in the Arab world, focusing on those movements that have opted to cast themselves, at least in part, as electorally-oriented political parties. Focusing on Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Kuwait, Yemen, and Palestine, this book probes the environment in which the movements operate, the checkered relationship between Islamists and rulers, the political platform that Islamists design in order to enter the electoral arena, and efforts to build alliances with other opposition groups. By examining debates within the Islamist movements themselves, Between Religion and Politics assesses the prospects for future participation and Islamist leaders' own evaluation of their political experiences.

Nathan J. Brown is a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. He is the author of four well-received books on Arab politics, the most recent being Palestinian Politics after the Oslo Accords: Resuming Arab Palestine (University of California Press, 2003). Amr Hamzawy is a distinguished Egyptian political scientist who previously taught at Cairo University and the Free University of Berlin. He is coeditor, with Marina Ottaway, of Getting to Pluralism: Political Actors in the Arab World (Carnegie, 2009).