Islamist Grassroots and Youth Activism ─ A Sociology of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi Movement in Egypt

Why is the Muslim Brotherhood the most successful social movement in contemporary Egypt and why is Salafism such a strong socio-political force today? This path-breaking book explains that the strength of Islamism in Egypt lies with these groups’ ability to attract youth activists across class divides by providing convincing and desired forms of dissent against a repressive regime which chime with young people’s value-systems and practices. Today, as a result of this, the Islamist parties profit from their political capital gained from decades of social mobilisation. Poljarevic offers an in-depth analysis of youth mobilisation through extensive observation of activists in their everyday social environment and provides first-hand accounts of issues that have not received wide scholarly attention such as the prominent role played by Islamist youth generation in accentuating the virility and innovativeness of Islamist activism, its political and religious dimensions, their organizational dominance of social mobilization, and also the diffusion of civil society mobilization to online activism. Through an innovative critical analysis of contemporary Egyptian Islamist activism, revealing the particularities of its social impact, and the diversity of its ideas, he explains both the durability of Islamist activism and its long-standing capacity to influence civil society according to its own agenda.

Dr Emin Poljarevic is Post-Doctoral Fellow in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh, UK.