ABSTRACT
How does ‘Islamism’ manifest itself in various countries? It can be suggested, at the outset, that the various manifestations of Islamism in action are very much contingent on certain historical conjunctures and political conditions (cf. Halliday and Alavi, ‘Introduction’, 1988:1-8). For instance, Islamic militancy is likely to be more vigorous against avowedly secularist regimes than it is against regimes that proclaim themselves to be Islamic-where opposition is more likely to take a nationalist or leftist form. Nikki Keddie is basically right in her observation that
Islamism is not strong in states which are really largely traditional and have not experienced a major Western cultural impact, though such states are increasingly rare as Westernization impinges almost everywhere. The people in such states may still follow a number of Islamic laws, but militant mass movements calling for an Islamic state and the end of Western influence are relatively small. (Keddie, 1988B: 16)
This observation is by no means absolute, however, as shown by the Saudi Arabian case where Islamic opposition, both Shi’i and puritanical-Sunni, has taken place, and in Iran where the religious-leftist Mujahidin Khalq oppose the clergy-based Islamic government. But in general the political context would give the Islamic movement its specific character. Thus, for example, Islamic opposition in Afghanistan and Syria, where the governments proclaim ‘progressive’ policies, has come to be ‘traditionalist’ in orientation, whereas in opposition to the Westernising policies of the Shah of Iran, of Sadat in Egypt, and of Bourguiba in Tunisia, it has been of a more ‘radical’ inclination.
