ABSTRACT
Does Islamism as an ideology and political movement inhibit democratic change? Conversely, does Islamism promote authoritarianism? Does adhering to Islamist values make a political actor less inclined to support democratic politics? What type of conceptual framework and methodology best helps us answer these questions? This essay examines the rise and development of Islamism in Egypt and Iraq. Using these two cases, it argues that existing studies of Islamism often fail to situate the ideology and movements it generates within a historical and developmental context. In so doing, Islamism assumes a transhistorical and hence reified quality.
