ABSTRACT
On June 30, 1989, the Sudanese parliamentary system collapsed for the third time in the country's independent history as a result of a successful military coup d'etat. As for pragmatism, this chapter adopts the everyday usage of the term as an attitude that emphasizes practical utility and expediency. The development of the Sudanese Islamist movement throughout its various stages was followed closely by important ideological adjustments necessitated by the changing circumstances in which the movement operated or the changing emphases and priorities of the movement itself. With the adoption of the "grand strategy" in 1977, which called for the movement to work for the assumption of power on its own, Hasan al-Turabi's discourse shifted emphasis from democracy to Islamist control of the state. Turabi also stressed that the state "is only the political dimension of the collective endeavour of Muslims".
