Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims at contributing to fill the research gap by analyzing Islamist organizations' conceptions of political order based on a Critical Constructivist theoretical framework and thus combining Islamism research and Critical Constructivism. It shows that Islamism research and Critical Constructivist norm research have largely been studied in isolation from each other so far. The book focuses on the political ideology of Islamism and presents a brief overview of the emergence and development of Sunni and Shiite Islamist political thought. It describes Hamas' emergence in the Palestinian Territories, its Sunni Islamist political thought, its organizational structure, identifies resistance as the organization's core norm, and introduces the organization's early conceptions of political order. The book summarizes the results and connects them to the research topic of political Islam and Islamist organizations more broadly.