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When Victory Is Not an Option
Contributor(s): Brown, Nathan J. (Author)
ISBN: 0801450365     ISBN-13: 9780801450365
Publisher: Cornell University Press
OUR PRICE:   $128.70  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: March 2012
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Political Science | Political Process - Political Parties
- Religion | Islam - General
- Political Science | Political Process - Campaigns & Elections
Dewey: 320.557
LCCN: 2011037090
Physical Information: 0.63" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (1.16 lbs) 272 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - Middle East
- Religious Orientation - Islamic
- Cultural Region - Arab World
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Throughout the Arab world, Islamist political movements are joining the electoral process. This change alarms some observers and excites other. In recent years, electoral opportunities have opened, and Islamist movements have seized them. But those opportunities, while real, have also been sharply circumscribed. Elections may be freer, but they are not fair. The opposition can run but it generally cannot win. Semiauthoritarian conditions prevail in much of the Arab world, even in the wake of the Arab Spring. How do Islamist movements change when they plunge into freer but unfair elections? How do their organizations (such as the Muslim Brotherhood) and structures evolve? What happens to their core ideological principles? And how might their increased involvement affect the political system?

In When Victory Is Not an Option, Nathan J. Brown addresses these questions by focusing on Islamist movements in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, and Palestine. He shows that uncertain benefits lead to uncertain changes. Islamists do adapt their organizations and their ideologies do bend--some. But leaders almost always preserve a line of retreat in case the political opening fizzles or fails to deliver what they wish. The result is a cat-and-mouse game between dominant regimes and wily movements. There are possibilities for more significant changes, but to date they remain only possibilities.


Contributor Bio(s): Brown, Nathan J.: - Nathan J. Brown is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. He is the author of several books, including The Dynamics of Democratization; Palestinian Politics after the Oslo Accords; and Constitutions in a Nonconstitutional World.