In the wake of the Arab uprisings, al-Nahda voted to transform itself into a political party that would for the first time withdraw from a preaching project built around religious, social, and cultural activism. This turn to the political was not a Tunisian exception but reflects an urgent debate within Islamist movements as they struggle to adjust to a rapidly changing political environment. This book re-orientates how we think about Islamist movements. Drawing on extensive fieldwork with grassroots activists of Tunisia's al-Nahda, Rory McCarthy focuses on the lived experience of activism to offer a challenging new perspective on one of the Middle East's most successful Islamist projects. Original evidence explains how al-Nahda survived two decades of brutal repression in prison and in social exclusion, and reveals what price the movement paid for a new strategy of pragmatism and reform during the Tunisian transition away from authoritarianism.
| ISBN: | 9781108459938 |
| Publication date: | 11th October 2018 |
| Author: | Rory (University of Oxford) McCarthy |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 246 pages |
| Series: | Cambridge Middle East Studies |
| Genres: |
Pressure groups, protest movements and non-violent action Political control and freedoms |