Political Islam in the Context of Social Identity: The Effects of Perceived External Threats on the Rising Islamic Challenge (Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, Iran)

This study examines the recent rise of political Islam that challenges the secular state primarily in the context o f social identity, and tries to determine the extent to which the movement is a reaction to perceived external threats, specified as the imposition of unwanted out-group norms and unfavorable comparisons o f the in-group with relevant out-groups. The work utilizes a case study methodology, examining and comparing four countries that faced the challenge o f political Islam, including Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, and Iran. For the Turkish case, extensive field research was done, while for the other cases, used for comparison purposes, the study relied more on secondary sources and less on primary data. The overall results indicate that while the influences o f unwanted outgroup norms are positively related to the rise o f the Islamic challenge, unfavorable intergroup comparisons have had little effect on the phenomenon. This finding, at the later stage, turned the research into an exploratory study, wherein it was found that the appeal of mainstream political Islam has more to do with real or perceived unwanted domestic conditions, such as economic distress, lack o f distributive justice, relative deprivation, a growing sense o f exclusion o f Islamic views from the political arena, and the quest for true independence, meaning standing free of direct or indirect domination by Western powers. The more evident rise o f the movement in the recent time period can be explained in part by the failure o f secular regimes to respond effectively to these problems.