"Islamic Solution" in Jordan
Dr. Mohammad Abu Rumman Hassan Abu Hanieh The “Islamic Solution” in Jordan Islamists, the State, and the Ventures of Democracy and Security The “Islamic Solution” in Jordan Islamists, the State, and the Ventures of Democracy and Security Dr. Mohammad Abu Rumman Hassan Abu Hanieh Foreword Anja Wehler-Schoeck, Resident Director, FES Jordan & Iraq In the course of the “Arab Spring” several undemocratic regimes were toppled throughout the region. However, three years after the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi in Tunis, which became the symbolic catalyst of the popular uprisings in the Arab world, the progress of democracy is debatable. Throughout the region, the protests and revolutions spurred heated controversies regarding democratic governance and the involvement of certain political actors, namely Islamist movements and parties, which, under several of the fallen regimes, had been thwarted in their political participation. A main concern remained whether Islamist movements were seeing democracy as an aim in itself or merely as a vehicle to accede to power. Meanwhile, these debates were also taking place within the Islamist movements themselves, which, as in the case of most of the Salafi streams, were traditionally opposed to involvement in political affairs. With the removal of Mohammed Morsi from the Egyptian Presidency in July 2013, this discourse gained a new dynamic. Both in the Arab world and in the West, the debates on these issues are often highly ideologized and prone to generalizations. However, just as their secular counterparts, Islamist movements and parties are far from being a homogenous entity. They are marked by significant differences in terms of their ideology and convictions, their agendas, strategies and discourses.
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