Why are Islamists Popular? Posted by Shadi Hamid

Commenting on a paper I co-wrote on Islamist engagement, Gregg Carlstrom wrote:

If it's "difficult to gauge" why Islamist parties are popular, we can deduce that at least some of their supporters are motivated by an interest in good governance. In other words, some people support these groups because they're effective political parties who happen to be Islamists, and not the other way around.

A couple of interesting things worth mentioning here: we don't really have a clear sense of why people vote for Islamist groups although anecdotal data, in abundance, suggests several important factors. It may very well be the case that the fact that Islamists are Islamist is incidental to why some vote for them.

However, it's difficult to disaggregate the Islamist factor from other variables, since the Islamist tag is a reliable signal for other things - that the candidate in question is honest, clean, and will take the time to meet you if you walk into his office (when I spent time in their offices, I noticed that Islamist MPs in Jordan always took the time to meet with constituents while secular politicians often couldn't be bothered. One former MP told me that he spent so much time meeting with constituents that it cost him his marriage). 

Over time, being Islamist has become much more than just being Islamist, if we understand the word in the narrow sense of someone who wants Islamic law to play a more prominent role in public policy. This has its corollary in the American context. We don't necessarily vote for Democrats because of their party label, but because their party label tells us something about the policies they're likely to advocate.

Comments

[dsi xl]

The Islamists had hoped that by means of participation they could break through the barriers of restricted political plurality and bring about true reform and the redistribution of power between ruling elites and opposition movements, but they failed. They had pushed for constitutional and legislative amendments intended to increase the powers of legislative institutions with respect to the executive and to institute effective systems of checks and balances, but they failed in this too.

[sesli sohbet]

Thnk You Editors..

[rolex watches]

Now there is going to be a lot of criticism in the liberal blogosphere -a line wedding dresses and elsewhere - of President Obama for this decision. Some of it is deserved. But there is rich irony indeedGucci Leather Hobo Bag in the notion that Obama will take the hit for his. Now as my bloggingmate Heather Hurlburt will almost certainly argue the Obama Administration screwed up the public relations badly on this - and she's right. ButLouis Vuitton Pochette Baikal in fact when one looks across the political spectrum it was perhaps the Obama Administration that stood up the most consistently - though imperfectly - for the promulgation of the rule of law. (Though granted we're talking about a rather thin pool).

First and foremost, blameswiss replica watches must obviously be directed at President Bush, Vice President Cheney and their many acolytes inside and outside government who pushed for this illegal system of military tribunals. It's bad enough that they left this mess for Obama to clean-up, but after losing power they then used the malevolent argument that civilian trials foridentify montblanc pens terrorists would put the country at risk to push for its continuation. Shame on them and shame on a political party that would so matter of factly toss the rule of law into the gutter.

Second, where were the Democrats? Sure there were many who advocated for civilian trials and who demanded an end to military tribunals and the closure of Gitmo. Buttiffany colorful jewelries when Obama wanted to close Guantanamo Bay in May of last year, profile in courage Jim Webb solemnly declared "We spent hundreds of millions of dollars building an appropriate facility with all security precautions on Guantanamo to try these cases. I do not believe they should be tried in the United States." Harry Reid wasn't much better saying, "We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States."

[Account Deleted]

The people said that wearing mbt shoes was tired, but I felt very comfortable, especially after the dance I would wear mbt . I love Latin dance, exercise three to four hours each time, then the feet tired to death, I also like famous brand jordan shoes too , it know for its excellent quality and unque design ,air jordan is a good choice.

[free shipping]

I just got a new pair of Nike Air Force One shoes, and I could not be happier. My custom Nike Air Force Ones are the coolest thing that I have seen in years. These ones are a special St. Patrick's day addition, done in bright green and white. Very retro. I am tempted to save my Nike Air Force One shoes for playing basketball, but the thing is, I just can not keep them off of my feet. Everyone who sees me gives me a look of envy when they check out my Nike Air Force One shoes, because they know that I've got the cash flow to buy the nice threads.

[free shipping]

I just got a new pair of Nike Air Force One shoes, and I could not be happier. My custom Nike Air Force Ones are the coolest thing that I have seen in years. These ones are a special St. Patrick's day addition, done in bright green and white. Very retro. I am tempted to save my Nike Air Force One shoes for playing basketball, but the thing is, I just can not keep them off of my feet. Everyone who sees me gives me a look of envy when they check out my Nike Air Force One shoes, because they know that I've got the cash flow to buy the nice threads.

[shelving]

We all know these years china pallet racking in china develop very fast, now the design capacity of racking is very strong in china.
You can see every kind of china racking in china, includingdrive in racking,
cantilever racking, shelving,Longspan shelving, dexion racking,. We also have very experienced engineer to do the design and instlaation job.

as a whole contractor for refrigeration equipment, design, manufacturing, installation of cold store.

[ray ban 2010 sunglasses]

Yellow lens of Ray ban wayfarer can 100% filter UV, allowing infrared and 83% visible light through the lens.

Its greatest feature is that you can filter the sun's most dazzling blue.

Sunlight through the atmosphere, the most performance is the blue light, which is why you see the sky is blue. Yellow lens filters blue light, the natural scenery can be seen more clearly. So driving with a yellow lens Ray ban 2010 sunglasses, you can more clearly see from the vehicle.

Ray ban sunglasses sale

ray ban 2010 sunglasses sale

ray ban sunglasses sale

ray ban wayfarer message from http://www.eyewear-rayban.com

[nike-star]

NBA all star shoes
Nike all star shoes
Nike shoes

[stianless steel rings]

We don't take the luxury route, just playing crazy exaggeration and assertive personality. In addition we break the traditional and innovative stainless steel bracelet, stainless steel rings and so on. Our stainless steel jewelry has great stage effects. The color, texture and design are very fashion. The breakthrough in molding achieves the strong sense of art stainless steel jewelry. It experiences a foreign land and customs, tracking the trend of the international fashion accessories. Our company welcomes the large stainless steel jewelry wholesalers to e-mail consultation.
E-mail: sus360@hotmail.com
website: http://www.sus360.com