The Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies hosted the “Islam, Mobilization, and Social Change: Historical and Comparative Perspectives” conference on October 24-25, bringing together scholars from around the world to discuss their research on social mobilization in Islamic history and contemporary politics. The two days of presentations concluded with a public panel discussion on October 25 addressing the role of Islam in current events taking place throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
The “Islam and Mobilization in the Contemporary Arab World” panel featured speakers Abdullah Al-Arian from Georgetown University SFS-Qatar, Abdeslam Maghraoui from Duke University, and Bassam Haddad, Director of the Middle East Studies Program at George Mason University. Peter Mandaville, Director of the Center for Global Islamic Studies, chaired the thought-provoking panel discussion.
The panel started with Al-Arian’s examination of “The Muslim Brotherhood’s New Ordeal: Lessons from Egypt’s Revolutionary Moment.” In his presentation, Al-Arian applied elements of the social movement theory to the Muslim Brotherhood’s actions since 2011 when Hosni Mubarak was overthrown by a popular movement. By looking at the history of the Brotherhood, specifically its shift away from ideology and towards more conciliatory policies towards the government, Al-Arian concludes that the Brotherhood has moved towards a more “cosmopolitan Islam”. Ultimately, he argues that the Brotherhood has little ideological or historical basis to resort to violence and that the lack of revolutionary credentials among the Brotherhood is what resulted in the overthrow of President Morsi in the summer of 2013.
Abdeslam Maghraoui followed with a presentation about research he conducted exploring how religion influences political and social preferences in the lives of Moroccan youth. “Allah Made Me Liberal: Experimental Evidence from Norm Violations Among Moroccan Youths” reveals that the context of the situation is the most influential factor in determining how influential religious norms are in the decision-making process. In their personal lives, the young adults are revealed to be more receptive to restrictive religious norms. However, this receptiveness is significantly reduced in more social and political contexts. As such, Maghraoui concluded, the role of religious norms in the public sphere is greatly reduced as other factors such as economic and political considerations come into play.
Bassam Haddad rounded out the panel with a discussion about “Arab Uprisings: Causes and Dynamics,” which addressed a wide variety of factors that he identifies as important to understanding the current social and political developments taking place in the Middle East. Instead of focusing on the popular explanations of the media like the mobilization of the youth, the power of social media, or the influence of external forces, Haddad presents a set of six factors that he says are most influential in the uprisings and the outcomes. These include regime power, the diversity or homogeneity of society, and the state of the political economy, among others. He concluded by reiterating that each variable has some significance and no single factor can be looked to for a total explanation.
November 08, 2013
