Abstract
How do Islamists govern when capturing political power? Do their Islamist nirvana meet the basic needs of their citizens? Is the cause of political freedom advanced with the assumption of the reins of political power by the Islamists? In each case the answer is decidedly negative. Examining three country case studies—Egypt, Sudan and Turkey—the chapter examines how Islamists in these countries managed to destroy any prospects of democratization in each country through their centralization of power. In the case of Egypt, this power was centralized in the office of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide. In the case of Sudan, power was centralized in the hands of the military as Islamists joined forces with the men in uniform in 1969 and 1989 as they staged coups. In the case of Turkey, power was centralized in the hands of first Prime Minister and then President Erdogan. Moreover, in each case the socio-economic circumstances of citizens deteriorated under Islamist rule. Patronage networks, nepotism, corruption and general incompetence came to characterize their rule. All this served to undermine economic growth and service delivery. Their attempt to Islamize society more only served to alienate the local population. Both Egypt’s President Morsi and Sudan’s Al-Bashir were ousted as a result of popular protests, and Erdogan’s era is rapidly coming to an end in Turkey.
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The reason for the wide range is that Ankara outlaws the capturing of ethnic affiliation data sets in census.
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The Gulen movement will be discussed later in this book.
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Solomon, H., Tausch, A. (2020). Islamism in Practice: Politicos in Power in Egypt, Sudan and Turkey. In: Islamism, Crisis and Democratization. Perspectives on Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22849-1_4
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