Abstract
This chapter is an analysis, from the perspective of the sociology of power, of the resources of Islamist elites in Algeria, specifically focusing on the three most important political parties – the FIS, the MSP (HAMAS) and en-Nahda – between 1990 and 2016. This analysis, intentionally excluding armed groups, will try to explain the fundamental differences between the former party – a true mass movement – and the other two, which are circumscribed by their grassroots support and the circular logic of their relations with power. The different origins of their elites, their grassroots supporters and above all their political strategy all throw light on the different paths followed by these three tendencies of the Islamist movement.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
The latter was co-founder of the MSP and president of the association before he was killed by the terrorist anti-Islamist group OJAL (Organisation des Jeunes Algériens Libres) or possibly by the GIA (Armed Islamic Group, see above) in November 1993.
- 3.
Le Quotidien d’Oran, 07/11/2015.
- 4.
In 1962, the number of mosques in Algeria was very low, as many of them had been turned into churches or warehouses, but since then they have increased at a dizzying rate – 6,000 in 1986, 15,000 in 2006, 17,000 in 2013 and possibly 20,000 in 2016, according to data from Algeria’s minister of religious affairs (Algerie-Focus November 15, 2013, and Ouest Tribune April 6, 2015). At the same time, associations with religious ends have also increased in number, and represent a considerable proportion of the 11,000 associations created between 1971 and 1987 (Rouadjia 1990, 78–92). In fact, Andrea Liverani affirmed there were 11,000 religious associations in Algeria (2008, 20). Since 2013 a specific Law on Religious Associations has been debated but not yet adopted; the number of religious registered associations according to the minister of Interior was 15,790 over 96,144 associations of all types (Le Quotidien d’Oran, May 5, /2013).
- 5.
Abbasi Madani, Ali Belhadj (Benhadj), Kamal Gemazi, Ali Yeddi, Abdelkader Boukhamkham, Omar Abdelkader and Nouredin Chigara were the seven leaders who were all sentenced to jail terms of between four and 12 years at the military court held in July 1992, a court whose legality has been questioned. Only the first two served their full terms (12 years) though they were temporarily released to facilitate negotiations; the others were freed in September 1994 ((Stone 1997) and (Roberts 2003)).
- 6.
Previously a member of the party was Secretary of State for Fisheries in the government of Ahmed Ouyahia, formed in December 1995.
- 7.
It should be noted that most of the progressive and feminist media called for the government to go beyond this timid reform and to completely repeal the reactionary Family Code of 1984.
- 8.
See, for example, the office of Europa Press, “Bouteflika considers freeing Algerian Islamists imprisoned since the 1990s”, May 16, 2011, or the report by Isabelle Mandraud that appeared in Le Monde on May 24, 2011 under the title “Algérie: Le FIS négocie son retour en politique” Isabel Mandraud, “Are Algeria’s Islamists Ready To Make A Political Comeback?,” Le Monde 2011.
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Bustos, R. (2017). Algerian Islamism: Analysis of Elites and Resources in Major Political Parties and Social Movements (1990–2016). In: Izquierdo Brichs, F., Etherington, J., Feliu, L. (eds) Political Islam in a Time of Revolt. Islam and Nationalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52833-5_9
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