How Does Power Affect Islamist Ideology?

Though in recent years an increasing number of Islamist parties have risen to power through democratic elections, little scholarly attention has been given to how these Islamist parties actually govern, particularly at the local or municipal level, and how governance affects their ideology. Even fewer studies take an empirical approach in measuring the performance of these Islamist political parties.

The Capstone project took an empirical and comparative approach to measuring the performance of Islamist movements who have taken local power. The Capstone team sought to assess the record of the Islamist parties and compare it to non-Islamist parties as well as to the national context. The team studied cases in Turkey, Gaza, and Lebanon, building on last year’s Capstone research on Pakistan and Iraq. By examining data on indicators of security, social, economic and cultural development, the research team compared the performance of Islamists to that of their secular counterparts in each country.