Georgetown University: School of Foreign Service in Qatar

Doha, Qatar — On January 18, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar hosted a lecture on the effects of integrating Islamists into the political scene. Using the case of Bahrain as an example, Katja Niethammer, a Post-doctoral Fellow at CIRS, explored the perspective of Islamist actors on political reform.

The lecture was part of the CIRS Monthly Dialogue Series, in which scholars from Georgetown University and elsewhere present their latest research to interested community members.

In her talk, Niethammer argued that it is the interest of the constituencies that the Islamists represent and not their ideological orientation that predicts their parliamentary behavior. “Islamist political actors exhibit no different behaviour from their secular counterparts,” she said.

The prevalent assumption among academics is that Islamist parties participating in parliamentary politics tend to develop a moderate and pragmatic approach to politics. Niethammer comments that this assumption may have been proven correct in the cases of Morocco, Jordan and Yemen where Islamists have pushed for political reforms. From their respective parliaments, Islamists in these countries have worked to enhance political participation and representation and grant legislative powers to an elected parliament.

However, an examination of Islamists in Bahrain shows that more complex dynamics are at work. “The analysis of Bahraini Islamist parties shows that some Islamist parties in parliament have used their position not to further political reforms, but quite to the contrary: they have actually contributed to consolidating authoritarian rule in Bahrain,” she said.

Niethammer assumes that such “status quo Islamists” are likely to be found in societies divided along sectarian or ethnic lines. In cases where resources are unjustly distributed, some Islamists are interested in upholding a dominant position for the privileged group to which they belong. In the Bahraini case, Sunni Islamists do not promote political reform as they are content with the privileges they have secured under a Sunni ruling family. On the other hand, Islamist parties representing the marginalized groups such as Shi’ites in Bahrain do promote political reform.

In conclusion, Niethammer argues that the positions Islamist groups take towards the ruling elite are a better predictor of their attitude towards political reform than the prevalent assumption. “When their interests are aligned with those of the ruling elites they do not advocate meaningful political reform,” she said.

The next lecture in this series will be held on Tuesday, February 10, 2009. Dr. Ibrahim Oweiss will speak about “Current Economic Global Depression: Causes and Effects With Reference to the Gulf Economies”.
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