Islamist Political Parties and Parliamentary Representation in the Middle East and North Africa

Abstract

Abstract Over the past century, political Islam has taken the form of political parties and entered the electoral realm to gain institutional power. The Arab Spring sparked an unprecedented electoral advance of Islamists. New elections gave rise to new governments under the control of Islamist in several countries in the region which created a new political scenario unthinkable only a few years earlier. In comparison with the traditional political parties, little is known about Islamist parties as recently empowered political actors. Against this background, this article explores the origin of Islamist political parties in the MENA region, the evolution of their parliamentary representation and the causes that fuel the latter. The first section of the article describes the appearance and evolution of Islamist political parties and the context in which the latter took place. The second part analyses the economic and political factors that explain the evolution presented in part one