Regime continuity and Islamists’ limited opportunities in post-2019 Algeria and Sudan

Abstract

ABSTRACT MENA uprisings broke, at least temporarily, the thrones of several long-time autocracies, under the pressure of massive popular protests. Yet, trajectories of Islamists were not uniform across post-uprising political terrains. Unlike the case in Egypt and Tunisia, where they were initially included with significant electoral gains after 2011, Islamists were faced with immense challenges diminishing their popular base and limiting their political opportunities in Algeria and Sudan after 2019. This article argues that their pre-uprising political records, along with post-uprising regime continuity, define much of these trajectories across cases. Through the comparative focus on Islamists in post-2019 Algeria and Sudan, three key factors which are believed to contribute to their current political decline will be discussed: rebels’ persistent effort to exclude them, Islamists’ own political engagement and survival of the pre-2019 regimes.