Religious Affiliated Political Parties in the Post-Arab Spring Era: In Retrospect and Future Prospects

Abstract

Since the rise of the Arab Spring, a series of social movements have led to a deterioration of political stability in some Arab countries. In the past decade, ordinary people in Arab countries have generally increased their aspirations to express their own political opinions in the public sphere. When viewed from the consequences of contemporary political reforms, the degrees of political participation of different national parliaments are eventually influenced by the transition from authoritarian rule and are characterised by their polity. While before the Arab Spring, the performance of religious affiliated political parties in every nation’s parliament was not prominent, but the democratisation reform provided these religious affiliated political parties with important political opportunities to even overtake their secular opponents. Religious traditions are dominant cultural in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The political participation of religious affiliated political parties plays a directionally representative role on the current development of political and religious relations in this era. By comparing the political performance of Islamic political parties in the parliamentary elections in Arab countries since 2010, this essay attempts to theoretically explore the role of religious affiliated political parties in the process of social integration and the political modernisation after the democratisation revolution, and explains the intervention of deeply-rooted religious tradition into public politics. Religious affiliated political parties in the Arab countries are strengthened on the one hand by internal initiative and on the other hand by catering to external needs. However, at the same time, the political participation of religious affiliated political parties has triggered concerns amongst secularists about theocracy, and its true effectiveness is also severely constrained by the degree of progress in the political modernisation process of the host country.