Working Group

The Arab Uprisings and the Next Generation of Islamists

Shadi Hamid and William McCants

The Arab Uprisings and the Next Generation of Islamists Shadi Hamid and William McCants.
This Working Group will convene Islamist youth leaders and activists from across the Arab world along with scholars of political Islam to discuss ideological and tactical shifts occurring within mainstream Islamist groups, in light of the Egyptian coup and the threat posed by ISIS. Participants will examine how a new generation of Islamists has responded to the brief experiences in government of Egyptian and Tunisian Islamists, the Egyptian coup, the emergence of pro- and anti-Brotherhood geopolitical blocs, and the rise of ISIS and other extremists.
Discussions will focus on the methods of political change, the relevance of peaceful protest in a time of growing violence, and the emergence of elements favoring more confrontational responses to regime repression. The Working Group will also explore tensions between gradualist and revolutionary approaches to change within Islamist parties, and how youth in the Muslim Brotherhood, Ennahda, the Justice and Development Party (PJD) in Morocco, and other organizations are influencing and shaping these new debates over the future. These deliberations will feed into broader discussions of models of change in mainstream Islamist movements.