The Management of Islamic Activism: Salafis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and State Power in Jordan

Quintan Wiktorowicz

oct 2000 · State University of New York Press

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The Management of Islamic Activism examines the relationship between the changing nature of state power and patterns of Islamic activism in Jordan. Using extensive fieldwork, the author demonstrates how regimes continue to constrain the organization of Islamic opposition even after the advent of political liberalization. In the case of the Jordanian regime, control has been maintained through the "management of collective action"—the regulation of opposition through a complex array of bureaucratic and legal mechanisms. More specifically, laws governing civil society organizations are manipulated to encourage the formation of moderate Islamic groups while disempowering more radical activists. As a result, the radical activists have formed informal social networks that operate outside the state's control. Composed of like-minded Islamists, these networks evade attempts to manage Islamic activism through a loose web of personal relationships, small group interactions, and informal meetings. A comparison of the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan demonstrates how state management strategies shape these patterns of social movement mobilization.

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Quintan Wiktorowicz is Research Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Government at Dartmouth College.