Malika Zeghal

Malika Zeghal, who was educated at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, is associate professor of the anthropology and sociology of religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her books include Islamism in Morocco: Religion, Authoritarianism, and Electoral Politics (2008).

July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3

Islamist Parties and Democracy: Participation Without Power

Read the full essay here. The debate on the compatibility of Islamism and democracy has tended to focus on two main scenarios. In the first, Islamist political parties become agents for democratization through their participation in freely held elections. In the second, Islamists use the democratic process to gain control and establish an antidemocratic regime—the…