The Forgotten Swamp: Navigating Political Islam

We need to “drain the swamp.” This expression has recurred like a leitmotif in the comments of pundits and policy officials asked to justify Washington’s ever-expanding war on terrorism. But, alas, one critically important mud flat has received scant attention in the intense media coverage that has accompanied the war in Afghanistan and its extension to new settings: the swamp of analytical confusion surrounding the use of words such as “Islamic fundamentalists” or “Islamic radicals.” Terms have been thrown around lightly, often without a real understanding of their connotations and limitations. There has been little appreciation for the fact that they are artificial constructs, usually elaborated by outsiders, and that they sometimes may confuse more than they explain. For instance, do “Islamic fundamentalists” differ from “Islamic radicals,” or can the two terms be employed interchangeably? Are “Muslim fundamentalists” merely the expression, within the Islamic world, of a broader “fundamentalist” trend visible in other great religious traditions? Why do so many scholars prefer the term “Islamism” to “fundamentalism”? In what context did the transnational radical Islam of Osama bin Laden develop, and how does it relate to earlier variants of radical Islam? Has the nature of Islamism itself changed significantly over the past 30 years? And where does the Taliban movement fit in the broader spectrum of Islamist phenomena? Answering such basic questions would seem to be a prerequisite to any substantive discussion of Islam’s changing role and manifestations in Middle East politics. The task should be relatively easy considering that, since the 1970s, a substantial body of both academic and policy-oriented literature has developed on political Islam. By and large, however, the public debate thus far has tapped into only a fraction of that expertise. Yet, at this critical juncture – when more than ever we need to pause, reflect on and debate what our long-term strategy toward political Islam should be – it is imperative that the concepts used in that discussion be fully understood in their complexity and ramifications. The central objective of this paper is to contribute to such a goal. Drawing on the existing literature, it aims to provide, in one place, a succinct presentation of key concepts and issues required to analyze political Islam, particularly in its more