Maghreb Roundtable: Democrats Or Autocrats?: Islamists In North African Politics
Asked whether Islamist political leaders were at heart democrats or autocrats, University of Chicago Professor Malika Zeghal said, “They can be either, depending on the constraints.” Since governments tightly regulate the political environment, she said, those same governments have the power to shape the direction of Islamist politics. Oxford Professor Michael Willis went further, arguing that signs of authoritarian tendencies in Islamist movements partly reflect the fact that they are working within authoritarian systems themselves.
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