Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T15:32:35.240Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Islamism in Mauritania and the narrative of political moderation*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2017

Francesco Cavatorta  and
Raquel Ojeda Garcia
Francesco Cavatorta*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur l'Afrique et le Moyen Orient (CIRAM), Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Raquel Ojeda Garcia*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencia Política y de la Administración, Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
*
Email: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The rise of Islamism following the Arab Spring has renewed interest in the democratic credibility of Islamist parties and movements. Focusing on the case of Mauritania's Islamists this article analyses the validity of the moderation hypothesis and argues that for some Islamist parties, moderation, when historically situated, has always been a key trait. The case of Mauritanian Islamism is interesting because it takes place within an intellectual and geographical place that straddles both the Arab world and sub-Saharan Africa, therefore providing insights on how Islamism has become an influential ideological framework in both worlds, that are much less separate than superficially believed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , June 2017 , pp. 301 - 325
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

We are very grateful to the referees for their comments and suggestions, which helped us to strengthen the article and render our arguments much clearer.

References

REFERENCES

Aghrout, A. 2008. ‘Parliamentary and presidential elections in Mauritania 2006 and 2007’, Electoral Studies 27, 2: 385–90.Google Scholar
Ali Abdelkader, D. 2011. Islamic Activists: the anti-enlightenment democrats. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Allani, A. 2009. ‘The Islamists in Tunisia between confrontation and participation: 1980–2008’, Journal of North African Studies 14, 2: 257–72.Google Scholar
Anderson, L. 2006. ‘Searching where the light shines: studying democratization in the Middle East’, Annual Review of Political Science 9: 189–214.Google Scholar
AVOMM. ‘APA. 2009. ‘Le chef du parti Tawassoul, candidat à l′élection présidentielle en Mauritanie.’ Infos AVOMM. <http://www.avomm.com/APA-Le-chef-du-parti-Tawassoul-candidat-a-l-election-presidentielle-en-Mauritanie_a8970.html>, accessed 10.6.2013.,+accessed+10.6.2013.>Google Scholar
Belen-Soage, A. 2008. ‘Hasan al-Banna or the politicisation of Islam’, Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 9, 1: 21–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belen-Soage, A. 2009. ‘Islam and modernity: the political thought of Sayyid Qutb’, Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 10, 2: 189–203.Google Scholar
Ben Mansour, L. 2002. Frères musulmans, frères féroces. Voyage dans l'enfer du discours Islamiste. Paris: Editions Ramsay.Google Scholar
Bensaad, A. 2008. ‘Mauritanie, une transition démocratique sans démocrates’, L′Année du Maghreb IV: 311–24.Google Scholar
Bonte, P. 2003. ‘La Mauritanie, pays fragile’, Géopolitique Africaine 12: 191–216.Google Scholar
Bonte, P. & Guillaume, H.. 1994. ‘Mauritanie: question pour l′avenir?’, Politique Africaine 55: 2–10.Google Scholar
Boubekeur, A. 2016. ‘Islamists, secularists and old regime elites in Tunisia: bargained competition’, Mediterranean Politics 21, 1: 107–27.Google Scholar
Boukhars, A. 2016. ‘Mauritania's precarious stability and Islamist undercurrent’. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, <http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/02/11/mauritania-s-precarious-stability-and-islamist-undercurrent-pub-62730>..' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Boukhars,+A.+2016.+‘Mauritania's+precarious+stability+and+Islamist+undercurrent’.+Carnegie+Endowment+for+International+Peace,+.>Google Scholar
Browers, M. 2006. Democracy and Civil Society in the Arab world. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
Browers, M. 2007. ‘Origins and architects of Yemen's joint meeting parties’, International Journal of Middle East Studies 39, 4: 565–86.Google Scholar
Browers, M. 2009. Political Ideology in the Arab World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, N. 2012. When Victory is not an Option. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Brumberg, D. 2002. ‘Islamists and the politics of consensus’, Journal of Democracy 13, 3: 109–15.Google Scholar
Carothers, T. 2002. ‘The end of the transition paradigm’, Journal of Democracy 13, 1: 5–21.Google Scholar
Cavatorta, F. 2007. ‘Neither participation nor revolution: the strategy of the Jamiat al-Adl wal-Ihsan ’, Mediterranean Politics 12, 3: 379–95.Google Scholar
Cavatorta, F. & Merone, F.. 2013. ‘Moderation through exclusion: the journey of the Tunisian Ennahda from fundamentalist to conservative party’, Democratization 20, 5: 857–75.Google Scholar
Clark, J. 2006. ‘The conditions of Islamist moderation: unpacking cross-ideological cooperation in Jordan’, International Journal of Middle East Studies 38, 4: 539–60.Google Scholar
Clark, J. 2010. ‘Threats, structures and resources’, Comparative Politics 43, 1: 101–20.Google Scholar
Clausen, U. 2001. ‘Chronique 2000: Une politique de censure et de répression permanente de l′opposition’, Annuaire de l′Afrique du Nord XXXIX: 309–44.Google Scholar
Dalacoura, K. 2006. ‘Islamist terrorism and the Middle East democratic deficit: political exclusion, repression and the causes of extremism’, Democratization 13, 3: 508–25.Google Scholar
Dupraz, P. & Gaouad, M.. 1996. ‘Mauritanie: chronique d′une politique intérieure à géométrie variable’, L′Afrique politique Fall: 71–83.Google Scholar
El-Ghobashy, M. 2005. ‘The metamorphosis of the Egyptian Muslim Brothers’, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 37, 2: 373–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esposito, J. 2002. Unholy War: terror in the name of Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Foster, N. 2011. Mauritania. The Struggle for Democracy. London: First Forum Press.Google Scholar
Fuller, G. 2004. The Future of Political Islam. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Ghadbian, N. 1997. Democratization and the Islamist Challenge in the Arab World. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Ghannouchi, R. 2016. ‘From political Islam to Muslim democracy’, Foreign Affairs 95, 5: 58–67.Google Scholar
Girod, D. & Walters, M.. 2012. ‘Elite-led democratisation in aid-dependent states: the case of Mauritania’, Journal of North African Studies 17, 2: 181–93.Google Scholar
Green, E., Soderstrom, J. & Uddhammar, E., eds. 2014. Political Opposition in Sub-Saharan Africa. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gurses, M. 2014. ‘Islamists, democracy and Turkey: a test of the inclusion-moderation hypothesis’, Party Politics 20, 4: 646–53.Google Scholar
Hafez, M. 2003. Why Muslims Rebel. Repression and Resistance in the Islamic world. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hames, C. 1994. ‘Le rôle de l′Islam dans la société mauritanienne contemporaine’, Politique Africaine 55: 46–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamid, S. 2011. ‘The rise of the Islamists’, Foreign Affairs 90, 3: 40–7.Google Scholar
Hamid, S. 2014. Temptations of Power: Islamists and illiberal democracy in a new Middle East. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Haynes, J. 2006. ‘Islam and democracy in East Africa’, Democratization 13, 3: 490–507.Google Scholar
Heydemann, S. 2007. ‘Upgrading authoritarianism in the Arab world’, Analysis Paper, Brookings Institution, 2007, <http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2007/10arabworld.aspx>..>Google Scholar
Hill, J.N.C. 2011. ‘Islamism and democracy in the modern Maghreb’, Third World Quarterly 32, 6: 1089–105.Google Scholar
Hinnebusch, R. 2006. ‘Authoritarian persistence, democratic theory and the Middle East: an overview and critique’, Democratization 13, 3: 373–95.Google Scholar
Hochman, D. 2007. ‘Divergent democratization: the paths of Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania’, Middle East Policy 14, 4: 67–83.Google Scholar
International Crisis Group. 2005. ‘Islamism in North Africa IV: The Islamist Challenge in Mauritania: Threat or Scapegoat?’, Middle East/North Africa Report 41.Google Scholar
Jourde, C. 2007a. ‘Mauritania: clash of authoritarianism and ethnicity’ in Miles, W.F.S., ed. Political Islam in West Africa: state-society relations transformed. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 101–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jourde, C. 2007b. ‘The international relations of small neo-authoritarian states: Islamism, warlordism, and the framing of stability’, International Studies Quarterly 51: 481–503.Google Scholar
Jourde, C. 2008. ‘The master is gone, but does the house still stand? The fate of single-party systems after the defeat of single parties in West Africa’ in Friedman, E. & Wong, J., eds. Political Transition in Dominant Party Systems. London: Routledge, 75–90.Google Scholar
Jourde, C. 2011a. ‘Sifting through the Layers of Insecurity in the Sahel: the case of Mauritania’, Africa Security Brief no. 15. The Africa Center for Strategic Studies, <http://www.ndu.edu/press/lib/pdf/Africa-Security-Brief/ASB-15.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Jourde, C. 2011b. ‘Mauritania 2010: between individual willpower and institutional inertia’, Maghreb Review: 11–15.Google Scholar
Kaldor, M. 2011. ‘Civil society in 1989 and 2011’, Open Democracy, 7 February 7, <http://www.opendemocracy.net/mary-kaldor/civil-society-in-1989-and-2011>..>Google Scholar
Karakaya, S. & Yildirim, K.. 2013. ‘Islamist moderation in perspective: comparative analysis of the moderation of Islamist and Western communist parties’, Democratization 20, 7: 1322–49.Google Scholar
Larémont, R. 2011. ‘Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb: terrorism and counterterrorism in the Sahel’, African Security 4: 242–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, B. 2002. ‘What Went Wrong?’, The Atlantic, January, <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/01/what-went-wrong/2387/>..>Google Scholar
Lum, K. 2011. ‘Mauritania′s Days of Rage', Sada - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, <http://www.carnegieendowment.org/2011/05/18/mauritania-s-days-of-rage/6b7r>..' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Lum,+K.+2011.+‘Mauritania′s+Days+of+Rage',+Sada+-+Carnegie+Endowment+for+International+Peace,+.>Google Scholar
Mamadi, C. 2012. ‘Transition Consensuelle’, Le Rénovateur Quotidien, 6 November.Google Scholar
Manning, C. 2005. ‘Assessing African party systems after the third wave’, Party Politics 11, 6: 707–27.Google Scholar
Marchesin, P. 1992. Tribus et ethnies et pouvoir en Mauritanie. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Marty, M. 2002. ‘Mauritania, political parties, neo-patrimonialism and democracy’, Democratization 9, 3: 92–108.Google Scholar
Mint Ainina, H. 2001. ‘Chronique 2001: La politique de censure des parties de l′opposition se consolide et le thème tabou de l′esclavage est devant de la scène politique’, Annuaire de l′Afrique du Nord XXXIX: 343–62.Google Scholar
Mishal, S. & Sela, A.. 2001. The Palestinian Hamas: vision, violence and coexistence. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Mission d′observation electorale, Union Éuropéenne (MOE UE). 2007. ‘Rapport final. Elections municipales, législatives 2006 et présidentielles 2007’, Nouackchott, March, <http://www.eueommauritania.org/mauritania/MOE%20UE%20Mauritanie_07_rapport%20final.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Mohamed, S. 2012. ‘Crise multiforme: L′initiative de Messaoud comme solution?’, L′Authentique, 5 December.Google Scholar
Mortimer, R. 1996. ‘Islamists, soldiers and democrats: the Second Algerian War’, Middle East Journal 50, 1: 18–39.Google Scholar
Mozaffari, M. 2007. ‘What is Islamism? History and definition of a concept’, Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 8, 1: 17–33.Google Scholar
M'Rad, H. 2013. ‘La démocratie de type militaire en Egypte. Le Courrier de l'Atlas’, 8 July <http://www.lecourrierdelatlas.com/513408072013La-democratie-de-type-militaire-en-Egypte.html>..' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=M'Rad,+H.+2013.+‘La+démocratie+de+type+militaire+en+Egypte.+Le+Courrier+de+l'Atlas’,+8+July+.>Google Scholar
Netterstrøm, K. 2015. ‘The Islamists’ compromise in Tunisia’, Journal of Democracy 26, 4: 110–24.Google Scholar
N′Diaye, B. 2006. ‘Mauritania, August 2005: justice and democracy, or just another coup?’, African Affairs 105: 420–41.Google Scholar
Ojeda Garcia, R. 2009. ‘Análisis de las elecciones legislativas en Mauritania tras el golpe de estado de 2005’, Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internacionals 87: 191–214.Google Scholar
Ojeda Garcia, R. 2012. ‘La derrota del antiguo partido autoritario dominante (PRDR) en las elecciones legislativas de 2006 en Mauritania’, Revista de investigaciones Políticas y Sociológicas 4: 31–54.Google Scholar
Ojeda García, R. 2017. ‘Islamist groups in Mauritania: evolution and analysis’ in Brichs, F.I. & Etherington, J., ed. From Revolution to Moderation? The long road of political Islam. New York, NY: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Ojeda Garcia, R. & Lopez Bargados, A.. 2012. ‘E Pur Si Muove? Logics of Power and the Process of Transition in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania’ in Brichs, F.I., ed. Political Regimes in the Arab World: society and the exercise of power. London: Routledge, 104–21.Google Scholar
Otayek, R. & Soares, B.. 2009. Islam, État et Societé. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Ould Ahmed Salem, Z. 2007. ‘Islam in Mauritania between political expansion and globalization: elites, institutions, knowledge, and networks’, in Soares, B. & Otayek, R., eds. Islam and Muslim politics in Africa. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 27–46.Google Scholar
Ould Ahmed Salem, Z. 2009. ‘Bare-foot activists: transformations of the Haratines Movement in Mauritania’, in Ellis, S. & van Kessel, W.M.J., eds. Movers and Shakers: social movements in Africa. Leiden: Brill, 156–77.Google Scholar
Ould Ahmed Salem, Z. 2013. Precher dans le desert. Islam politique et changement social en Mauritanie. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Ould Cheikh, A.W. 1994. ‘Des voix dans le désert. Sur les élections de l′ère pluraliste’, Politique Africaine 55: 31–9.Google Scholar
Ould El-Bara, Y. 2004. ‘Mutations des formes de religiosité: sources et débats’, in Ould Ahmed, Z. Salem, , ed. Les trajectoires d′un État-frontier. Espaces, évolution politique et transformations sociales en Mauritanie. Dakar: Conseil pour le développement de la recherche en sciences sociales en Afrique.Google Scholar
Ould Hamed, M. 2008. ‘Menace terroriste en Mauritanie : un cas d’école’, L'Année du Maghreb, <http://anneemaghreb.revues.org/462>..' href=https://dx.doi.org/10.4000/anneemaghreb.462>CrossRef.' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Ould+Hamed,+M.+2008.+‘Menace+terroriste+en+Mauritanie+:+un+cas+d’école’,+L'Année+du+Maghreb,+.>Google Scholar
Ould Mohamed, A.K. 1994. ‘La Mauritanie: un tournant démocratique?’, Politique Africaine 55: 2–10.Google Scholar
Ould Mohamed, A.K. 2001. Mauritanie: chroniques d′un débat dépassé. Paris: L′Harmattan.Google Scholar
Ould Mohamedou, M.M. 2007. ‘Nouvelle production de sens en Mauritanie : le coup d′État du 3 août 2005 et sa signification’, L′Année du Maghreb III: 315–32.Google Scholar
Pazzanita, A. 1996. ‘The origins and evolution of Mauritanian's Second Republic’, Journal of Modern African Studies 34, 4: 575–96.Google Scholar
Pazzanita, A. 1997. ‘State and society in Mauritania in the 1990s’, Journal of North African Studies 2, 1: 16–39.Google Scholar
Pazzanita, A. 1999. “Political transition in Mauritania: problems and prospect’, Middle East Journal 53, 1: 44–58.Google Scholar
Peter, F. & Ortega, R.. 2012. Los movimientos islámicos transnacionales. Barcelona: Biblioteca del Islam, Casa Árabe, Bellaterra.Google Scholar
Robinson, G. 1997. ‘Can Islamists be democrats? The case of Jordan’, Middle East Journal 51, 3: 373–87.Google Scholar
Roy, O. 1992. L′échec de l′Islam politique. Paris: Le Seuil.Google Scholar
Schwedler, J. 2006. Faith in Moderation. Islamist parties in Jordan and Yemen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schwedler, J. 2011. ‘Can Islamists become moderates?’, World Politics 63, 2: 347–76.Google Scholar
Sela, A. 2015. ‘From revolution to political participation: institutionalization of militant Islamic movements’, Contemporary Review of the Middle East 2, 1&2: 31–54.Google Scholar
Soares, B. 2007. ‘Rethinking Islam and Muslim societies in Africa’, African Affairs 106: 319–26.Google Scholar
Solomon, H. 2013. ‘Mali's: West Africa's Afghanistan’, The RUSI Journal 158, 1: 12–19.Google Scholar
Stott, M. & Nakhoul, S.. 2012. ‘Violence turning Arab Spring into winter’, Al Arabiya News, 4 March, <http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/04/198548.html>..>Google Scholar
Szmolka, I. 2011. ‘Democracias y autoritarismos con adjetivos: la clasificación de los países árabes dentro de una tipología general de regímenes políticos’, Revista Española de Ciencia Política 26, 1: 11–62.Google Scholar
Tamimi, A. 2011. Rachid Ghannouchi: a democrat within Islamism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Thurston, A. 2012. ‘Mauritania's Islamists’, The Carnegie Paper, Middle East, March, <http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/03/01/mauritania-s-islamists/9ziy>..' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Thurston,+A.+2012.+‘Mauritania's+Islamists’,+The+Carnegie+Paper,+Middle+East,+March,+.>Google Scholar
Totten, M. 2012. ‘Arab Spring or Islamist Winter?’, World Affairs, January/February, <http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/arab-spring-or-islamist-winter>..>Google Scholar
Van de Walle, N. 2003. ‘Presidentialism and clientelism in Africa's emerging party systems’, Journal of Modern African Studies 41, 2: 297–321.Google Scholar
Walsh, S. 2007. ‘Killing post-Almohad man: Malek Bennabi, Algerian Islamism and the search for a liberal governance’, Journal of North African Studies 12, 2: 235–54.Google Scholar
Wegner, E. 2011. Islamist Opposition in Authoritarian Regimes. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
Wright, R. 2011. ‘The Islamists are coming’, Foreign Policy, 7 November, <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/11/07/the_islamists_are_coming?hidecomments=yes>..>Google Scholar
Zisenwine, D. 2007. ‘Mauritania's democratic transition: a regional model for political reform?’, Journal of North African Studies 12, 4: 481–99.Google Scholar
Zounmenou, D. 2009. ‘Coups d´état in Africa between 1958 and 2008’, African Security Review 18, 3: 71–3.Google Scholar