Asian Politics & Policy
Volume 6, Issue 2, pages 199–215, April 2014
Volume 6, Issue 2, pages 199–215, April 2014
Ahmad Najib Burhani†
Abstract
By comparing popular uprisings in Indonesia and Tunisia, this article intends to answer the questions: What kind of condition made the Islamists successfully take over the state in Tunisia, while they failed to do so in Indonesia? What are the similarities and differences between the uprisings in these two countries? This article argues that the historical and sociopolitical position of Islamists during the authoritarian regimes determined the fate of Islamist parties after the uprisings. The role of Ennahda party as a symbol of opposition has contributed to its rise after the Tunisian Spring, while the involvement of Islamists in the regime during the last years of Suharto's rule contributed to the decline of Islamist parties in Indonesia. However, the strongest argument for the decline of Islamist parties in Indonesia is the fading away of political streams. Furthermore, the role of Muslim scholars in desacralizing Islamist parties in Indonesia has significantly challenged and undermined the identification of Islam with Islamist parties.
Keywords: Ennahda party; political Islam; politik aliran; Rachid Ghannouchi; secularism
†Ahmad Najib Burhani is a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jakarta. He received his PhD in Religious Studies from the University of California-Santa Barbara, USA. His academic interests include “minority religions in Islam,” “Islamic movements in Southeast Asia,” and “cosmopolitan sufism.”
Link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aspp.12113/abstract