Islamist and Democratic Advances in the Middle East

Islamism, while always a driving force behind politics in the Middle East, has in the past three decades experienced an upsurge in both real political power, and political power relative to the state. This upsurge of political Islamist movements has been possible due to many factors operating within the region, including domestic and international pressure on individual countries to open up the political system, the strength of the religious institution itself in the face of a shortage of other organizations, paradoxical support from the governments which the Islamists were opposing, outside support from other successful Islamist states and groups, certain sociological changes within the region, and the fact that, in most of the modern Middle East, a truly Islamist government is the only ideology that has not yet been tried, and thus holds a certain appeal that previous governments, such as monarchies, empires, and dictatorships, have lost due to various failures. Another form of government that has not yet been tried by most Middle Eastern states is real democracy; unlike Islamism, however, there have been very few advances for democracy in the past thirty years. Interestingly, it seems that the very successes of the Islamist groups have helped impede democratic advances. Both Turkey and Egypt showcase these two trends themselves, and the relationship which exists between them, albeit in different ways.