Nonviolent Islamist Groups: The Future for Further Development in the Islamic World?

Tamara Cofman outlines exactly the nature of the title of her article and makes the distinction between three kinds of Islamist movements. The first is what most Westerners associate with their perceptions of radical Islam, "groups such as al-Qaeda that embrace the use of violence in pursuit of their objectives and reject democracy as a denial of God's sovereignty" (1). The second she describes as kind of the one that lies in the middle, groups who may resort to violence but will also engage in the political process. The third type of moement is the one which she focuses the most attention throughout the article. These groups do not feel the need to use violence but achieve their goals through the existing political process. Cofman makes the clear distinction that this is indeed the route Islamic states must take in achieving a level of democracy in their state.

This seems a little unclear to me, but it seems as though she identifies democracy as what the third, more practical, movement should move toward similar to the "Western Standard" that harkens back to modernization theory. But is this what these specfic movements are striving toward themselves? These groups can be considered a quite vocal portion of civil society that simply acts as an undeclared liaison between the general public and the government. Their goal is "to transform society and government into something more 'Islamic'" (2). In achieving this, they must ignite the masses. They realize that in being opposition to the government that they must gain the opinion of the rest of society. The democratic principles that Cofman suggest may be difflcult to assess, in my opinion are somewhat there. These Islamist groups understand that they cannot emerge victorious without the consent of the people, who in a sense, legitimize them.

With this said, I believe nonviolent Islamist groups may be onto something clever. Migdal identifies that one of the challenges of the developing world is gaining legitimacy, both on the world system and within their own state. These groups are beginning to break that barrier by garnering the popular opinion now. If they succeed in persuading ordinary "citizens to adopt Islamist ideas and to demand Islamist policies from government", then they seemingly move beyond on obstacle to developing further. In this case, civil society is the main catalyst drving development. In theory, culture, among the general population, fostered through groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, should influence the government in creating policies that reflect more citizens, should further development that is deemed sufficient in the eyes of the people.