- 03 Mar 2016
The Rise and Demise of the Saudi Islamist Political Reform Agenda
Abstract:
The mass protest that swept Arab capitals in 2011 bewildered Islamists in many countries. Those amongst them who had always called for violent struggle to change regimes rejoiced after the setback that the initial peaceful protest received in subsequent years and confirmed their ideology of violence as a legitimate path to change. On theother hand, those Islamists who had accepted democracy and participated in parliamentary elections were not among those who initially took the lead in the mass protest movement. In both cases, the Arab uprisings represented a challenge to Islamist politics across the region. In this talk, Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed explores the mutations that had taken place among Saudi Islamists since the beginning of the Arab uprisings. Although Saudi Arabia did not witness the same level of mobilisation as other Arab countries, nevertheless there were discernable transformations among Islamists. Al-Rasheed will discuss the rise and demise of a reformist Islamist trend that engaged with democratic discourse through a careful reinterpretation and reformulation of Islamic texts and norms. Al-Rasheed will draw on her recent book, Muted Modernists: the Struggle over Divine Politics in Saudi Arabia (Hurst, OUP 2015).
About the Speakers
Madhawi Al-Rasheed is Visiting Research Professor at the Middle East Institute (MEI) at National University of Singapore (2016). She was Professor of Anthropology of Religion at King’s College, London (1994-2013). Before joining MEI, she was Visiting Professor at the Middle East Centre, London School of Economics. Professor Al-Rasheed specializes in the history, politics and society in Saudi Arabia. Her interdisciplinary research includes focus on Christian minorities in Iraq, Arab migration to London, Gulf transnational connections, gender relations in Saudi Arabia, and the Islamist movement. She has published widely on Saudi Arabia including, Muted Modernists: the Struggle over Divine Politics in Saudi Arabia, London (Hurst 7 Co. & Oxford University Press 2015) and A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics and Religion in Saudi Arabia, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press 2013). At MEI, Al-Rasheed is working on a new research project on the resilience of monarchy in Saudi Arabia in the context of the Arab uprisings in 2011.
