"The Shift Towards Post-Islamism" with Hussein Aboubakr Mansour

Description

Islamism may appear to be in decline in the Middle East but it is adapting. Movements that once sought caliphates have shifted their strategies, sometimes, shedding overt ideological commitments in favor of pragmatic governance. The recent transformation of Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham in Syria offers a case study of a post-Islamist Islamism where Islamists claim to prioritize state capacity over a rigid ideology. Is this a tactical shift or a genuine evolution? Does it weaken or strengthen Islamism? How should policymakers respond?

Hussein Aboubakr Mansour, a Milstein Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum, is an Egyptian-American analyst who focuses on Islamist ideology, Muslim antisemitism, and American universities. He grew up in Cairo, where he from an early age was attracted to Salafism. Later, the Egyptian authorities targeted him when he pushed back against antisemitism, leading to his emigration to the United States and political asylum. Mr. Mansour has worked as an assistant professor of Hebrew language at the DoD’s Defense Language Institute. He has published in Commentary, The Hill, Mosaic, and Tablet. His autobiography, Minority of One: The Unchaining of an Arab Mind appeared in 2020; he calls his Substack The Abrahamic Critique and Digest. He studied at Menoufia University in Egypt and holds an M.A. from George Washington University.

You can follow Hussein on X at: @HusseinAboubak
You can follow Hussein's writings on Substack at:
https://critiqueanddigest.substack.com/