Reasons for the Emergence and Growth of Political Islam in the Middle East

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the formation of the intellectual basis and geopolitical conditions for the emergence and growth of political Islam in the Middle East in the second half of the twentieth century. A comparative empirical analysis of the formation of political Islam at specific historical stages indicates the existence of a causal relationship between the colonial and post-colonial policies of European countries, the policies of socialist and nationalist regimes, the competition between regional leaders in the struggle for the palm in the Islamic world and the growth of political Islam, and also more radical movements. This article examines two factors in the emergence and growth of political Islam in the Middle East: 1) colonialism and post-colonial pan-Arab regimes in the Middle East as the reasons for the emergence of an intellectual basis for political Islam and 2) political Islam within the framework of pan-Islamism and confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia.