Political Islam’s (also referred to as Islamism) efforts to seize political power and establish a modern and strong Islamic state in the Arab and Islamic world – socially, economically and politically – goes back to the 1970’s but has gained full steam after the Arab spring revolutions of 2011.
The aim was to create greater prosperity, social order and tackle the widespread corruption and nepotism in the Arab world based on an Islamic ideology and the implementation of Islamic laws, an alternative for other tried forms of governance that caused the declining fortunes in this part of the world or failed to mitigate them.
With this goal in mind, Islamism initially gained traction at the end of the colonial era, when Islamist’s national movements developed a new political ideology based on Islam ideology, as an alternative for and in opposition of other spreading ideologies such as nationalism, communism and capitalism. After gaining independence Islamism also opposed monarchies and one-party control such as the Ba’ath Party.