Salafism in the Maghreb

Abstract

Abstract This volume explores the growth and transformation of a particular variant of Islamism—Salafism—in the Maghreb region. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and from previous scholarship on Salafi typologies—specifically, quietist, political, and jihadist variants—it seeks to understand the socioeconomic and political drivers between the growth or diminishing of each trend. The volume pays particular attention to exploring how state-sponsored Salafists compete with more informal, nonstate, and transnational variants, particularly jihadists. It analyses how local political contexts determine the calculations and trajectories of Salafist factions that appear to share a certain doctrinal uniformity but whose actual practice on the ground, in the sphere of Arab politics, varies significantly. Specifically, it assesses state capacities and policies toward Salafis as a crucial variable that has shaped the transformation of Salafism across the Maghreb’s different countries. A key feature of the book is its attention to the blurring of the boundaries between Salafi quietism, political activism, and the imperative, in some countries, for Salafis to modulate aspects of their doctrine to gain public support. It concludes with the observation that Salafism’s growth is the product of a growing and youthful disenchantment with the existing order and especially authoritarianism, corruption, and dislocation. At a time of heightened polarization in the region and unfortunate American misapprehensions of Islamism—at both public and official levels—the book’s granular insights provide correctives for understanding a diverse religious current that has too often been synonymous with extremism.

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