Must Islamists Be Autocratic?

Must Islamists Be Autocratic?

Photo: Albin Lohr-Jones

Dr. Daniel Pipes, writing on his blog, compares the dictatorial Islamists running Turkey with the dictatorial Islamists who, until recently, had been running Egypt and wonders why all Islamist governments – including elected ones like Turkey – seem to gravitate toward dictatorship and whether or not it has to be that way.

Which leaves me wondering: Is their shared anti-democratic enraged sputtering at dissent just coincidence? Does it reflect the dictatorial quality of their political formations (Necmettin Erbakan’s various parties and the Muslim Brotherhood, respectively)? Or does it reveal something inherent about the Islamist program itself? I am inclined to see it as inherent.

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