The political integration of Islamist armed groups: A viable path to peace and democracy?

Is the political integration of Islamist armed groups into the constitutional system as legitimate political parties a viable mechanism for promoting peace and democracy? This chapter takes a closer look at 14 cases of Islamist rebel-to-party transformations carried out in the time period 1975-2018 and examines the effects on these groups’ peaceful and democratic behaviour. We find that Islamist armed groups which agreed to fully disband their armed wings largely adhered to principles of non-violence. We also find that most parties behaved highly pragmatic in cooperating with non-Islamist political parties, although this did not always reflect more substantive processes of ideological change. In line with this, while some parties moderated their demands for Sharia-based legislation, some did not. There also appears to be an overlap between those parties formulating far-ranging demands for Sharia-based law and those promoting positions at odds with the protection of basic human rights principles.