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Islamist Rationality: An Assessment of the Rational Choice Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2012

Gamze Çavdar
Gamze Çavdar*
Affiliation:
Colorado State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Gamze Çavdar, Political Science, 1782 Campus Delivery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1782. E-mail: Gamze.Cavdar@colostate.edu
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Abstract

A growing body of literature criticizes the notion that Islamism is sui generis and argues that it could be explained by existing conceptions about human behavior. This approach relies on rational choice theory and its derivatives, characterizing Islamists as rational political actors that engage in cost-benefit analysis and strategic calculation. This article evaluates the explanatory power of this characterization through three case studies, namely the Turkish Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi), the Jordanian Islamic Action Front (Jabhat al-Amal al-Islami), and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimun). It argues that although the approach offers explanations for Islamist pragmatism, this characterization has three major limitations: lack of room for ideological change, extreme voluntarism between violence and non-violence, and lack of insight for intra-group gender relations.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , December 2012 , pp. 584 - 608
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2012

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