Islamic fundamentalism: A mistaken answer to the demand for democracy

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Abstract

To affirm the failure of the Arab Spring as a defeat, which favored, on the one hand, the restoration of authoritarian regimes and, on the other, the strengthening of fundamentalist movements, is an understatement. The article aims to show how the collective movements, which animated the protests in the main squares of the capitals of many Arab countries, interpreted the need for political and economic changes that were ignored or repressed by the regimes in power for many years. These movements are the expression of an alternative political countermovement to those that, in recent years, when praising Islam, have theorized and put into practice the revolutionary armed struggle. The difference between these two types of collective movements is present in the different issues at stake that they put at the center of their action. For the revolt movements, the political battle is for the advent of democracy. For fundamentalist movements this means, however, in essence, the constitution of a strong regime of religious truth, even more authoritarian than the political-military regimes that took back power after 2012.

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How to Cite
PACE, Vincenzo. Islamic fundamentalism: A mistaken answer to the demand for democracy. HORIZONTE - Journal of Studies in Theology and Religious Sciences, Belo Horizonte, v. 18, n. 57, p. 955, 2020. DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2020v18n57p955. Disponível em: https://periodicos.pucminas.br/horizonte/article/view/25368. Acesso em: 14 aug. 2025.
Section
Artigos/Articles: Dossiê/Dossier
Author Biography

Vincenzo Pace

Doutor em Sociologia pela Università degli Studi di Padova (1968). Professor emérito de sociologia das religiões na Universidade de Pádua, foi Directeur d'études Invité na EHESS (Paris) e Presidente do International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR). Ministrou cursos na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul e na Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiânia. Co-editor da Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, colaborando com as revistas Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions, Social Compass, International Journal of Latin-American Religions e Religioni & Società. Ele se interessa por movimentos fundamentalistas, pela sociologia do Islã e pela religião digital. Entre suas publicações recentes: Cristianesimo extra-large : la religione come spettacolo di massa, Bolonha, EDB 2018; The Other Buddha. Leaving Monasteries, Fighting the Enemy, in R. Jelle, M. Leone, J. Ponzo (eds.), Mediation and Immediacy, Berlin, De Gruyter 2020, pp. 180-202.

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