What next for Islamists in the Arab world?

THE STRICT Islamism of the Taliban may be back in Afghanistan, but peaceful Islamists in the Arab world have struggled of late. Ennahda, which styles itself “Muslim democratic”, had been the biggest party in Tunisia’s parliament—until President Kais Saied suspended the assembly in July. Just over a month later, in Morocco, the Justice and Development Party (PJD), another moderate Islamist outfit that led the ruling coalition, suffered a crushing defeat at the polls, losing 90% of the seats it had held.

A decade ago Islamist parties were on the rise in the Arab world. Often seen as more virtuous than their rivals and adept at providing services, the parties were well placed to take advantage of the democratic revolutions that swept across the region in 2011. In Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood won the country’s first free and fair elections. Ennahda became a force after Tunisia adopted democracy. And the PJD was Morocco’s largest party for ten years.

“Look back to the Arab spring, these parties swept to power promising to bring hope and change,” says Hamza Meddeb of the Carnegie Middle East Centre, a think-tank. “They haven’t delivered that.” Egyptians quickly soured on Muhammad Morsi, the Brotherly president who declared himself immune from judicial oversight and rushed through a flawed constitution. He was pushed out by...