From Partners to Threats

Islamic Alliances and Authoritarian Consolidation in Egypt and Türkiye

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3562698
AutoresHarris Sadik Kirazli (0000-0002-6265-550X, University of Kuala Lumpur, autor correspondente)
Ano2025
Volume16
Fascículo10
Páginas1253
Data de publicação2025-09-29
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoReligions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
EditoraMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel16101253
OpenAlexW4414672252
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas43

This article offers a comparative analysis of authoritarian governance in Egypt and Türkiye through the lens of two pivotal state-Islamist alliances: the early partnership and eventual rupture between Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), and the strategic collaboration followed by confrontation between Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Gülen Movement (GM). Despite operating in different historical and institutional settings-a postcolonial military regime in Egypt and an electoral, hybrid regime in Türkiye-both leaders allied with influential religious actors during moments of transition to gain popular support and dismantle entrenched power structures. These alliances were instrumental and temporary: once religious movements developed autonomous influence, they were recast as threats and suppressed through legal, institutional, and religious mechanisms. This study traces how religious institutions like Egypt's al-Azhar and Türkiye's Diyanet were co-opted to delegitimize these former allies and justify state repression. While the MB pursued overt political goals and the GM functioned through civic and technocratic channels, both were ultimately excluded from the political order once they had been considered as threats to the central authority of the regime. This comparison underscores the strategic use of religion in authoritarian statecraft and the enduring tension between religious autonomy and centralized political control in Muslim-majority polities

Authoritarianism · Autonomy · Civil society · Corporate governance · Islam · Politics · Technocracy · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Middle East Politics and Society · Turkey's Politics and Society