Fighting for human rights? : The Muslim Brotherhood and the freedom of religion and belief

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to explore the Muslim Brotherhood s relationship to human rights, operationalized as the freedom of religion and belief. Here, the Muslim Brotherhood represents a more general phenomenon, namely what has been called new Islamism . As new Islamist movements are increasingly embracing democratic principles, an exploration of their understanding and support of the underlying values of democracy is crucial in order to understand what democracy actually means to these actors. The methodology is based on informant interviews and qualitative analysis of secondary literature. The theoretical framework s point of departure is the premise that sees Islam as a dynamic structure, developing through human agency. But this development is not determined by human agency alone. The structural surroundings present the actors with certain opportunities and constraints. Accordingly, my hypotheses are centered on the effects of long-term authoritarian rule, in addition to the Egyptian regime s political use of Islam. The main conclusions reached in this thesis is firstly that the political opportunity structure, which is determined by the regime and its search for legitimacy, creates incentives for the Muslim Brotherhood to engage in politics that are destructive to religious freedom. Secondly, years of dictatorial rule have led to a substantial lack of democratic socialization. Consequently, actors who believe themselves to be democrats seem to have little understanding of how to act democratic. These two factors create a situation where repression is no longer the sole domain of the state: civil society actors are now effectively reinforcing the authoritarian culture.