Mainstream Islamism without Fear. The Cases of Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in Pakistan

The recent scholarship has mainly approached Islamic political parties (IPPs) through the lens of security and terrorism studies. Inspired by reductionist theoretical approaches, such studies either analyze IPPs from the perspective of threat or otherwise to global security; or assume an essential antagonism between the IPPs and modernity/globalization. The IPPs’ rise to state power is largely feared as an undesirable opening of a dark chapter in modern political history. This impression is further ignited by the Islamists’ own rhetoric of a radical Islamic revolution, which will totally transform the prevailing power relations. This paper makes a best attempt to test the empirical basis of these fears. The research focuses on a study of two mainstream Islamic political parties through the lens of their electoral manifestoes and the news content. Methodologically, it employs the Manifesto Coding Scheme (MCP) and empiricizes the IPPs’ platforms on various issues relating to politics, economy, external relations, social fabric and Islamic sharia. The news content data set consists of the time period 1988-2006. Using multiple sources of information, this paper stretches the discussion on IPPs beyond essentialist discourses and Islamists’ own assertions of bringing about radical change. The analysis of IPPs through the current approach will be a methodological contribution to the existing body of scholarship on Islam and politics.