Bombs and Ballots

The presence of powerful Islamist movements with broad socio-political bases throughout the Arab Middle East has long influenced regional politics and confounded successive U.S. presidential administrations. The knee-jerk reaction of U.S. bureaucrats has, for many years, been to reject the legitimacy of nearly all Islamist political actors and movements. This rejection, which is particularly acute regarding armed Islamist movements such as the Palestinian HAMAS (Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah, Islamic Resistance Movement) and Lebanese Hizbullah (Party of God), is the focus of the book under review. Wiegand, a professor of political science at Georgia Southern University, has written a balanced study of both movements while also providing a nuanced analytical discussion of ‘dual status’ Islamist movements and groups, those which pursue both peaceful (non-armed) political participation while maintaining military wings and the armed option.