Spring, then fall: a weakened Muslim Brotherhood
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What did Elon Musk claim about crime in Europe and is it credible?
The Economist.
Hello and welcome to the intelligence from the Economist. I'm Rosie Blore. Today on the show, Elon Musk says Europe is overrun with crime. Is it really? And the power, potential, and puzzling popularity of paddle. First up though.
In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, one group seemed to come out ahead: the Muslim Brotherhood, the world's oldest Islamist organization. Its members were instrumental in the uprisings of Syria, Libya, and Yemen. Its affiliates won numerous parliamentary seats in Tunisia. And in Egypt, its candidate became the country's first democratically elected president. But that upsurge in power didn't last. In the past decade, autocrats in the region have reasserted their grip.
The Muslim Brotherhood, if you look across the region from Egypt to Tunisia, Syria to Jordan, is probably weaker and more divided than it's ever been.
Gareth Brown, our Middle East correspondent, is currently in Beirut.
Throughout the Middle East it's facing a raft of challenges and problems. Some of these are internal party politics, some are external, coming from Washington DC, coming from Europe. And this is an organization that's been around nearly a hundred years and it's really facing a set of challenges that it's never had to deal with before.
Gareth, before we come to the current challenges, just remind us who the Muslim Brotherhood are and why they've been so important in the region.
I think it's best to look at the Muslim Brotherhood as a political social movement that has a foundation based on Islamic values in society. And it was born out of Egypt, a cleric called Sayyid Kuttab, who traveled to the US in the late 1940s and was basically disgusted by what he saw in Western civilization and culture. And he came back, wrote about the need for the Arab and Muslim world. To rekindle Arab and Islamic dignity in the Middle East and indeed beyond the Middle East. And I think since then it's been quite an important political force throughout the region. And that's not just in terms of winning power and playing politics, but as a social movement, running social welfare programs, businesses, supporting communities which really have been neglected by many of the autocratic governments in the region.
So even when it's not been in power, it's been very organized and very disciplined. And I think it was really after the Arab Spring where it became a political movement that was to be reckoned with. You know, that's what, barely fifteen years ago, but things are very different for them now.
So what's going on now? Why the challenges and why the apparent weakness?
How did the Muslim Brotherhood rise to power after the Arab Spring?
Well, I think there was a very severe autocratic backlash to the Brotherhood after they gained power in Egypt and made gains in places like Jordan and in Tunisia. We had this autocratic sledgehammer from Abdelfatel Sisi, who launched a coup in Egypt. And so what you have left of the Brotherhood's coherent political and ideological leadership is either dead in prison. or exiled. And this is in almost every country in the Middle East. So you have the Brotherhood on a Sharia or ideological level essentially being run out of Turkey, London, parts of Europe. So it's splintered, it's discombobulated, there's a lot of infighting. And really it's hard to believe that just fifteen years ago it was seen by many Arabs across the region as the answer to this fundamental question of Arab dignity and governance.
So what really is it about the Muslim Brotherhood that governments find so threatening?
My sense is that and this is true in the West as well as in the Middle East, that there's this feeling of subversiveness about the Brotherhood and that they're only interested in democracy or playing politics until they get power. And then they can impose some sort of Islamist governance model. And people look at the case of how the Brotherhood acted in Egypt and they see evidence of that. There's this general feeling that the Brotherhood can't be trusted by non brotherhood governments, actors, officials, both in the Middle East but across the region.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What did Elon Musk claim about crime in Europe and is it credible?
0:03–3:21
2
How did the Muslim Brotherhood rise to power after the Arab Spring?
3:21–6:38
3
Why are autocratic regimes now targeting the Brotherhood and how has it weakened them?
6:38–8:59
4
What are the Brotherhood’s core ideals and why were they once seen as a solution for Arab dignity?
8:59–11:04
5
How have external pressures – from the US, Europe and regional governments – impacted the Brotherhood’s leadership?
11:04–13:36
6
Can the Muslim Brotherhood recover from exile, internal infighting and splintering?
13:36–16:11
7
What does the new crime‑data study reveal about safety in Europe versus the United States?
16:11–18:40
8
Why is paddle (padel) booming worldwide and could it become a major spectator sport?
18:40–21:23