Muslim Brotherhood and Ennahda

The Muslim Brotherhood and Ennahda: Organisational Dynamics in Egypt and Tunisia since 2011 examines the organisational dynamics and capacity for change of the Arab world’s two most influential Islamist movements.

Rather than foregrounding external political pressures, the book explores the internal organisational worlds of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Tunisia’s Ennahda, treating them as long-standing institutions shaped by their own cultures, structures, and internal debates. Drawing on an analytical framework that places organisational culture and intra-party politics at the centre of the analysis, it investigates how each movement confronted the pressures of governing, adapting, and redefining its political role and identity after 2011. The study argues that the capacity for change within these organisations was shaped by internal dynamics: the Brotherhood’s strong commitment to preserving its long-standing mission and organisational vision often constrained reform, while Ennahda struggled with a weak conceptualisation of how and why change should occur. By comparing their contrasting trajectories of party formation and institutional reconfiguration, the book highlights how each movement came to understand organisational change differently - whether as variation or replication, and as an opportunity or a threat to their foundational identity.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Middle East politics, political Islam, and comparative politics, as well as to readers seeking an alternative analytical lens to Social Movement Theory and a deeper understanding of the evolution of Islamist movements in the post-Arab Spring era.

Carmen Fulco is a Lecturer in International Relations in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and a Research Fellow at Demos Tunisia. She holds a PhD in Middle East Politics and joined King’s in 2023 where she is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research focuses on contemporary Islamist movements, authoritarian populism, and youth politics in Tunisia and Egypt. Alongside her research, she advances innovative, decolonial, and inclusive approaches to teaching Middle East politics.