As opposed to the common perception that Islamist movements subscribe to a similar set of ideologies defying behavioural and organisational change, there have been multiple transformations that developed within many of these movements, especially in the last quarter of the twentieth century and early twenty first century.
These transformations can be described as processes of change that are centered on the stated positions of Islamist movements’ leaders relative to their positions in the past, usually with respect to the two issues of political violence and democracy. The processes of change within Islamist movements can take three possible paths: the path of radicalisation, the path of moderation, or the path of de-radicalisation. The paper is reviewing and analysing the three processes of change within Islamist movements.
