What next for Islamists in the Arab world?

THE STRICTPJDPJD Islamism of the Taliban may be back in Afghanistan, but peaceful Islamists in the Arab world have struggled of late. Ennahda, which styles itself “Muslim democratic”, had been the biggest party in Tunisia’s parliament—until President Kais Saied suspended the assembly in July. Just over a month later, in Morocco, the Justice and Development Party (), another moderate Islamist outfit that led the ruling coalition, suffered a crushing defeat at the polls, losing 90% of the seats it had held.A decade ago Islamist parties were on the rise in the Arab world. Often seen as more virtuous than their rivals and adept at providing services, the parties were well placed to take advantage of the democratic revolutions that swept across the region in 2011. In Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood won the country’s first free and fair elections. Ennahda became a force after Tunisia adopted democracy. And the was Morocco’s largest party for ten years.