Political integration of Islamic movements in the Middle East: The cases of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and Hamas

This study compares the political integration and institutional political positions of Islamic movements in the Middle East, specifically the cases of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, and Hamas, in order to answer the question of why these movements, which are similar in terms of their social activity capacities and performances, differ in the political roles they assume in the countries where they exist. This study aims to problematize the internal and external factors that are decisive in this process. The theoretical framework for this study is the Social Movement Theory, which provides an insider's perspective and a comprehensive understanding of the studied subject, and has been used to evaluate the ideological, organizational, and external/structural dynamics of the movements together, through the synthesis of micro, meso, and macro analysis units. The study uses comparative case analysis and content analysis as methods, making a thematic comparison under the headings of ideology, organization, and autonomy. In addition, in-depth interviews with leading figures of the movements were conducted to compensate for the problem of accessing primary sources. All these theoretical and methodological approaches were used to test hypotheses about the change dynamics of the movements. The findings of the study show that structural factors are quite effective in differentiating the political roles and outputs of the examined Islamic movements. The study reveals that a range of factors, from state/regime structure to economic-political autonomy, create significant opportunities and constraints for the political positions of the movements. At the same time, the study finds that ideological and organizational dynamics also play a significant determining role. These results suggest that taking a holistic perspective when analyzing Islamic movements produces more reliable results, and that by diversifying the cases, more generalizable conclusions about these movements can be reached in future research. Keywords: Social Movement Theory, Political Integration, Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Hamas