A series of regional and local challenges-including the rise of Salafi-jihadism, the 2013 coup in Egypt, and local suspicions over its aims-have prompted Tunisia's Ennahda party to narrow its range of political maneuver and rethink the parameters of its own Islamism. Ennahda has assumed a defensive posture, casting itself as a long-term, gradualist project predicated on compromise, a malleable message of cultural conservatism, and the survival of Tunisia's democratic political system.

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... POLITICAL ISLAM SERIES August 2015 About this Series: The Rethinking Political Islam series is an innovative effort to understand how the developments following the Arab uprisings have shaped-and in some cases altered-the strategies, agendas, and self-conceptions of Islamist movements throughout the Muslim world. The project engages scholars of political Islam through in-depth research and dialogue to provide a systematic, crosscountry comparison of the trajectory of political Islam in 12 key countries: Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Libya, Pakistan, as well as Malaysia and Indonesia. This is accomplished through three stages:  A working paper for each country, produced by an author who has conducted on-the-ground research and engaged with the relevant Islamist actors.  A reaction essay in which authors reflect on and respond to the other country cases.  A final draft incorporating the insights gleaned from the months of dialogue and discussion.