Martyn Frampton

On his book The Muslim Brotherhood and the West: A History of Enmity and Engagement

Cover Interview of May 13, 2018

Lastly

The book is written first and foremost as a work of academic history, and I endeavored to maintain the highest standards of rigor and objectivity. Equally, though, I was only too aware that its subject matter is of direct political relevance today, and that the policy debates I examined in the latter sections of the book remain “live”. I hope that the book can offer a fresh perspective on those more contemporary debates.

Moreover, I think the issues that are at stake are likely to be of enduring importance. The outworking of the Arab Spring has encouraged a view in some quarters, I think, that the Muslim Brotherhood and its brand of “mainstream” Islamism has been eclipsed. It is tempting to think that it has been overtaken by more exotic, violent groups like ISIS. Equally, the Brotherhood’s removal from power in Egypt could be seen as marking the end of the movement as a socio-political force. And yet, there are reasons to hesitate from making such a judgment. The Brotherhood has a long history of surviving repression, and while it may not reappear in exactly the same form as previously, it may be premature to write its epitaph. For this reason, western policymakers and analysts will likely still have to confront the challenge of dealing with the Brotherhood—or a movement of its ilk. That being the case, I think they can be well serviced by a better appreciation of the historical relationship between the West and the Brotherhood of the kind on offer here.

Within the academy, meanwhile, I hope the book will be seen as a useful contribution to the literature on the Brotherhood, and that it opens up further lines of inquiry into the subject. There is still so much that scholars have yet to explore about this group; it is striking that the book everyone still refers to as seminal, was Mitchell’s 1969 study. Without in any way wishing to diminish the importance of that brilliant book, I think this speaks to the gaps that remain to be filled, notwithstanding the invaluable efforts of scholars like Carrie Wickham, Hazem Kandil, Khalil al-Anani and Beth Baron. My own book can hopefully be read as providing important insights into an otherwise neglected dimension of the Brotherhood’s history.

history / united states / islam / egypt / united kingdom / middle east / arab spring / foreign policy / muslim brotherhood /

[T]he Holocaust transformed our whole way of thinking about war and heroism. War is no longer a proving ground for heroism in the same way it used to be. Instead, war now is something that we must avoid at all costs—because genocides often take place under the cover of war. We are no longer all potential soldiers (though we are that too), but we are all potential victims of the traumas war creates. This, at least, is one important development in the way Western populations envision war, even if it does not always predominate in the thinking of our political leaders.

Carolyn J. Dean,
Interview of February 01, 2011

The dominant premise in evolution and economics is that a person is being loyal to natural law if he or she attends to self’s interest and welfare before being concerned with the needs and demands of family or community. The public does not realize that this statement is not an established scientific principle but an ethical preference. Nonetheless, this belief has created a moral confusion among North Americans and Europeans because the evolution of our species was accompanied by the disposition to worry about kin and the collectives to which one belongs.

Jerome Kagan,
Interview of September 17, 2009