Political Thought in the Maghreb: Islamist Ideas Within the Left?

In this paper I am going to present the first findings of my current grant project, which explores the political thought of the Maghrebi left. This project is dedicated to an often-neglected area of research: political thought ‘on the ground’, and compares it with the intellectual debate, which is usually the focus of analysis in political theory. This paper will focus on the question whether there are Islamist remnants within the political thought of the Maghrebi left. This investigation is particularly relevant given the contemporary collaborations between leftist and Islamist parties, offering a compelling lens through which to study the intersection of ideology and pragmatism leading to adaptation. Therefore, I argue that one can find rich and profound political thought outside of monographs and theoretical publications by intellectuals or from the academic sphere of political science and philosophy. This political thought on the ground can provide a more complex and elaborated framework of thought than the often-claimed Islamist-secular divide. In the context of current political pressures, the Maghrebi left faces the challenge of adapting, a process likely reflected in its ideological evolution. To analyze the political thought of the Arab left on the ground, I developed the method of ‘belief system analysis’, designed to examine interview data collected during the project. As part of this methodology, I plan to conduct approximately 50 interviews in the first half of 2025. To ensure comparability, the study will be limited to leading activists from trade unions and the largest left-wing parties. This approach will generate a substantial qualitative dataset, enabling a deeper understanding of the political thought driving the Arab left and providing insights into its actions and strategies. In this paper, I will first outline the belief system analysis method and discuss its advantages. I will then present the preliminary findings of my study, focusing on the Islamist remnants, hybrid ideologies, and ideas identified within the political thought of the Maghrebi left. Next, I will explore the origins of these ideas. Finally, I will discuss the implications of these ideological developments for the cooperation between leftist and Islamist parties, as well as for the future trajectories of leftist movements in the Maghreb.