America’s emerging debate over political Islam

America’s emerging debate over political Islam

For much of the post-9/11 era, American policymakers treated political Islam primarily as a security problem. The central concern was violent extremism. Groups that rejected armed struggle were often viewed as legitimate participants in democratic society. Two decades later, that framework is evolving. A growing debate within the United States now centers on whether nonviolent Islamist movements pose a different kind of challenge – one that unfo…