Jordanian And Moroccan Opposition In The PostArab Spring Era

This thesis examines the divergent trajectories of Islamist main opposition partiesin Jordan and Morocco, mainly the Islamic Action Front Party (IAF) and Justiceand Development Party (PJD), in the post-Arab Spring period. By incorporatingIslamist moderation and opposition strategies under electoral authoritarian regimesliterature, this thesis argues that, after their inclusion into the political system, Islamistsutilize a multi-dimensional grand strategy called "strategic moderation" andadapt their rhetoric, behavior, and organizational choices in line with the institutionallogic and redlines of the electoral authoritarian regime (EA) and focus onincremental gains over outright-combative opposition, which would bring repressionand disqualification of the party by the EA regime elites easily. Accordingly, by employinga most similar-system design and a comparative process-tracing approach,this thesis shows that differences in the approaches on utilizing strategic moderation,mainly PJD’s successful implementation and IAF’s failure in doing so by endorsinga combative and confrontational approach due to a rising hawkish Palestinianfaction, shaped the distinct trajectories of the PJD and the IAF in the aftermathof the Arab Spring. It is also argued in this thesis that, when an Islamist party isdominated by actors affiliated with a politically minority group of the country suchas the Palestinians in Jordanian case, its utilization of strategic moderation may besignificantly constrained.