Institutionalizing Violence

Through a detailed focus on two of the most influential Egyptian jihadi groups -- al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya and Islamic Jihad -- Institutionalizing Violence shows why some groups choose the path of ordinary politics and others choose violent extremism. Both groups began in the 1970s, but Jama'a al-Islamiyya eventually allied with the Muslim Brotherhood and engaged in mass-movement politics. Islamic Jihad remained sectarian and highly radical, eventually merging with al Qaeda. Addressing why ideologically similar organizations follow such different paths, Jerome Drevon shows that such splits are characteristic across the region, where once-allied jihadi groups in similar circumstances eventually followed substantially different trajectories.