Islamism is a political ideology that advocates that public and political life should be guided by Islamic principles, with some Islamist movement supporting the full implementation of sharia law. Islamism is a form of identity politics that involves support for Muslim identity, authenticity, broader regionalism, revivalism, and revitalization of the community, and it generally supports sharia law, pan-Islamic political unity, and the selective removal of non-Muslim/Western military, political, economic, social, or cultural influences in the Muslim world. Some Islamist thinkers advocated for peaceful political processes, while others, such as Sayyid Qutb, called for violence. During the Arab Spring of 2011, some Islamist currents became heavily involved in democratic politics, while others spawned the most aggressive and ambitious Islamist organization to date, the Islamic State. Islamism is typically regarded as a far-right ideology due to its opposition to both capitalism and communism, its support for pan-Islamic national unity, its support for authoritarianism, its support for paramilitary groups, its opposition to imperialism, and its support for the middle class (as seen in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt).
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