Islamist movements first gained power through student unions and universities

Evidence

As with most revolutionary movements, the core element has consisted of students and intellectuals. In most countries fundamentalists winning control of student unions and similar organizations was the first phase in the process of political Islamization, with the Islamist “breakthrough” in universities occurring in the 1970s in Egypt, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and then moving on to other Muslim countries. The Islamist appeal was particularly strong among students in technical institutes, engineering faculties, and scientific departments. In the 1990s, in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and elsewhere, “second generation indigenization” was manifesting itself with increasing proportions of university students being educated in their home languages and hence increasingly exposed to Islamist influences. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 307

Categorization

• SEED: The ‘second generation indigenization’ concept — education in home languages increasing Islamist exposure — is a strong counter-narrative to the assumed link between Western-style education and secularization.