Article review of Can Hamas Be Tamed Research Paper

Article review of Can Hamas Be Tamed - Research Paper Example Author however, further argues that this may not be the case as those organizations which took part into the elections and actually changed their political philosophy has little correlation with Hamas and that the overall evidence is really weak. Author also presented a history of Hamas and how it gradually evolved over the period of time. Evolved as an off-shoot of Islamic Brotherhood, Hamas operates based on the political philosophy of confronting with Israel and use violent means to achieve the same. After the death of Arafat, Hamas rolled itself as a political party and took part in the elections and subsequently won the election also. This participation by Hamas was however, not welcomed by both Israel and US despite the fact that Hamas actually made a transition towards participating in the overall democratic process within the country. Author further argued about the possibility of changing in the overall political ideology of Hamas due to Oslo Peace Process. Analysis Author h as presented two views about the participation of organizations like Hamas in the overall political process within country. ... According to Author, the skeptical view may hold because given the overall history of Hamas and the history of those organizations which actually participated into the overall political process is relatively less. Those organizations which have already participated into the liberal process were radically different from what Hamas preaches. Traditional history of violent groups also suggests that they may arise as a result of the suppression from the regime. Middle Eastern regimes often used the means to suppress any opposition against themselves and as such movements like Hamas can therefore easily find recruits who can participate in their struggle to overthrow regimes which work against the general interest of the masses. Author has also presented an alternative view according to which the diverse political opinions and the concern to attract votes, illiberal parties can make a transition to liberal ideologies if they participate into the election process. This argument is theoreti cal in nature and advocate that evidence does suggest that those groups who actually participate into election process ultimately become liberal in their overall ideologies. As such parties like Hamas therefore are considered as the subjects who can make a transition to liberal ideologies if given the chance. Author however, also argues that the overall political participation of the groups like Hamas also largely depends upon the local political context also. Author argues that the presence of a vibrant and strong political system is necessary in order to help organizations like Hamas to make a move towards more liberal ideologies. Further, according to author, it takes time for liberal ideologies to take roots in parties like