Reinforcement of the political factor of Islamic fundamentalism in the late 20th - early 21st century.

<div>At the end of the 60-s of the twentieth century Islam ceased to be exclusively a cultural phenomenon as appeared The Society of the Muslim Brothers professionally engaged in political Islam.&nbsp;</div><div>They declared the necessity of ideological struggle with the western Christian world &ndash; the new crusaders as they called them.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>After gaining huge popularity among the urban poor Islamic fundamentalists forced nationalists and pan-Arabists out of the Arab political reality and now they are in the forefront of the Arab resistance to neo-colonialism.In this paper we try to analyze why the Islamist movements were able to gain its rapid growth in popularity, how could they integrate into the political system of the Arab world, and to forecast their future prospects in this system.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The results suggests that a process of mixing Islam and politics is the main obstacle to the modernization of the economic,&nbsp;</div><div>social and political relations in Islamic countries and also that religious fundamentalism hinders the development of the necessary social institutions.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Keywords: political Islam, religious fundamentalism, institutional development, political system, Islamic constitutional law, Islamic political discourse.</div>