In 2010-2011, Islamism remained a prominent political force worldwide, and in select countries and regions charted some significant advances.

In North America, Islamism remains a phenomenon that is poorly understood and largely unaddressed.  Islamist activity in the United States is dominated by grassroots groups associated with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Pakistan’s Jamaat-e Islami, which have erected an elaborate web of professional activist organizations involved in local, state, and national politics over the past five decades.  In Canada, meanwhile, lax oversight and law enforcement historically have allowed Salafist, Shi’a and Palestinian Islamist groups to use the country as a safe haven, although Ottawa has taken significant steps in recent years to reverse that trend.

There is considerable evidence that Islamist groups and movements have begun to make significant inroads in Latin America as well, operating among the local Muslim communities that dot the countries of the region.  This includes groups such as Hezbollah and al-Qaeda, which have deftly exploited the large ungoverned areas and widespread anti-American sentiment of Central and South America to set up financing, fundraising and logistics hubs there.

In the Middle East and North Africa, the political ferment surrounding the Arab Spring has injected new dynamism into historically-stagnant regional politics.  In the process, it also has provided Islamists with significant opportunities to advance their position, and expand their political voice.  The withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, now underway, likewise has made that country an intellectual battleground for the insurgent Islamism advocated by Iran and affiliated Shi’a militias and the nationalism promoted by the Iraqi government and its related forces.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, weak governance and corruption among regional states has allowed Islamist ideas and political parties to take root.  Somalia and Sudan have been the countries hardest hit by Islamic radicalism, but significant instability likewise can bee seen in the Sahel region abutting Mali and Mauritania--an area where al-Qaeda’s regional franchise, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has emerged as a serious challenge to security and stability.

In Europe, steady immigration from the Middle East and North Africa, coupled with stagnant demographic trends among native Europeans, has made Islamism an increasingly prevalent--and potent--political force.  Most countries on the Continent have sought to accommodate their increasingly vocal Muslim minorities, even as they engage in counterterrorism operations to neutralize violent Islamist groups and activities.  Nevertheless, a growing undercurrent of opposition to Islamism can be seen in places such as the Netherlands, Denmark and France, often finding its expression in nationalist and protectionist sentiment.

Eurasia likewise remains a locus of resilient Islamist activity, with corruption and authoritarian governments providing added legitimacy to the Islamist opposition in Azerbaijan and the “Stans” of Central Asia.  Particularly hard hit in this regard is Russia, where Islamic militancy is no longer localized to its turbulent North Caucasus region, but is expanding into the country’s traditionally moderate Muslim heartland.

South Asia’s political environment is dominated by the ripple effects of the Islamic radicalism that is endemic to the state of Pakistan.  India has been most directly impacted by this phenomenon, long grappling with Islamic terrorism engineered in Pakistan and carried out by Pakistani proxy groups.  The ongoing war in Afghanistan has also served as a major cause of regional instability, with the pending withdrawal of the U.S. troops raising questions about the future stability of the country, and the role the Taliban and other Islamist groups will play there.

East Asia likewise faces a growing problem with Islamist extremism, which has taken different forms and seen varying degrees of success across the region.  In Thailand, the Philippines, and China, Islamist activism has largely paralleled ethno-religious separatism, while other states, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, have grappled with powerful domestic Islamist political groups seeking the implementation of sharia law.  Violent, transnational Islamist groups, most notably Jemaah Islamiyaa, are also present in the region, although significant counterterrorism efforts on the part of regional states have blunted their capabilities in recent years.