Abstract
Drawing on the cases of Iraq and Sudan, it can beargued that the mobilization of economic, cultural, andorganizational resources along with the concentration ofstate resources have led to the radicalization of Islamistparties' positions and political discourse. The concentra-tion of resources was an incentive to reward loyalists,support hard-line discourse, and target opponents byexcluding them from political competition.
This situa-tion has helped develop a secular and national protestmovement that does not believe in the change throughelections and political-legal tools, but rather throughprotest and, in some cases, violent confrontations.However, this secular trans-sectarian national move-ment still lacks the ability to mobilize alternativepolitical, economic, and leadership resources to presenta coherent and counter a vision for the ruling Islamistparties.