180 thE sudan handbookvision of change. In the process, force was used first to assume power
and then to consolidate it. It looks as if the Islamist leadership believed
that because their objectives were indeed noble – establishment of the
Islamic order – any method used to attain power or preserve it was
therefore justifiable. Yet, the manner in which the Islamist movement
handled the question of power and the way it managed state-society
relations have greatly influenced the type of state that emerged under
Islamist rule. Thus, rather than the establishment of an Islamic state that
represent an embodiment of the will of the Muslim society – Turabi’s
stated goal – two inter-related manifestations of the state emerged under
the Islamist regime: a security-authoritarian state and a clientelist state.
The security-authoritarian state roughly corresponded to the 1989–99
period, and was characterized first by the creation and consolidation of
organs of repression, and second by the pursuit of repressive practices
against opposition and the general terrorization of the society at large.
All these measures and policies correspond to the rise of a security state.
The second step was the setting up of political and constitutional bodies
geared towards the establishment of a political system that ensured the
Islamist control of the state and its hegemony over society; hence the
rise of an authoritarian state. By its very nature an authoritarian state
had to rely extensively on coercion – the security arm – rather than
persuasion to establish its hegemony. It should be noted in passing here,
that the authoritarian state that emerged under the Islamist regime was
not necessarily a totalitarian state, despite being an ideologically driven
venture. This is a result of the complex political and ideological map of
the country. Ideologically, there are several Islamic groups – some politi-
cally active, others concerned mostly with religious advocacy – which
were tolerated and allowed to carry on their activities (as long as they did
not make any bid for power). On the political level, the regime started
a process of limited accommodation of smaller political groups. This
process started with the signature of the Khartoum Peace Agreement in
1997 with some southern groups (mostly breakaway factions from the
SPLM/A), and culminated with the adoption of the 1998 constitutionThe Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors with its controlled pluralism. Though the state remained authoritarian,
(www.riftvalley.net).