What explains the resilience of Muslim Brotherhood movements? An analysis of Hamas' organizing strategies

This article attempts to define a comprehensive organizational approach to explain the resilience of Muslim Brotherhood movements such as Hamas. Scholarship highlights the importance of ideological and religious identity, personalistic loyalty, informal interaction, and the provision of social services for the popularity of these movements. This article examines, in turn, how these mobilizing elements are constructed and translated into organizational practices within three organizing bodies of action: first, the Da(C)wa Apparatus, which crystallizes a professional centralized hierarchy that runs all activities. Second, the Families of the Da(C)wa, which educate and train activists internally. Third, the Family of the Mosque which represents the instance through which these qualified activists externally mobilize the public in their local communities. Grasping the interaction between internal and external forms of organized mobilization is vital to understand Hamas's cohesion, resilience in the face of repression and continuous public outreach in a highly volatile environment.