Bangladesh, Feb. 17 -- For much of the post-9/11 era, American policymakers treated political Islam primarily as a security problem. The central concern was violent extremism. Groups that rejected armed struggle were often viewed as legitimate participants in democratic society. Two decades later, that framework is evolving.

A growing debate within the United States now centers on whether nonviolent Islamist movements pose a different kind of challenge – one that unfolds slowly within civic and institutional spaces rather than through insurgency. This shift mirrors earlier European experiences, where political Islam embedded itself in local governance, advocacy networks and academic institutions before becoming a subject of nationa...