Writing and sustaining the ‘Ummah’: Reification, alterity, and strategic framing in the official discourse of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation

Abstract

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (formerly ‘Conference’; OIC) was established in 1969 in the aftermath of the arson attack at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. In more recent years the OIC has emerged as a significant international organisation, which seeks to present itself as the main voice of not only Muslim-majority countries but also the world’s Muslim adherents. This study considers the processes that underpin the OIC’s fixity, coherence and presence as an international actor qua ‘organization’ and the discursive means through which it attains distinctiveness within the international system. This involves the downplaying and subsumation of sharp differences among OIC members, selective attention to violations of international norms, the omission of non-Muslim minorities within the OIC itself, elevated discourses of revival, and emphases on internal and external threats. In combination these embed and perpetuate organisational coherence and legitimacy. A longitudinal qualitative analysis was undertaken of official documents published by the OIC, chiefly its Summit Communiques, Foreign Minister communiques and ancillary declarations and reports. Analysis demonstrates that the OIC is sustained and legitimised through strategies of reification, alterity, and strategic silencing.