This article provides a brief historical background on which to describe and define the modern Islamist and includes analysis of differing political scientists. Features of Islamist political parties, namely the AKP of Turkey and the old and new Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots are described. The researcher offers a definition of neo-Islamism that reflects its most modern trends since the Arab revolutions of 2011. These trends translate into neo-Islamism having the following characteristics: non-traditional forms of religiosity, gradualism of Islamism, modernisation of Islamism, nationalism, and, pragmatic relations with the West.