Much recent research has focused on the extent to which Islamic political movements and parties have moderated and secularized their political goals over time in semi-competitive electoral arenas (Schwedler 2006, 2011; Wickham 2004; Tezcur 2009; Naqvi and Kurzman 2010). Scholars have pointed out, however, that this moderation has often occurred in electoral contexts in which Islamist goals have remained constrained by authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regimes, as in Yemen, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait and Pakistan (Lust-Okar 2004). The democratic evolution of Islamism, therefore, has remained suspect, often understood as a strategic rather than a genuine change towards democracy. Only in situations where the electoral arena is really flung open is it possible to measure the true intentions of Islamist political parties, these critics might argue, as in Algeria 1991, or, perhaps, in Egypt today. While this criticism oversimplifies the various ways in which religious political movements may evolve towards democracy, it points out the neglected question of power within much contemporary scholarship on Islamism. Do Islamists position themselves differently with respect to democracy when they are in power as opposed to out of power? Even as they democratize, do Islamists take on different democratizing roles when they enjoy an electoral majority? Or remain under the heavy hand of authoritarian elites? This paper attempts to answer these questions through a comparative analysis of Islamist political evolution under three different power realities: the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey, who have governed in a democratic environment since 2002; the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in Indonesia, who have run as an opposition party since 2004 in a democratic environment; and the Movement for Society and Peace (MSP) in Algeria, who have worked in a ruling political coalition between 1999 and 2011 within a semi-authoritarian regime. Through this comparison, the paper argues that it is possible to trace out a more complex global evolution of Islamic political movements towards democracy over the last fifteen years. Across a wide range of power realities and institutional settings, Islamist political parties have begun to articulate a distinctive religious vision of democracy and given evidence of a qualitative shift, as opposed to (simply) an instrumental one, in their religious and political goals.