There is change on the landscape of political Islam. What I term as 2G or second generation Islamist political parties has emerged, including Turkey's AKP, Malaysia's PKR, and Indonesia's PKS, which are Islamic in orientation and identity but base their political programs on principles of democracy, pluralism, and human rights, rather than crude appeals to implementing punitive aspects of shariah or creating an Islamic state. Also, unlike most of their first generation counterparts, 2G Islamist parties advocate positive relations with the West and do not overtly oppose key security and strategic interests of such Western nations as the United States. This paper draws on extensive in-depth interviews conducted with key representatives of the AKP, PKR, and PKS. It argues that political Islam has matured over time and that three key factors have been central to the emergence and development of 2G Islamist political parties. The first is internal socio-political factors, including growing support for Islam and demand for Islamic beliefs, values, and principles to play a role in the socio-political context; and the failure of first generation Islamist political parties to reach a sufficiently broad cross-section of the electorate and satisfy expectations, needs, and aspirations. The second is the external political context, including policies of Western governments, namely the United States, that are perceived to be hostile towards Islam and Muslims as well as the use of violence and terrorism by certain extremist Islamist groups. The former has facilitated the positioning of 2G Islamist parties towards the centre of the political spectrum in their respective counties leaving their more secular-liberal opposition to become more marginalised; while the latter has become increasingly unappealing for a growing majority of Muslims around the world, which has increased the appeal of the relatively moderate yet Islamic policies of the 2G Islamist parties. The election of Barak Obama as president of the United States and his policy of a new beginning with the Muslim world has given space and legitimacy to 2G Islamist political parties' policies of maintaining positive relations with the West, not only diplomatic and economic but also in the military context. The third factor is the growing acceptance of more contextual and higher objective or maqasid-oriented approaches to interpretation in Islam, which has given contemporary norms and principles concerning democracy, pluralism, and human rights an Islamically legitimate and authentic means of incorporation into Islamic thought and the policies of 2G Islamist parties.