Week 14 Readings: Clash of Ideologies - Radical Islam's Agendas - Prof. Jason E. Jordan, Study notes of International Business

Download Week 14 Readings: Clash of Ideologies - Radical Islam's Agendas - Prof. Jason E. Jordan and more Study notes International Business in PDF only on Docsity! Week 14 Readings (Baran) 05/12/2010 23:48:00 ← FIGHTING THR WAR OF IDEAS ← VANGUARD PARTY ← West is being drawn into the clash of two competing ideologies with Islam ← 1. Belief that Islam is compatible with secular democracy and basic civil liberties ← 2. proponents are committed to replacing the current world order with a new caliphate- that is, a global Islamic state  they are the ones who seek to trigger a true clash of civilizations ← ← al-Qaeda has become well known in recent years for trying to accomplish their objectives through terrorism and political violence ← also there is HT (Party of Liberation) that is ‘conveyor belt of terrorists’  indoctrinates individuals with radical ideology, priming them for recruitment by more extreme organization where they can take part in actual operations o using fascist rhetoric, Lenninist strategy, Western sloganeering with Wahhabi theology  banned in most of the world, including Russia and Germany  new pessimism in England o Tony Blair said more measures would be taken by govt  Compiling lists of suspect Web sites, bookshops & orgs  Possible deportation of foreign nationals ← ISLAM’S BOLSHEVIKS  key ideas held that the Islamic world’s decline could be reserved only if a small group of “real” Muslims emulated Muhammed o looked to replace gov’t in Muslim land with Islam gov’t  eventually formed/meshed into HT  HT’s utopian goal o does not seek to elect candidates to political office, focusing instead on extraparliamentary agitation o for global revolution it envisions, HT does not need large #s  hundred of supporters in critical positions are more important than thousands of soldiers ← THE PROPHET’S WAY?  HT sees to emulate the method adopted by Muhammed when first developing the Islamic state  Using 3 step process o 1. Building the party  accomplished by recruitment and propaganda  seek out young people with existential questions  take oath to “carry out even those decisions of the party leaders that I find objectionable” o 2. Try to create tension with gov’t and citizens  members are asked to modify their behavior so as to blend in with the population around them and infilitrate the gov’t o 3. Umma embraces HTs interpretation of Islam  HT believes it can overthrow politics w/ no violence  Rely on penetration of gov’t & recruitment of key official  INTERNET IS VERY HELPFUL ← THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY  HT is active in more than 40 countries  Middle East plan o aim to overthrow governments, since it sees particular regimes there as direct obstacles to resurrecting the caliphate o born under British rule, spent time in Army, loved West believed that Arab politics needed to be fired by modern ideas like self-determination, socialism and Arab Unity  FAILED o gov’t was effective by squashing dissent and strangling civil society  Egypt’s society/economy has failed since 1950s/Nasser o Arab countries have gone BACKWARD after Nasser  Iraq= Saddam Hussein  Lebanon= war and terror  Syria= one of world’s most oppressive states o Only country to succeed is ISRAEL  MADE functioning democracy, modern society, high technology economy and thriving culture/artistic life  Rise of oil power in 1970s gave a 2nd wind to Arab hopes o All oil has done in 3 decades is make a new class of rich, superficially Western gulf Arabs, live in luxury  Wealth has enriched and powered the gulf gov’t that has become more repressive over time  Bedouin societies had people who went to bin-Laden ← CHAPTER 2: FAILED IDEAS  Arab’s are scared/frustrated by modernization/globalization o in some ways, Arab world seems less ready than even Africa  in Middle Ages, Arabs studied Aristotle and invented algebra  future kings attended British schools and preached Western ideals o each path- socialism, secularism, nationalism- failed o ATTEMPTED TO BUY MODERNIZATION WITH OIL WEALTH  Gov’t attempted to bribe population with wealth, in return they need to let officials stay in power o No taxation, no representation ← CHAPTER 3: ENTER RELIGION  Nasser thought mixing politics with religion was backwards  ‘As the regimes of the Middle East grew more distant and oppressive and hollow in the decades following Nasser, fundamentalism’s appeal grew. It flourished because the Muslim Brotherhood and organizations like it at least tried to give people a sense of meaning and purpose in a changing world, something no other leader in the Middle East tried to do.’ o Fundamentalism gave Arabs a language of opposition  Mosque turned into a place to discuss politics, and even provide plenty of social services, medical assistance, counseling & housing ← If there is one great cause of the rise of Islamic fundamentalis, it is the total failure of political institutions in the Arab world.  Islam is being taken over by a small poisionous element, people who advocate cruel attitudes towards women, education, the economy and modern life in general. ← CHAPTER 4: WHAT TO DO  Problems stem from US helping Israel obtain statehood  Look at American policy in the region as cynically geared to American’s oil interests, supporting thugs & tyrants without hesitate  Bombing and isolation of Iraq makes people think USA chose an inhumane method of fighting him—a method starving all Iraq. ← 3 DIFFERENT STRATEGIES (MILITARY, POLITICAL, CULTURAL)  1. MILITARY STRATEGY o i.e. war, covert operations and other forms of coercion o goal: total destruction of al-Qaeda o every person involved must know they’ll be caught  2. POLITICAL STRATEGY o we now have a chance to reorder the international system around this new pressing danger o degree of cooperation from around the world is unprecedent o most governments feel threatened by orgs like al-Qaeda  cannot make Israel extinct…sorry o have to try and solve West Bank/ Gaza Strip crises  3. CULTURAL STRATEGY o US must help Islam world enter modern age o Persuade Arab moderates to make the case to their people  Islam is compatible with modern society  it does allow women to work  encourages education