Religion and Terrorism
Theocracy on the rise
– Iran
– Saudi Arabia
– Pakistan
– India – BJP
– Japan – Soka Gokkai
– US Religious Right
Public Opinion in Iraq
Steven Kull and Evan Lewis, Iraqi Public Rejects Iranian Model June 14, 2005 Available at:
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/governance_bt/84.php?lb=brme&pnt=84&nid=&id
=
Characteristics of Religion-based
Terrorism
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War analogy
Cosmic war
Demonization of the enemy
Conspiracies
Empowering of alienated individuals
Truth vs. lies
Linkage to mainstream issues
Sunni
Vs.
Shi’ite
Geography of Islam
Non-Middle eastern states
• Indonesia
215 m
• Pakistan
160 m
• India
134 m
• Bangladesh
123 m
• Turkey
70 m
• Nigeria
65 m
• Afghanistan
31 m
• Sudan
30 m
• Total
828 m
Middle Eastern states
• Egypt
80 m
• Iran
70 m
• Algeria
32 m
• Morocco
32 m
• Iraq
25 m
• Saudi Arabia
22 m
• Syria
16. m
• Jordan
5.0 m
• Total
282 m
Ideas and Politics
• A spectrum for political Islam
Indonesia
Malaysia
Turkey
Iranian people
Pakistan gov’t
Islamists
Fundamentalists
Liberal
Egyptian
Gov’t
Egyptian
people
Taliban
Iran Clergy
Saudi
gov’t
AQ
Orthodox
Rise of Extremist Islam
Why the Middle East?
• Ideology
• Lack of Democracy
• Rising expectations and frustrations
• Inequality
• Socialist economics (OIL)
Explaining the Growth of Extremist Ideas
Political Factors
Authoritarian government
Corrupt government
Lack of civil rights; no democracy
Lack of human rights; no individual freedoms
Liberal and moderate ideas crushed
Radical ideas crushed (Egypt)
Radical ideas encouraged (Saudi Arabia)
Prison torture SOP
Controlled press spreads ruling ideology
Anti-West and anti-US
Colonialism in past
Strong religious traditions
Growth of
Pan-Islamic ideas
extremist ideas
Pan-Arab ideas
*Failures of secular nationalism (Syria, Iraq)
No outlet for moderate dissent or debate
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Economic Factors
Poverty
Small wealthy elite
*Expectations of wealth through oil
*Rising population
*Massive underemployment
Socialist economies
Closed economies
*Knowledge of wealth in other societies
*Technological factors
advances in communication
computers for info storage
internet and e-mail
ease of travel
ease of global financial transactions
advantages of networks
globalization
Social Factors
*Rapid economic change
*Population growth
Lack of social and economic mobility
*More university education; lack of jobs
*Generation with a lack of identity
*Expectations of success; lack of success
*Expectations of change; lack of change
*Geopolitical Factors
Rapid wealth creation in Middle East
Iranian revolution
Globalization
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
Collapse of Cold War
Instability of shift to post-cold war world
*Temporal Factors: These variables explain why events happened when they did. Many people ask why radical Islam
developed, but we need to ask why it developed and why it developed when it developed.