{"id":226,"date":"2008-03-20T07:40:45","date_gmt":"2008-03-20T11:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/mesh\/2008\/03\/iraq_america_muslim_eyes\/"},"modified":"2008-03-29T11:17:42","modified_gmt":"2008-03-29T15:17:42","slug":"iraq_america_muslim_eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mesh\/2008\/03\/iraq_america_muslim_eyes\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraq: America in Muslim eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"

In November 2002, the <\/em>Chronicle of Higher Education asked a number of scholars this question: \u201cWhat will the world be like five years after a war with Iraq?\u201d To mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, MESH asked all of the respondents to revisit their predictions. This week, MESH is posting the responses it has received.<\/em><\/p>\n

John L. Esposito is University Professor and Director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University. In 2002, he wrote: “Five years after a U.S. war with Iraq, it is likely that the Arab world will be less democratic than more and that anti-Americanism will be stronger rather than weaker.” (Read his full prediction here<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

From John L. Esposito<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is both satisfying and yet depressing that my predictions five years ago have in fact been realized. Anti-Americanism has grown exponentially in the Muslim world as it has in many other parts of the world. Thus, the question \u201cWhy do they hate us?\u201d remains important to ponder. Likewise, while the spread of democracy has been the stated goal of the Bush administration, the charge that America is does not seriously support democracy and really operates under a double standard continues to be strongly leveled against us.<\/p>\n

As we follow up on such issues after five years, what have we learned? To begin with, we have a new tool to enhance our understanding. Rather than depending upon the opinions and predictions of \u201cexperts,\u201d we can listen to the people in the regions themselves by using data from the Gallup World Poll<\/a>, which has been conducted since 2001 around the world.<\/p>\n

Through 50,000 hour-long, face-to-face interviews with residents of more than 35 nations that are predominantly Muslim or have substantial Muslim populations, we have the largest and most comprehensive poll of the Muslim world, representing the voices of more than 90 percent of the world\u2019s 1.3 billion Muslims, young and old, educated and illiterate, female and male, living in urban and rural settings<\/p>\n

Responses to both closed and open-ended questions tell us a lot. For example, starting with anti-Americanism, our answers to the common question, \u201cWhy do they hate us?\u201d have often been \u201cThey hate who we are\u2014our way of life, freedoms, democracy, and gender equality.\u201d However, if we listen to the voices of Muslim respondents, they contradict these views. When asked what they admired most about the West, the top response was the West\u2019s technology, its value system of hard work, responsibility and rule of law and its fair political systems, democracy, human rights, free speech and gender equality.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, when asked what they admire least about the West, among the top responses was \u201chatred or degradation of Islam and Muslims.\u201d And when asked what the most important thing the United States could do to improve their quality of life, the most common response after \u201creduce unemployment and improve the economic infrastructure\u201d was \u201cstop interfering in the internal affairs of Arab\/Islamic states,” \u201cstop imposing your beliefs and policies,\u201d \u201crespect our political rights and stop controlling us,\u201d and \u201cgive us our own freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus, while we continue to talk about the importance of democracy and self-determination for the Muslim world, majorities in Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, and Morocco disagree that the United States is serious about spreading democracy in their region. In fact, looking at those we will call \u201cMuslim democrats”\u2014those who believe that democracy is important to their progress and future\u2014we find that this group is more concerned about better relations with the West, but at the same time, more likely to view the United States unfavorably. Only 5 to 10 percent respond that the United States is trustworthy, friendly or treats other countries respectfully.<\/p>\n

What of the future? A major concern for the foreseeable future will center on stopping the growth of global terrorism. While the military will continue to be needed to capture, kill and contain terrorists, the broader challenge is to limit radicalization. As data from the Muslim world reveals, while majorities are moderate, the number of politically radicalized is significant.<\/p>\n

The Gallup Poll identified moderates and radicals by looking at those who said the 9\/11 attacks were completely justified and also had an unfavorable view of the United States. Moderates, the vast majority (93 percent), said the 9\/11 attacks were unjustified. The politically radicalized and thus potential supporters of extremism\u20147 percent\u2014said the attacks were completely justified and view the United States unfavorably. Identifying respondents as \u201cpolitically radicalized\u201d does not mean they commit acts of violence, but rather that they are a potential source for recruitment or support for terrorist groups.<\/p>\n

Although concern among respondents about bias and Western political interference in their affairs was widespread, the politically radicalized were far more intense in their belief that Western political, military and cultural domination is a major threat. When asked to define their greatest fears about the future of their country, the politically radicalized most frequently cite interference in their internal affairs by other countries, national security, colonization, occupation, and fear of U.S. dominance.<\/p>\n

Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of the politically radicalized compared to 48 percent of moderates disagree that \u201cthe U.S. will allow people in the region to \u2019fashion their own political future as they see fit without direct U.S. influence.\u2019\u201d Surprisingly, 50 percent of the politically radicalized feel more strongly that their progress will be helped by \u201cmoving toward governmental democracy\u201d compared to 35 percent of moderates. And even more surprising, the politically radicalized (58 percent) are more likely than moderates (44 percent) to associate Arab\/Islamic nations with an eagerness to have better relationships with the West.<\/p>\n

In a post-9\/11 environment in which many are caught between the contending and contentious views of the battle of experts and pseudo-experts, we now have data that can lead the discourse and to guide future policies aimed at reducing the threat of global terrorism.<\/p>\n

More about mutual misperceptions and developing policies and programs designed to \u201cwin the minds and hearts\u201d of Muslims around the world can be found in the just-published book based on the Gallup World Poll, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think<\/em><\/a>, which I have co-authored with Dalia Mogahed.<\/p>\n

Comments are limited to MESH members and invitees<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In November 2002, the Chronicle of Higher Education asked a number of scholars this question: \u201cWhat will the world be like five years after a war with Iraq?\u201d To mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, MESH asked all of the respondents to revisit their predictions. This week, MESH is posting the responses it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1620,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2117,401,2051,2390],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-democracy","category-iraq","category-martin-kramer","category-public-diplomacy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mesh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mesh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mesh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mesh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1620"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mesh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mesh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mesh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mesh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mesh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}