Religion and Terrorism Theocracy on the rise Iran
- Slides: 8
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 • • 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.
