Tuesday, November 28, 2006

What Makes a Muslim Radical?

From Foreign Policy.com

Ask any foreign-policy expert how the West will know it is winning the war on terror, and the likely response will be, “When the Islamic world rejects radicalism.” But just who are Muslim radicals, and what fuels their fury? Every politician has a theory: Radicals are religious fundamentalists. They are poor. They are full of hopelessness and hate. But those theories are wrong.

Based on a new Gallup World Poll of more than 9,000 interviews in nine Muslim countries, we find that Muslim radicals have more in common with their moderate brethren than is often assumed. If the West wants to reach the extremists, and empower the moderate Muslim majority, it must first recognize who it’s up against.

1 comment:

zanjabil said...

But what if the West does not "want to reach the extremists? Because in realpolitik these extremists provide an extraordinarily useful excuse for the dismantling of democracy, civil liberty and human rights...