In a post 9 / 11 society, political Islam is seen as a virulent force that threatens national security. In response, Western governments have taken extreme measures seek to paralyze political and militaristic national and international expansion of political ideology. Unfortunately, however, there has been little progress in this department. However, a small but growing minority of Muslims, the West and imperial interference in matters of the Islamic Middle East (ie, Israel-Palestine) is strongly condemned. Using this as a starting point, serious acts of terrorism have allegedly committed in the name of jihad.
The most emblematic representative of political Islam is undoubtedly the late founder of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden. For nearly two decades, Islamist figure has stood for a militant form of Occidentalism, and has been named as the main orchestrator behind the attacks of 9 / 11. Based on these charges, many believe that the timely murder of this "bad man" by U.S. military forces was right and necessary. However, Bin Laden's death does little to improve the social and political conditions of radical Islam itself. With or without Osama bin Laden, the political-religious attitude will continue to be embraced by some Muslims who vindictively unfriendly to the West. Under these circumstances, the argument of old age than the symptoms, but avoiding the disease is fairly accurate.
According to Christopher Hitchens, the main push factor for political rise of Islam and the expansion is not Osama bin Laden, but the Islamic belief system. In the eighth chapter of the Quran, there is a passage that outlines broadly the right and the duty of every Muslim who fatally persecute those who fall under the rubric of "non-believers." This is a consequence of the biblical basis of jihadism. If this theory is correct - that certainly is not - why only a small minority of Muslims to embrace this political ideology? Well, in short, contemporary political Islam has little to do with theology. Normatively speaking, his followers are almost always within a very specific context of social, cultural and political. This finding is well explained by the Japanese-American political philosopher Francis Fukuyama, who argues that radical Islam is more accurately understood through the prism of modern identity politics. According to Fukuyama, globalization is blurring the distinctions clear time between the developed and the Middle East. Under such conditions, the Islamic faith is socially and geographically "deterritorialized", ie, through immigration and Western influences. As a result, the traditional Muslim identity becomes almost unbearable. This is particularly the case when the younger generation of Western Muslims are concerned. Without the daily social and cultural divisions that are in traditional Islamic societies, young Muslims living in Western Europe and North America often feel separated from their traditional ancestral ties. At the same time, Muslims also feel ontologically separate from the norms and values that are common within the host nations. In these unfavorable conditions, this generation of Western Muslims are extremely vulnerable to a kind of existential angst, when the proverbial question: "Who am I? "Subjective becomes difficult to determine. Fukuyama explains that political Islam and jihadism arise in response to this search for identity, and provides a sense of belonging to Western Muslims anomic nomination by statements such as:
"You are a member of a global umma defined by adherence to a universal Islamic doctrine that has been stripped of all his holy local customs and traditions."
This interpretation explains the fraction sociological western world Islamist political movement. In this case, Europe and North America Muslims - who are socially, culturally and politically alienated from his country's secular, democratic host - easy to embrace a doctrine that gives their personality a significant reason. This story explains the reasons why so many radical Muslims were originally non-Muslim in their daily behavior. Often, this kind of "secular Muslims were initially petty criminals who later became radicalized in the criminal justice system. Records show that many also abuse alcohol or drugs before they were inspired by political Islam. What these results suggest is that feelings of alienation and anomie, Western Muslims, like any other social group, they crave a sense of purpose in their life worlds. Based on these circumstances, political Islam provides sufficient antidote to the crisis existential.
The main thesis, while Fukuyama is certainly valid in Western contexts, remains to note that political Islam was originally a Middle Eastern reaction to the vices of Western imperialism. By asserting that political Islam is based primarily on a sociological necessity guided by a coherent set of self-identity, Fukuyama acquits U.S. and its allies in the political and economic oppression that has not stopped inflicted on Islamic societies. The United States and its questionable economic and military support of the territories occupied by Israel is obviously the most relevant case in point. This charge - along with other injustices as the Iraq war - must be recognized if political Islam must be understood in a global context.
Noam Chomsky says that the Islamist reaction to the west of the hegemonic forces is certainly not a recent phenomenon. In 1958, President Eisenhower said - in an internal discussion complaints - that hatred toward the U.S. and its allies is growing exponentially in the Arab world. This attitude was assumed by the autocratic governments of the region, however, but by real people. After an investigation that was conducted meant to suggest why this is the case, the U.S. National Security Council said that this hatred is based on the assumption that the U.S. and its allies (notably the United Kingdom and Israel) supporting brutal authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, North Africa and Indonesia, mainly because they want to control its lucrative oil reserves. In response to this accusation, U.S. representatives brazenly claimed that this was entirely correct and justified: if Western prosperity is to be performed, then the creation of alliances with Middle Eastern dictatorships with large amounts of natural resources is essential. Because the absolute frequency of this type of political-economic measures in recent history, the West is often considered to be complicit in preventing the democratization of the Arab world. Under these circumstances, people living under those regimes brutally repressive, have every right to be antagonistic toward the West.
The growth in the recent history of political Islam must be understood in global political and sociological terms. In recognition of anomic Muslims in the West are certainly sensitive to this political narrative embracive, the need to correct the social conditions that make them feel alienated in the first place is very important. Besides, it also has to be a recognition of the West and its role in supporting repressive dictators for the time you can keep raw material extraction in the region. These factors - along with a more friendly foreign policy - should be taken into account by the state, if radical Islam is to stop play a role in human affairs.
Unfortunately, kill Osama bin Laden did nothing in the grand scheme of things. The song of the U.S. One of Times Square - the terrorists holding premature death - was certainly short-sighted and will be short lived. Political Islam will continue to be adopted, regardless of the strength of Al Qaeda in personnel during the time that Muslims are mistreated with no explanation from the West. History will repeat for as long as we learn from our mistakes.
