Fawaz a gerges america and politics islam

Democracy In the usa, Islam, Social Pluralism, America

Excerpt from Book Report:

Fawaz a. Gerges’ America and Political Islam

Fawaz A. Gerges’ publication, America and Political Islam, attempts to analyse the complex marriage between the Us and Politics Islam. America and Personal Islam provides a thoughtful insight into how American policy-makers, and media have got responded to the political problems posed by the Middle East.

Finally, after his careful and meticulous examination, Gerges states that the American government and establishment include viewed Islam and Muslims based on inaccuracy, prejudice and ignorance, and this American foreign policy has been largely shaped in the same inaccurate and prejudiced vein. Gerges properly reviews the historical political situation, analyses the present romantic relationship between the United States and the Islamic world, and dares to generate recommendations on how this romantic relationship can be handled, and ideally, improved, in the foreseeable future.

Gerges’ key thesis is that the United States personal scene, and accompanying political, cultural, protection, and famous issues, make clear America’s preoccupation with Islam and Muslims. He goes deeply into discussions in the American personal scene, and uses specific examples an incident studies to support his declare that American international policy is clouded by simply preconceptions, bias toward the Muslim community.

Gerges clearly states that America is usually preoccupied with Muslims and Islam. This individual notes that America’s “fixation with Islam” has been influences by a quantity of national and international factors. Gerges investigates each aspect in turn, evaluating issues since diverse because the end from the Cold Battle, and the politics decay or perhaps Regimes at the center East.

Gerges uses the four circumstance studies of Iran, Algeria, Egypt and Turkey to help illustrate United States policies in the centre East. In analyzing these case research, Gerges allows American decision-makers and policy-makers to speak within their own phrases.

In a section that traces a case research of American foreign policy in Algeria, Gerges makes the level that United states of america foreign insurance plan has veered little kind its anti-Muslim stance. In 1992 polls in Algeria, the Algerian military intervened, cancelling polls. The army took this process to prevent the Islamic Solution Front (FIS) from attaining power, and immediately outlawed the FIS.

Interestingly, President George Bush’s was generally quite unaggressive in its response to the turmoil in Algeria. Gerges states that this passivity was tremendously in contrast to the usa support of political pluralism and democracy.

Gerges argues that U. S. policy in the Clinton administration always been plagued by incongruencies. Gerges records that the Clinton administrations “rhetoric on politics Islam combines carrots and sticks, alternating between accommodationist and confrontationalist language. It is unclear whether this vacillation is area of the administration’s conscious strategy or due to doubt and conjugation regarding the Islamists’ real schedule. What is obvious is that U. S. insurance plan is full of unresolved tensions. “

In his famous analysis, Gerges notes which the Western world features treated Islam with wonderful apathy best case scenario, and hatred and bias, at worst. This individual notes that there is great Western apathy toward Islamic world, including Islamic art, materials, politics, rules and history. Gerges believe this apathy has led to a slim, and prejudiced understanding of Islam in the Western world.

This individual notes that the world’s billion dollars Muslims, are usually judged by the actions of any militant handful of, who most Muslims oppose. However , the West’s filter and biased view in the Muslim world makes it hard for American policy makers and individuals to evidently see the difficulty of the Muslim world.

Distressingly, Gerges seems that many Us citizens are more than ambivalent on the Muslim universe. He states that many Us citizens perceive Arabs as “dangerous, untrustworthy, undemocratic, barbaric and primitive. inches

Despite this, Gerges argues that current U. S. govt attitudes are more than simply a reaction to ethnic and traditional events. He notes that political and security concerns are very important in framing U. S i9000. foreign insurance plan in the Middle East.

In his 99 book, Gerges argued that the current “equation of Islam with ‘terrorism'” has done significant amounts of damage to the image of Muslims in the United States. This individual notes this image provides helped to shift policy-makers in the U. S. toward a more militant stance against Islam. Additional, Gerges lays part of the blame on significant Islamists, saying the extremists are “their own most detrimental enemies. inches It is interesting to consider the level that the occasions of September 11th have perpetrated the “equation