Islam and Political Violence - Book Report/Review Example

 Political Violence: Book Review: Akbarzadeh and Mansouri describe the metamorphosis of Islam into a new form epitomized by Bin Laden. Bin Laden represented the new band of Islam referred to as Neo-Islamism. This new brand of Islam viewed all the non-Muslims as evil people who deserve to die. Then authors explain the belief of neo-Islamism of Americans and Western powers as evil. Neo-Islamists, led by Bin Laden, have embraced violence against the US and other Western countries in terror attacks. This book describes the consequences of the violent actions adopted by this new form of Islamism. It examines the numerous security, legal, social and economic consequences of terrorism propagated by neo-Islamists on Islamism. Akbarzadeh and Mansouri explain the metamorphosis of the Islam to embrace violence against the west. To explain the metamorphosis of Islam, this book examines the Muslim world, the differences groups in Islam as well as Muslims in diaspora. This article provides a critique of this book examining the correctness and logicality of the arguments put forward by the authors. Akbarzadeh .F & Mansouri .S (2010, 3) argue that political violence that is common in many Islamic states began during nation building process. The demarcation of Islam countries by the colonial rulers led to legitimacy challenges among the elites who clung into power under the pretext of modernization. The elites in Islamic countries did not consider Islam in development of the young nations. According to Akbarzadeh, F & Mansouri, S (2010, 3), the national elites’ decision to disregard Islam in the modernization process might have been due to colonial rulers’ denigration of Islam as a backward religion. The elites adopted state policies that suppressed Islam and regarded it as anti-modern in Islamic countries such as Turkey and Iran. In a worse situation, the elites out rightly rejected Islam and considered it inappropriate in Iraq and Jordan. Unfavorable policies developed by the elites led to uneven socio-economic development of the Islamic states. The growing unemployment rates coupled with the falling living standards led to wide resentment and disillusionment with the elite-led regimes. Successive regimes failed to meet the expectations of the citizens with many citizens failing to get employment even after attending schooling. The authors claim that Islamism has borrowed heavily from this discontent and disillusionment with successive regimes. Even in the present world, Islamism continues to challenge the legitimacy of incumbent regimes by engaging in political violence (Burgat & Hutchinson 2008, 91). Examples of groups challenging governments include Muslims Brotherhood in Egypt and ‘Jamaati Islami’ in Pakistan. The authors’ arguments that historical factors have led to political violence against legitimate governments is evident in many Asian countries. The recent uprisings in Arab countries such as in Egypt and Libya occurred due to massive disillusionment with governments. Economic factors such as massive unemployment and economic inequality contributed immensely to the recent wave of violence witnessed in some Arab countries. Most Islamic countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq continue to experience violent attacks fighting their governments. Most citizens of these countries do not trust their governments and believe that these governments operate under the authority of western countries. The general mistrust of governments has led to Islamic youths joining militia groups to fight governments and conduct terrorist activities(Ashour, .O2009, 123). The author’s claim that Islamism is a national project aimed at eliminating non-Islamic behaviors is equally true. Islamism entails attainment of political power and the imposition of similar social, cultural and political rules. One of the objectives of Islamism is to spread the faith through the imposition of Islamic laws a process called naturalization of Islam (Akbarzadeh & Mansouri 2010, p. 6). A section of Islamists supports the creation of an Islam state to ensure conformity with Islamic laws. Islamist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah are examples of groups that pursue the national objective. Both organizations aim at creating an all-Islamic state by fighting governments and gaining political power. Their fight against Israel shows Islamic solidarity in fighting non-Islamic countries. Although not national governments, Hamas and Hezbollah act like national organizations while fighting Israel. Another argument put forward by Akbarzadeh and Mansouri is that international events and politics influence significantly Islamism. American interference in the Arab world by supporting some regimes has led to political riots and violence against these regimes (Burgat &Hutchinson 2008, 291). The Iranian revolution was a perfect example of mass protests and violence against the repressive regimes of Pahlavi backed by the US. The Iranian revolution was a national problem, which had an international connection. It represented the supremacy battles during cold war with America supporting repressive regimes for fear of takeover by Soviet backed groups and spread of Anti-American sentiments. It is true that some of that, some of the policies pursued by US in Asia during the cold war were very unpopular and did not consider the rights and interests of the Asian people. The US was more concerned with containing the Soviet Union in the region rather than improving the lives of the Islamist citizens. The Cold War entailing the supremacy battles between the US and the Soviet Union caused violence in some of the Islamist states. True to the authors’ arguments, violence in Egypt during Nasser’s regime had an international connection with America supporting militia groups to topple the Nasser backed communist regime. In Iran, the US supported the opposition groups to fight the communist government of Prime Minister Mossadeq. The supremacy battle was evident in the Vietnam War when America suffered an embarrassing defeat. Communist forces defeated and humiliated American soldiers and its allied groups in Vietnam. While it is true, that America feared any political transformations in Asia, it is not necessarily true that America has been against democratic changes in the region as argued by the author. America has been against illegitimate take-over by militia groups in the region. America policy has been against any state of lawlessness in the region. Washington’s policy has been to support some of the Islamic countries to build strong governance structures and enforce the rule of law in the region. Any state of lawlessness is against the interest of the US. Ashour, .O (2009, 263) explains that lawlessness in countries such as Lebanon provides a safe haven and training ground for terrorist organizations to develop their network and plan their activities. As a result, America has been helping to train and support legitimate and democratically elected governments in Afghanistan and Iraq. In these countries, American presence has been vital to prevent violence and create stale conditions where rule of law applies. Contrary to the authors’ arguments, the US efforts have been useful in supporting democratically elected governments such as in Afghanistan to prevent any lawlessness and possible take-over by Islamist militia groups. Akbarzadeh .F & Mansouri .S (2010, 8) claim that the increasing number of Muslims in diaspora have debunked the classical division between Islam and the Western world. The author’s claim that the high number of Muslims living in Western countries and cities have helped break the stark division among Islam and Western countries. This argument is incorrect as discontentment is still evident among Muslims living in Europe and America. Religious discrimination and violation of privacy rights of some of the Muslims in western countries has led to resentment of western countries. Muslim youths in western countries face numerous challenges such as rampant social, religious, and economic discrimination. Theresentment about their treatment in some western countries has made them easy targets of neo-Islamists extremists’ plans. As a result, many Muslims youth living in western countries participate in violence and terrorist acts against their own countries (Ashour, .O 2009, 353). Contrary to this argument by the authors, the Muslims in diaspora have increased the complexity of the situation. Western governments are in a conundrumon the best strategies of handling their Islamic citizens who engage in acts of terrorism. The authors explain the reason behind neo-Islamist support of Jihad. The neo-Islamist use the Jihad to air their political grievances against global powers and perceived injustices. The neo-Islamist believe that there is a global conspiracy against Islam. To support their claims, neo-Islamist cite the lack of attention taken by world countries against Israel for attacking Lebanon in 2006. In addition, the growing pressures on Muslims in diaspora such as in France have increased the resentment of neo-Islamist. The authors’ arguments of power inequality in global affairs is logical and explains why some Muslims engage in violent extremism. Neo-Islamist view the world order as a conspiracy against Islam. To defend their religion, the neo-Islamist react by rejecting any legal, social and political institutions as illegitimate and part of the wider perceived conspiracy to annihilate Islam(Burgat, F. & Hutchinson, P. 2008, 445). This book, nonetheless, provides a brief history and explains the metamorphosis of Islamism to the current violent extremisms embraced by neo-Islamists. Bibliography Akbarzadeh, .S & Manouri, .F, 2014. Islam and Political Violence. Muslim Diaspora and Radicalismin the West. London, LND: ProQuest publishers. Ashour, .O, 2009. The De-Radicalization of Jihadists: Transforming Armed Islamist Movements, New York, NY: Routledge, Burgat, F., & Hutchinson, P., 2008. Islamism in the shadow of al-Qaeda. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Read More