1 Cultural Globalization: The Role of Religion – Introduction Lechner & Boli, pp

2 Public "Relieved" By bin Laden's Death

3 Islamic Revolution in Iran (1979)  “Major world event" that "put fundamentalism on the map"   Outcome of long struggle to overthrow the Shah of Iran   Shah was seen as “puppet” of the West, esp. the US   Iran was predominantly Shi'a (the two main sub-groups of Islam are Shi'a and Sunni)   Shah was seen as an "illegitimate tyrant who had tried to modernize the country in violation of Islamic norms"   Revolution showed it was possible to build an Islamic state under modern circumstances

4 Islamic Revolution inspired active among a minority of Muslims Islamic Revolution inspired active jihad among a minority of Muslims  a religiously motivated opposition to a secular, liberal global order  jihad: a religiously motivated opposition to a secular, liberal global order  In predominantly Sunni countries, a movement w/similar purposes was growing, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which also rejected Western culture and advocated a restoration of sharia  Islamic law  sharia: Islamic law  In Afghanistan, after the Soviet invasion in 1979, an extremely conservative group called the Taliban took lead in resistance to invasion and established an oppressive, orthodox regime in the 1990s  The struggle attracted militants from other countries, such as Saudi Arabia

5 Militants increasingly thought of jihad as global struggle to restore Islamic caliphate and implement sharia  culminating in the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11  to some, 9/11 was the expression of a new global political divide, a "Clash of Civilizations" (à la Huntington)

6 Islam, like Christianity, is diverse  Believers have a range of perspectives on globalization  Muslims differ on basic questions concerning the relationship between religion & the state, gender roles, democracy, etc.

7 "Bin Laden and Other Thoroughly Modern Muslims" Charles Kurzman, Ch. 42, pp

8 Islamists, Radical Islamists, and Islamic liberalism  Islamists seek to regain righteousness of early yrs of Islam and implement sharia  either by using the state to enforce it  or by convincing Muslims to abide by Islamic norms of their own accord  Radical Islamists have much in common w/ Islamic liberalism:  Both seek to modernize society and politics, recasting tradition in modern molds  Both see multiple ways to be modern and don't equate modernity w/ Western culture

9 Radical Islamists (Al Qaeda) vs.traditionalists (Taliban) Radical Islamists (Al Qaeda) vs. traditionalists (Taliban)  Traditionalists draw on less educated sectors of society  Believe in mystical and personal authority and are skeptical of modern organizational forms  "For this reason, traditionalist movements are finding it difficult to survive and occupy only isolated pockets of Muslim society" (pp )

10 The Islamists Roots in Secular Education  Many Islamists have university (secular) rather than seminary (religious) educations  OBL (AQ leader) held civil engineering degree, but issued fatwas (religious decrees) as if he were a seminary educated Islamic scholar  Islamists have railed against seminary-trained scholars as out of touch and politically inactive  Seminaries are considered "backward" by Islamists  College-educated Muslims have increasingly been analyzing sacred texts in a "do it yourself" kind of theology

11 There's great diversity in Islamic opinion and Islamic authority  Gov’ts have taken a role in establishing their own official religious authorities and advancing their own visions of the proper relationship between Islam and the state, through textbooks, for example  There is no universally recognized arbiter to resolve Islamic debates  Any college graduate in a cave can claim to speak for Islam

12 Islamist political platforms share much with Western modernity  Islamists envision overturning tradition in politics, social relations, and religious practices  Islamists are hostile to monarchies, such as the Saudi dynasty in Arabia  Islamists favor egalitarian meritocracy, as opposed to inherited social hierarchies  e.g., OBL combined traditional grievances such as injustice, corruption, oppression, and self-defense with contemporary, secular demands such as economic development, human rights and national self-determination

13 Western biases tend to wrongly lump Khomeni's Iran together w/ the Taliban in Afghanistan  Both claimed to be building Islamic states, but Iran is a modern state and Afghanistan is not  Islamic Republic of Iran copied global norms by writing constitution, ratifying it with a referendum w/ full adult suffrage, holding elections, conducting census, etc.  vs. the traditionalist Taliban, which preferred informal and personal administration to the rule-bound bureaucracies favored by modern states  On the issue of gender, Taliban barred girls from school, while the Iranian Islamic Republic more than doubled girls education levels

14 In ideology and also in practice, bin Laden/Al Qaeda and other radical Islamists mirror Western trends  Al Qaeda operates globally like a TNC, with affiliates and subsidiaries, strategic partners, commodity chains, standardized training, off-shore financing  Insiders call it "the company"  It's a bureaucratic organization, with a modernized communications strategy

15 Radical Islamists are a minority within Islam  Surveys consistently show that most Muslims oppose Islamists and their goals  Islamists rarely fare well in free/partially free elections  However, the US-led war on terror may inadvertently benefit Islamists  The modernization of Muslim societies promoted by the US and its allies as a buffer against traditionalism may wind up fueling Islamism  Modern schools produce Islamists as well as liberals  Modern businesses fund Islamist as well as other causes  Modern communications can broadcast Islamist as well as other messages  Modernity may take many forms besides Western culture

16 Osama bin Laden Largely Discredited Among Muslim Publics in Recent Years

17 Islam & the West