by MOHAMMED ABED AL JABRI
Statue of Ibn Rushd or Averroes (1126 – 1198) in Córdoba, Spain IMAGE/Wikipedia
The persistence of the logic of war
Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union, it is true that some Western analysts continued to ask themselves, “After Communism, who will be the West’s enemy?” This as if the “end of one war”, in this case the Cold War, would just be an opportunity to spark another, or, in philosophical terms, as if the West’s “I” could only affirm itself through the negation of the “Other.”
Before analysing the epistemological foundations of such an attitude, let us first and briefly try and present the main theses of authors addressing the future of relations between the West and Islam within the framework of this logic.
“The societal Cold War”
In an article published by “International Affairs” in July 1991, Barry Buzan proposed an outline of the new kind of security relations that started to take shape at a global level following the great changes that occurred between 1989 and 1990.
According to Buzan, the changes in the “Centre” (industrialised countries), which in his opinion establish the fundamental characteristics of relations between states, are basically four: the emergence of multiple-force centres replacing the bipolar centre that existed during the Cold War; a lower degree of division and ideological rivalry; the hegemonic tendency, at an international level, of a group of capitalist states drawn in by security problems. The fourth point, according to the author, is the consolidation of civil society’s power, which may be less evident but will be a logical consequence.
These changes involving the Centre will have direct and indirect consequences on political, military, economic and social policies in the peripheries (non-industrialised countries). Among these consequences, the one that interests our argument directly is what the author calls “the collision of cultural identities” that in his opinion is clearly manifest in relations between the West and Islam due to different factors. “As noted above, this is partly to do with secular versus religious values, partly to do with the historical rivalry between Christendom and Islam, partly to do with jealousy of Western power, partly to do with resentments over Western domination of the post-colonial political structuring of the Middle East, and partly to do with the bitterness and humiliation of the invidious comparison between the accomplishments of Islamic and Western civilization during the last two centuries.” This last factor, says the author, is perceived more deeply in the lands of Islam, due to geographic proximity, historical enmity and the “overtly political role that Islam plays in the lives of its followers. Rivalry with the West is made more potent by the fact that Islam is still itself a vigorous and expanding collective identity.”
Hence, he states, if one adds the “danger” posed by immigration to the “clash of cultures” it is easy to identify the characteristics of a “societal Cold War between the centre and at least part of the periphery, and specifically between the West and Islam in which Europe would be in the front line.” This will benefit Europe since it will help the development of the political complementarity process between its countries, consisting of a common problem for their foreign policy, around which it will be easy to created consensus. In other words “A societal Cold War with Islam would serve to strengthen the European identity all round at a crucial time for the process of European union.”
The author concludes saying, “For all these reasons and others, there may well be a substantial constituency in the West prepared not only to support a societal Cold War with Islam, but to adopt policies that encourage it.”
Faced with this perspective of relations between Islam and the West, how can we avoid asking ourselves the following question; Is this an analysis of facts and their possible evolution or are we in the presence of a real direct incitement to hostility?
“Clash of civilizations”
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