A rare point of agreement between Westerners and Muslims is that both believe that Muslim nations should be more economically prosperous than they are today. But they gauge the problem quite differently. Muslim publics have an aggrieved view of the West — they are much more likely than Americans or Western Europeans to blame Western policies for their own lack of prosperity.
For their part, Western publics instead point to government corruption, lack of education and Islamic fundamentalism as the biggest obstacles to Muslim prosperity. Nothing highlights the divide between Muslims and the West more clearly than their responses to the uproar this past winter over cartoon depictions of Muhammad.
The chasm between Muslims and the West is also seen in judgments about how the other civilization treats women. Yet despite the deep attitudinal divide between Western and Muslim publics, the latest Pew Global Attitudes survey also finds that the views of each toward the other are far from uniformly negative. For example, even in the wake of the tumultuous events of the past year, solid majorities in France, Great Britain and the U. For the most part, Muslim publics feel more embittered toward the West and its people than vice versa.
Muslim opinions about the West and its people have worsened over the past year and by overwhelming margins, Muslims blame Westerners for the strained relationship between the two sides. But there are some positive indicators as well, including the fact that in most Muslim countries surveyed there has been a decline in support for terrorism. And in a number of respects Muslims in Europe are less inclined to see a clash of civilizations than are some of the general publics surveyed in Europe.
Notably, they are less likely than non-Muslims in Europe to believe that there is a conflict between modernity and being a devout Muslim. Solid majorities of the general publics in Germany and Spain say that there is a natural conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society.
But most Muslims in both of those countries disagree. And in France, the scene of recent riots in heavily Muslim areas, large percentages of both the general public and the Muslim minority population feel there is no conflict in being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society.
The survey shows both hopeful and troubling signs with respect to Muslim support for terrorism and the viability of democracy in Muslim countries. In Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia, there have been substantial declines in the percentages saying suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilian targets can be justified to defend Islam against its enemies.
Confidence in Osama bin Laden also has fallen in most Muslim countries in recent years. The belief that terrorism is justifiable in the defense of Islam, while less extensive than in previous surveys, still has a sizable number of adherents. Anti-Jewish sentiment remains overwhelming in predominantly Muslim countries.
Yet, few works have empirically investigated the degree and causes of such societal anti-Americanism, as the focus generally is on a dislike of the United States as a political entity. First of all, and contrary to scholarly consensus, we find that both political and societal anti-Americanism are quite widespread in the Arab region see Figure 1 below. Although Arab people in general have an unfavourable position towards America, they are pretty wary of American people too.
What is more, political and societal anti-Americanism seem to be strongly related — too strongly to consider them disconnected opinions that have completely separate causes. Our analyses also show that unfavourable attitudes towards America and Americans have similar causes. American interventions — be they troop deployment, military aid, or economic investments — help to explain why publics are not only more politically but also more societally anti-American.
This paints a two-sided picture. Anti-Americanism is partly caused by the actions undertaken by the US government. Of course, not all Arab citizens hold the same views or react similarly to American interventions. This brings us to an especially bitter conclusion from the results — American interventionism most strongly squelches pockets of good will.
When the US intervenes, it spawns anti-Americanism particularly among those groups poised to be more favourable to America ns. For instance, we found that non-Muslims are on average rather favourable towards America ns compared to Muslim citizens. This example once more stresses that citizens across the Arab region are neither all the same, nor united in their hatred of America ns.
Pockets of good will can be found across the region. However, when the US intervenes, it not only strengthens the resolve of its enemies; it actually drives potential allies away.
The simple conclusion of our study could be that Arab citizens detest America, and there is nothing the US can do about that. But that conclusion simplifies the complexities that those designing and assessing foreign policies would be wise to consider: the interrelatedness of societal and political anti-Americanism and their causes. US interventions decrease empathy with US citizens, while this empathy with America ns might be an important barrier against not judging terrorist attacks.
To keep pockets of good will, and perhaps even strengthen alliances, the US should think twice about repeating the same interventionist policies in the region. Niels Spierings is an associate professor in the sociology department of Radboud University, and works on issues of inequality and participation, with particular foci on gender, politics, and Islam.
He tweets at NielsSpierings. Religion, as a motive for hatred and violence, is not mentioned in this article. Jews and Muslims hate each others for religious reasons. If this is true, how can WE resolve this issue without issues of religion being addressed?
While many of the perpetrators of violence are religious, their goals and intentions are often secular and strictly political in nature. I certainly know more people who dislike America because of their backing of Israel and their invasions of Iraq than any religious reason. In fact, many women choose to wear a hijab, niqab or burqa on their own and do so for a variety of reasons including a sense of pride in being Muslim, a collective sense of identity or to convey a sense of self-control in public life.
Since , eight countries have had Muslim women as their heads of state, including Turkey, Indonesia, Senegal, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh two different women , Pakistan and Mauritius.
Many Muslim countries—including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia—have a higher percentage of women in national elected office than does the United States.
G, Dalia. Meet the nine Muslim women who ruled the nations. Goodstein, L. Muslims are loyal to U. The New York Times, August 2, Khan, M.
More than 5, Muslims serving in U. Lipka, M. Muslims and Islam: Key findings in the U. Washington: Pew Research Center. What factors determine the changing roles of women in the Middle East and Islamic societies? Arlington: Public Broadcasting Service. Pew Research Center. Muslim Americans: No signs of growth in alienation or support for extremism. Poushter, J. Younis, M. Muslim Americas identify with God and country. Washington: Gallup.
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