Islamic extremism does not pose the same danger to the Western World as the
communist and fascist ideologies of the 20th century did, according to Michael
Mandelbaum, a New York Times best-selling author.
“This ideology does not have the global appeal as the great ideological
opponents of liberalism,” Mandelbaum said at an Office of Naval Research
conference. “These ideas have no chance of taking over the power of the
country, which is the necessary condition for opposing liberalism in a serious
way. These ideas, such as they are, already have been tried and failed,”
namely in Afghanistan and Iran, he said.
Radical Muslim ideas, he said, are doing better in some parts of the Arab world
than in others. “In the religious hearts of the Islamic world, or Arab
world, there are no democracies, and there are no market economies,” he
said. In those countries, the conflict is not with America or the Western world,
but between the moderates—“those who want Islam to be a thriving
religion compatible with the modern world”—and the extremists, said
Mandelbaum.
“The extremists are noisy, and they clearly have sympathizers, but even
that has led us to think that there is almost no country that has radical Islam
as its governing ideology,” he said.
The United States historically has undertaken the responsibility of defending
the Western world against threats to liberal ideas, he noted. “By functioning
as a democracy and as a free market economy ourselves, and more importantly,
by defending other democracies and serving as the hub of a working thriving
global economy, we help to keep that powerful example before the world,”
he said. “I believe it is that example which not only brought down communism,
but which is drawing the world towards these ideas.”
He said the United States pays too much attention to “the outsiders,
the rebels and the punks, [who] are noisy and dangerous.” In his opinion,
the vast majority of the world is willing to join “the international community
of which we are a part.”
For example, Turkey is a democracy and a working free market, he said. “That
should remind us that the Islamic world is not monolithic.”