What's With The Attitudes?

The media and bloggers are all pointing to this article about a Pew poll on attitudes about terrorism as a break through in the war against Islamofascism. From the Washington Post we get some good news:

"Most Muslim publics are expressing less support for terrorism than in the past. Confidence in Osama bin Laden has declined markedly in some countries, and fewer believe suicide bombings that target civilians are justified in the defense of Islam," the poll concluded.

The one exception is attitudes toward suicide bombings of U.S and Western targets in Iraq, a subject on which Muslims were divided. Roughly half of Muslims in Lebanon, Jordan and Morocco said such attacks are justifiable, while sizable majorities in Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia disagreed. Yet, support for suicide bombings in Iraq still declined by as much as 20 percent compared with a poll taken last year.

The results, which also reveal widespread support for democracy, show how profoundly opinions have changed in parts of the Muslim world since Pew took similar surveys in recent years. The poll attributed the difference in attitudes toward extremism to both the terrorist attacks in Muslim nations and the passage of time since the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

That is progress. However, a closer reading of the poll reveals some interesting features:

1. In Pakistan, 25% still support suicide bombings "in defense of Islam." That's 40 million people.
2. 57% of Jordanians support suicide bombings. Jordan is the only country to post an increase.
3. Large majorities in Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan and Morocco believe that Islam plays a large role in politics.
4. However, in Turkey and Morocco, this belief does lead to greater concerns about Islamic extremism.
5. Muslim attitudes towards Jews continue to reflect serious problems. 100% of Jordanians have an unfavorable view of Jews. Other Islamic countries that come in with significant unfavorables are Turkey (60%), Pakistan (74%), Indonesia (76%), Lebanon (99%) and Morocco (88%). Interestingly, Indians have a positive view (61%) of Christians, are evenly divided about Muslims and have almost no opinion on Jews.
6. Of non-Muslim countries, only the US and Russia (33%, each) has a lower percentage of people who think that head scarves should be banned than Great Britain, in which 29% of respondents believe that the head scarf should be banned.
7. A majority of Pakistanis (51%, up from 45%) express "some measure of confidence in Osama bin Laden. Support for bin Laden in Jordan is now at 60%.
8. Young Moroccans have a much more favorable view of the United States, as does both young and older Indonesians.

So while this poll is demonstrating the beginning, possibly, of a shift in attitudes in the Muslim world, more obviously has do be done. And if I was King Abdullah of Jordan, I'd be wondering what the hell was going on in my country.

UPDATE: Now that I think about it, I believe that Abdullah knows exactly what's going on in Jordan. I'll have some thoughts on that later.

Comments

[Vavoom]

I took a look at the Pew Study. If the vast majority of people in a given nation would prefer to have a system other than democracy/don't think democracy will work (Beliefs about Governance), shouldn't we allow them to decide for themselves how they'd like to be governed?

I understand that the study asked whether or not democracy can work in their respective country. I ask my question with a broader brush stroke.

Don't get me wrong, I love democracy. Still, I don't think we should force democracy on people that don't want it. Also, if people want Islam to play a role in their government, who are we to stop that?

What do you think, Daniel?

[Daniel]

I wrote a while ago about what I called the DID: Democratic Imposition Doctrine.

I used to complain about the US impulse to impose democracy on other countries, but I have recently come to the belief that democracy, while not a panacea, is the best hope (so far) for peoples to express their wishes. I have sympathy for the "who are we" arguments, but I am slowly coming to believe that the desire for self-determination is universal and that dictatorships represent a cancer on humanity.

I'm thinking you're referencing Jordan; maybe I'm wrong. I'm working on some background about Jordan, which I hope will give some insight to that country's off-the-charts responses. I hope to have it done this weekend.

As to saying that some peoples don't want democracy, how do we know that they understand what they are being offered before they get the whole story?

[Vavoom]

The link you've provided is busted, my friend. I'd love to read the post behind it, if you could redirect me.

I am interested to hear your thoughts on Jordan. I'll look for that post.

Well... I'm not so sure we can assume people don't "understand" what they're being offered. If they don't want it they don't want it. I find the term "democritization" frightening. It implies that we know what's best for others.

In any case, I would love to read more about DID, if you could provide the link.

[Daniel]

Blehh!! Sorry, I muffed the link. It's fixed now.

I probably misstated when I mentioned understanding. What I mean is that in many despotic countries democracy is (rightly) deemed a challenge to the power structure and thus is generally demonized by the government.

Too many times we assume that democracy is universally understood when it fact, it isn't. I mean here the mechanics and principles of representational governance.

I don't pretend to knw what's best for others; hell, I don't even know what's best for me! But I have a deep respect for the power of elective government and see democracy as a way--certainly not the way, but perhaps the best way--to elevate the lot of millions across the world. Plus, I admit that my view is self-serving. democracies may work at odds with each other, but they generally do not make war on each other. And less war would be good.

If you have time, read the post and let me know what you think. But remember, DID is a brand name. Anybody invoking it now has to pay me a penny every time it's used outside of discussion. So if I see you putting it up on your site, you're gonna get a big bill.

[Vavoom]

I read your post on DID. Very interesting. You raise several interesting points. However, I wonder if imposing anything on a group of people really implies sustainability.

The issue remains, if people are not committed to a given style of government, what chance does it have of succeeding? The Pew study was fascinating because it clearly demonstrates that these people want Islam to play a role in their political lives.

I'm concerned that we are not paying enough attention to that aspect of the issue. In imposing democracies on these nations, are we doing enough to ensure confidence that their desire for religious involvement is met? In short, I wonder if we are making clear that Islam and democracy are not mutually exclusive institutions.

[Daniel]

I agree that unless there is committment on the part of the population that democracy could fail. One can look at Russia and see that many Russians are turning their backs on democracy. Conversely, dictatorship needs no such endorsement from the people, so in many ways democracy is a much more delicate way to structure government. And dictatorships, as we see them, have demonstrated a certain sustainability while the momentum is lcearly behind representational governance. This is probably generational and thus likely to take more time in Islamic countries to approach universality.

There have been some Islamic leaders who have proclaimed that democracy is "un-Islamic," although I would bet that most Turks would disagree. And I think that you would disagree, also.

The interesting thing from the study (about this point) is that those who believe that Islam has a significant role in politics are the same ones who voice concern about it. So the mindset against democracy may beginning to change.

[Vavoom]

Daniel: Of course, I think democracy and Islam can cohabitate. Look at the vast number of Muslims that already live in democratic societies.

I took a closer look at the study. Could you point out where they did a suitable cross-correlation study between those that believe Islam plays a significant role in politics and those who voice concern about it? Absent such statistical analysis, we can conclude nothing about the overlap between those respondents. I must have missed it...

[Daniel]

Again, I left something out. I meant to say that those in Turkey and Morocco, not all Muslims, as is stated in the summary. On this page, about half-way down, there is a section on concerns about extremism. This seems mostly about Turkey and Morocco, along with Pakistan and Indonesia. But unless I'm reading the study wrong, it still looks like the majority of Muslims who think that Islam plays a growing role in politics see it as a good thing. It's more country specific than we in the west sometimes think.

So you didn't miss anything; I typed too fast and didn't explain myself adequately. Sorry.