SWC Poll: What Motivates Islamist Terrorism against the West?
I'd like to get a poll of what SWC Members think, especially in the wake of thought-provoking post by David Kilcullen.
What motivates Islamist terrorism against the West?
I'm not speaking about Islamist terrorism against, say, Shia marketplaces or Algerian parliament buildings, but rather against Western targets: the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, Madrid rail stations, and London subways.
1) Is it principally the foreign policy of the West? No ideological judgment about whether said policy is correct or not required here.
2) Or is it principally an inevitable cultural/religious/ideological clash?
3) Something else?
Simplification and over...
When Huntington first came out with his clash of civilizations article I had 2 different reactions. First, he not only had oversimplified the issue and was simply wrong on some important details - eg Latin America is, in his view, not part of the West. Second, this theory predicts. Indeed, that is what theory is supposed to do. Science tends to disprove theory when its predictions are incorrect. The Ptolemaic cosmos predicted well enough until Copernicus showed it to predict wrongly.
So, how does Huntington's theory do as a predictor? So far, it is pretty good at identifying what he called "fault lines." Despite my friend Marct's correctly stated objections, I think we have to take this Huntington theory seriously and seek to test it on its own terms - that is, how well does it predict future events/explain (macro) past events.
Anarchists, communists, racists
I believe the answer lies in the broader question. What motivates individuals to join violent organizations? What leads Tim Mcveigh to bomb OKC? What leads anarchists to riot at the WTO? What gives rise to gang wars? How is Islamic hatred different than other insurgent/radical/guerilla? Either a personal trauma, an impoverished childhood, nothing better to do, ignorance or education could all lead to a break from the pro-social into anti-social/criminal/terrorists behavior. They believe they are justified or they believe they are going to get away with it.
Having gone off track a bit. I believe Opportunity and Means and some personal motivation incubated in a environment that will support the movement.
Just my personal opinions.