Quote Originally Posted by KingJaja View Post
This may be unrelated, but I must say it because I live in Lagos, Nigeria - not New York or London.

1. Religious narratives are gaining traction in the developing World. The attraction is not primarily political, it is spiritual.

2. These narratives are "accessible" to the poor in the way no Western narrative is likely to ever be.

3. What is is the "Western narrative"? Is it capitalism - that doesn't work for the poor? Or "freedom" - that the West often abandons for expediency (whether it is Paul Kagame in Rwanda or Al Sisi in Egypt)? How is the West going to fight this "battle of ideas"?

4. What possibly could be the West's "long-term plan" for countering these narratives since it no longer has the military might nor the legitimacy to enforce its will on people in the developing World - nor a narrative that gels with the World's poor?
1. Spiritual fills a void (most humans are spiritual, intellectual, and physical), and also provides a narrative that explains what is happening in the world. I think AQ and Islamist narrative resonates because so far it does explain what is happening in the world to many poor and not so poor people. Early 2000s, there was an article in the San Antonio Times that expressed surprise in how many Mexican Catholics were converting to Islam, the reporter interviewed a few converts, and they said Islam explains what is happening in the world and fills a void that Christianity didn't. It would be interesting to explore that further and identify what that void is, and if it is the same void that leads some Muslims to take an extremist path.

2. Agree very strongly, but our Department of State doesn't seem to recognize this. This may be an unfair comment, but we tend to keep pushing the same narrative even though it fails to resonate with only a few educated people at tea parties and who have some degree of wealth. We're not so good at sensing ground truth in the masses who are living off a dollar or so per day.

3. I think the Western narrative is freedom, democracy, and capitalism (free markets). Freedom means different things to different people, an Islamist may desire to be free of Western forms of government so he can impose his views and laws on others. Democracy is a messy form of government, and young democracies are highly unstable and the majority fail. I tend to agree with Churchhill that it is the least bad form of governance, but you can't transition to a democracy overnight. Certain conditions must be created over decades related to education, economics, social norms, etc. before it has a chance to develop. Capitalism and free markets mean competition, when there is competition there are losers and winners, and those living off a dollar a day are going to compete effectively against those that have means (money, education, networks, etc.). Capitalism will likely be losing proposition for the economically oppressed, and simply expose them to more exploitation. Again we need to identify transitional/condition setting objectives to enable that transition if we insist on keeping this as a goal.

4. In my opinion we need to slow our roll and deeply self-reflect about what we want to accomplish in the world, what can be accomplished, and what is moral. I'm just one voter among millions, and I'm not aware of any politicians in our country running on that platform, so it is just another worthless set of ideas from one concerned American.