Instead, it is increasingly evident that stark political conditions have weighed heavily on the nature of either side's identity, indicating that that conformity is a powerful force in the Islamic world.
Social Perception and Social Cognition:
Social perception and social cognition are rampantly distorted in many parts of the Middle East. For many Shiite and Sunni combatants, a lack of access to education, history or the ability to critically assess global events can elevate the ability of clerics, political leaders and tribal warlords to manipulate followers into perceiving this as a centuries-old conflict. This produces a pattern of social cognition for those on both sides which only understands the conflict as that which may be characterized as having roots with the will of Mohammed himself.
In reality, "if you read the newspapers in the 1950s and 1960s, you don't see anything about Sunni-Shiite riots. There were peasant/landlord struggles or communists vs. Baathists. The kind of sectarian fighting we're seeing now in Iraq is new in its scale and ferocity, and it was the Americans who unleashed it." (HNN, 1) This constitutes the most important feature of tribal-infighting in contexts such as Iraq, Iran and, to a larger extent, throughout much of the developing world where resource and political exploitation have persisted. The unwanted presence of the United States, the insertion of political instability and the undermining of one side in favor of the other at its convenience has helped to project the impression of a state of civil war. Moreover, it has succeeded at projecting this as a war with roots dating back many thousands of years....
Culturally, the Bush administration failed miserably at understanding what needed to be done within the Iraqi cultures. For example, Diamond notes that the U.S. tried to build security through an Iraqi police for4ce but that effort "withered from haste, inefficiency, poor planning, and sheer incompetence." Cops were rushed on the job with "too little training, insufficient vetting, and shamefully inadequate equipment" (Diamond, 2004). The U.S. lacked "an effective political strategy
Cause of Armed Conflict In the aftermath of 911 and as an effect of the 'War on Terror', religion can be clearly seen as major cause of armed conflict. Such views, however, have fallen on fertile ground, following the massive debates about Samuel P. Huntington's clash of civilizations thesis, and the increased analytical attention to the interface between religion and conflict throughout most of the 1990s. Although few analysts will argue
1. The terroism eras before and after 9/11 are quite different with respect to the role that the Israel/Palestine conflict plays. Since 9/11, the majority of terrorist incidents in the United States are committed by domestic, right-wing terrorists (Neiwert, et al, 2017), and the majority of "jihadist" terrorists are domestic, not imported, there remains a threat from the Middle East. Within the segment of homegrown jihadist-inspired terrorists, there were some
Israel and the Arab WorldIntroductionThe history of modern Israel and the Arab world is a history of tension and violence that has gone on for decades. It is a history characterized by numerous wars, accusations of genocide, threats of annihilation, and bitter hostilities punctuated intermittently by peace agreements like the Camp David Accords, signed during the Carter Administration to ease tensions between Israel and Egypt. This paper will describe the
Shi'ism in the World & the Shiite Islamic Sect in Nigeria Shi'ism in the World History, Objectives & General Outlook Shiite Muslims make up the second biggest denomination of Islam, with the biggest numbers being represented by the Sunnis. The Shiite Muslims form about fifteen percent of Muslims. However, they are dominant in the nations of Iran, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Bahrain. In addition, Muslims have a plurality in Yemen and Lebanon too (Cave,
Middle East comprises a diverse group of regions, countries, peoples, customs, and cultures. On the one hand, it is daunting to offer a semester-long course that treats all Middle Eastern issues with clarity and fairness. The risk of oversimplification, however, is outweighed by the risk of ignorance. This course will explore the Middle East with as much depth and breadth as possible, stimulating student thought on political, social, religious,
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