| A strange loop.
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| A strange loop.
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SchismsCurrent domestic and international politics are in a great state of flux in this post-Cold War world. Just as the 20th Century was dominated by the struggles of Collectivism (Nationalism, Socialism, Communism, Fascism, Unionism) against Individualism; so the next century will be dominated by the struggles now playing out in the world around us. In the 20th century, a series of political and economic collectivist movements were in turn marginalized by the will of the Individualists in, primarily, the United States and the United Kingdom. In contrast, this century will be a time in which the Western nations attempt to define themselves, while simultaneously fighting off an existential threat from the Arab/Muslim worlds, which are themselves engaged in a deep and long-term struggle to define themselves.
In this post, I will summarize the two schisms. There will be further articles delving into each schism in more detail, and describing how it will be possible to preserve the Enlightenment. The specific topics of these articles are listed at the end of this post. I am writing this because I care deeply that the Enlightenment values win over the pomo/tranzi values, and that the West win over the Arab/Muslim world. In either case, defeat means at best a new Dark Age, and at worst it means the destruction of classical liberalism in the world. It is my hope that I will be able to help both in framing the debate, and in winning over converts to the side of classical liberalism and Enlightenment values.
In the Western nations, the schism is over how to secure freedom. On one side are the Classical Liberals, who champion the Enlightenment values of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. On the other side are the Postmodernists and Transnationlists (henceforth Pomo/Tranzi), who champion the values (lifted from the French Revolution) of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Since each of these factions shares a history and culture, they frequently use each other's memes and mores to their own ends.
The Western Struggle is, in the end, nothing more than a refinement and extension of the conflicts of the 20th century. The primary difference is that, while the 20th century struggles were between nations which each espoused different political and economic principles, the 21st century struggles will be within nations, between global movements with like ideologies. The nations themselves will influence and be influenced by this struggle, but this is less of a struggle of nation on nation than was the case in the last century. Now, the struggle is between groups of differing ideological bases which, thanks largely to television and the Internet, spread across many nations. In other words, there is a large-scale ideological struggle, which is mirrored in the actions of nations, based on which group is strongest in any given nation at any given time.
This struggle is taking place within the Western cultures, which include the European nations, their former colonies which retained European values (including the Americas, South Africa, Australia/New Zealand and India) and those nations which adopted Western values (including Israel, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan - and possibly including China). Another struggle, similar in some ways, is taking place within the Arab and Muslim worlds. These worlds do not overlap completely. The Arab nations are those which have predominantly Arab or assimilated populations, stretching from the Atlantic coast of northern Africa along the southern rim of the Mediterranean and across to Iraq, Syria/Lebanon and the Gulf States. The Muslim world is composed of the Muslims within the Arab world; non-Arab Muslim countries such as Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia; and Muslims in non-Muslim societies such as Europe. Not all Muslims are Arabs, and not all Arabs are Muslims. These worlds, too, are struggling with internal conflict.
In the Arab/Muslim worlds, the schism is over how best to restore and complete the Caliphate. One one side are the Arab Nationlists, who want to restore the Caliphate by uniting all Arabs into a single nation under the leadership of whichever Arab Nationalist is holding forth on the issue. Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Syria and the Palestinians fall into this camp. On the other side are the Militant Muslim Fundamentalists, who want to restore the Caliphate by uniting all Muslims into a single community under Sharia Law as interpreted and guided by whichever Militant Muslim Fundamentalist is holding forth on the issue. On this side are the Ayatollahs of Iran (and Hezbollah, under Iranian influence), the Taliban, the Wahabbi sect in Saudi Arabia and Al Qaeda and related groups (including Hamas - apparently the only significant Fundamentalist sect in the Palestinian conflict). As in the Western conflict, each side is deeply entwined in the history of the other, and often uses the memes and mores of the other side to their own ends.
The restoral of the Caliphate entails uniting all Arabs (for the Arab Nationalists) or Muslims (for the Militant Muslim Fundamentalists) into a single entity, then enlarging that entity to cover the world, either directly through control or indirectly through domination. For the Arab Nationalists, a resurgent Arab nation under their control would be sufficient, as long as it was a major power in the world. For the Fundamentalists, believing as they do that it is a religious obligation to convert every person in the world to either Islam or dhimmitude, there is no possibility of stopping with the unification of the Muslims.
Because it is generally forbidden for Muslims to kill Muslims, it is not possible for the Arab Nationalists and the Muslim Fundamentalists to directly fight each other. They could - it's not like there are not many, many, examples of Muslims killing each other in internecine conflicts - but in doing so they would alienate the vast majority of Muslims, who are more interested in trying to live a good and happy life than in being political. Since each movement needs the goodwill of the Muslim community generally, each has chosen to focus on the politically acceptable method of keeping score by who kills the most Infidels - with Jews counting for more than Gentiles as a general rule. (There is, after all, a religious component involved; though I believe that Militant Muslim Fundamentalism should be regarded as a political movement using religious memes for its source of legitimacy, rather than as a religious movement.) This goes a long way to explaining why each side calls Americans "Jews", even when it's a obviously meaningless thing to say. The goal of each of these movements is to boost their support within the Muslim community against the other movement, and killing Jews is a guaranteed way to get "street cred" in the Muslim world.
While each of these worlds is in internal conflict, the worlds are also in conflict with each other. This need not have been so; the West was content to navel gaze as long as we were allowed, and we'd happily go back to it if we thought that doing so wouldn't get us killed. September 11 woke the West to the fact that the Arab/Muslim struggle was using us as a scorecard. Well, at least, the Enlightened part of the West woke up; the pomo/tranzi crowd seems to be trying to slip back into a self-involved somnambulance. The story of this century - certainly of its first several decades - will be the story of how each of the two schisms is mended, and how the two cultures evolving out of those schisms interact and eventually fall into a stable relationship.
At the core of all of this is the inescapable conclusion that Osama bin Laden is correct in one important way: we are in the midst of a clash of civilizations, between the West and the Arab/Muslim worlds. Each of these cultures, though, is itself engaging in a struggle for internal definition. It is going to be a complicated and dangerous century. To quote Fezzik, in "The Princess Bride:" I hope we win.
UPDATE: Please note that I have decided not to continue this series per se. I'll write on these topics, but other writers are doing a better job of covering this than I can, and so this particular series would be not very useful, I think. Let me know if you disagree, and I'll revisit the idea.
Posted by Jeff at March 9, 2003 02:03 AM | Link Cosmos