The Washington Monthly

September 6, 2005

REFORM IN THE MIDDLE EAST....Abu Aardvark passes along the conclusions from a recent study about the roots of support for terrorism in the Islamic world:

One set of findings wasn't surprising, but bears noting: the data consistently show that there is no relationship between levels of personal religiosity and attitudes towards democracy. Such findings should eventually begin to wear down the view that Islam is somehow incompatible with procedural democracy.

But the really interesting part was this: he ran regressions on nine different families of variables — everything from education to gender to religiosity to income — to find out what best explained expressions of support for terrorism. None of these shows any stasticially significant relationship. The only independent variables significantly correlated with support for terrorism were "negative views of U.S. foreign policy" and — and here's the interesting part — "negative views of one's own political system."

In other words, promoting systemic reform in Middle Eastern autocracies is probably good for the United States. It kills two birds with one stone, so to speak.

The aardvark also has some good words for Karen Hughes in her new role as head of public diplomacy in the State Department. Apparently she's on the right track.

—Kevin Drum 9:17 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (0)

Comments

November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002