The Real Roots of Arab Anti- Americanism. This article has been reproduced in its entirety with the permission of Foreign Affairs. DAMN YANKEES. Since last year's attacks on New York and Washington, the conventional wisdom about the motivation behind such deadly terrorism has gelled. The violence, we are often told, was a reaction to misguided U. S. For years, certain American actions - - such as the country's support for Israel and for unpopular, oppressive Arab regimes - - had supposedly produced profound grievances throughout the Middle East. Those grievances came to a boil over time, and finally spilled over on September 1. The result was more than 3,0.
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Anti-Americanism in Electoral Politics. Real Roots of Arab Anti-Americanism. The Real Roots of Arab Anti-Americanism Created Date: 20160730053527Z.
- THE REAL ROOTS OF ARAB ANTI AMERICANISM.
- 2002) The Real Roots of Arab Anti-Americanism.
- Of the arab left - rosalux.de.pdf. The Real Roots of Arab Anti-Americanism.
- Middle Eastern Foreign Policy.
- Preface This thesis is the final research of my Master’s study Global History and International Relations at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam.
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American deaths. Arab and Muslim hatred of the United States is not just, or even mainly, a response to actual U. S. Rather, such animus is largely the product of self- interested manipulation by various groups within Arab society, groups that use anti- Americanism as a foil to distract public attention from other, far more serious problems within those societies. If Arab anti- Americanism turns out to be grounded in domestic maneuvering rather than American misdeeds, neither launching a public relations campaign nor changing Washington's policies will affect it. In fact, if the United States tries to prove to the Arab world that its intentions are nonthreatening, it could end up making matters even worse. New American attempts at appeasement would only show radicals in the Middle East that their anti- American strategy has succeeded and is the best way to win concessions from the world's sole superpower. The United States is blamed for much that is bad in the Arab world, and it is used as an excuse for political and social oppression and economic stagnation. By assigning responsibility for their own shortcomings to Washington, Arab leaders distract their subjects' attention from the internal weaknesses that are their real problems.
And thus rather than pushing for greater privatization, equality for women, democracy, civil society, freedom of speech, due process of law, or other similar developments sorely needed in the Arab world, the public focuses instead on hating the United States. Obviously, the United States, like all countries, has tried to pursue a foreign policy that accords with its own interests. But the fact remains that these interests have generally coincided with those of Arab leaders and peoples. For example, the United States may have had its own reasons for saving Kuwait from annexation by Iraq's secular dictatorship in 1.
After all, Washington could have used the war as a pretext to seize Kuwait's oil fields for itself or demand lower prices or political concessions in exchange for fighting off Iraq. And in such conflicts, the United States has generally backed parties with a strong claim to Arab or Islamic legitimacy. This trend can be traced back to the 1. Egypt, Syria, and later Iraq became dictatorships friendly to Moscow and menaced Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. Even then, the United States, hoping to demonstrate its sympathy for Arab nationalism, sought good relations with Egypt's president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and prevented his overthrow by the United Kingdom, France, and Israel in the 1. Suez war. For this reason, the United States wooed Egypt, accepted Syria's hegemony over Lebanon, and did little to punish states that sponsored terrorism.
The United States also became Islam's political patron in the region, since traditionalist Islam, then threatened by radical Arab nationalism, was seen as a bulwark against avowedly secular communism. Such rhetoric became a convenient way for radical regimes to establish their own legitimacy and to brand their moderate opponents as Western puppets. Radical Arab regimes (whether nationalist or Islamist) also accused U. S.- backed moderate governments of being antidemocratic or of ignoring human rights, even though the radical regimes - - such as Libya, Syria, Iraq, and revolutionary Iran - - had far worse records themselves. When the United States helps friendly governments such as Egypt's or Saudi Arabia's, it is accused of sabotaging revolutionary movements against them. As soon as Washington starts to pressure Arab governments into improving their positions on democracy or human rights, however, it is accused of acting in an imperialist manner - - as happened this summer, when the White House threatened to block any increase in aid to Cairo after Egypt jailed Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a prominent human rights advocate.
If Washington did nothing and friendly regimes were overthrown, the radical conquerors would be unlikely to show any gratitude for U. S. During Iran's 1. Washington clearly wanted the shah to survive, it nonetheless restrained him from taking tougher actions to save his throne. And once the revolution had succeeded, President Jimmy Carter then sought to conciliate the new Islamist government. And even though relations subsequently soured, Washington has never seriously tried to overthrow the Islamic government; on the contrary, it has periodically sought detente with Tehran.
Consider the following. In 1. 97. 3, the United States rescued Egypt at the end of the Arab- Israeli War by forcing a cease- fire on Israel. Washington then became Cairo's patron in the 1.
Washington's support for Arafat and his Palestine Liberation Organization overlooked a history of Palestinian terrorism and anti- Americanism as well as the plo's alignment with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In the 1. 99. 0s, moreover, despite the Palestinians' backing of Iraq during the Gulf War, the United States became the Palestinians' sponsor in the peace process with Israel, pushing for an agreement that would create a Palestinian state with its capital in east Jerusalem.
It has supported Muslim Pakistan against India and Muslim Turkey against Greece. Washington has courted Damascus, even tacitly accepting Syria's control over Lebanon. The United States supported Arab Iraq against Persian Iran during the Iran- Iraq War and also refrained from overthrowing Saddam Hussein after pushing him out of Kuwait in 1. They entered, in fact, only when invited in to protect Arab oil tankers against Iran and to save Kuwait from Iraq.
In Somalia, where no vital U. S. Nor did it take advantage of the Soviet Union's demise to dominate the Levant or take revenge against former Soviet allies there. Similarly, it did not use its overwhelming military strength to dominate the Persian Gulf region after 1. And when al Qaeda blew up two U. S. Finally, since September 1.
American leaders have taken pains to remind the world (and the American public) that Islam and Arabs are not U. S. Yet what credit has Washington received for its aid? Arab anti- American radicals have distorted the record, ignoring all the positive examples and focusing only on U.
S. Even Arab moderates, direct beneficiaries of U. S. There are several explanations. First, whatever the extent of Americans' failure to understand the region, Middle Easterners' inability to understand the United States has been greater. Throughout the region, leaders and movements have always expected Washington to try to conquer them and wipe out its enemies - - since, after all, this is what the locals would do if they controlled the world's most powerful country. It is hardly surprising that the masses, shut off from accurate data and constantly fed antagonistic views, have grown hostile to the United States. Those who could present a more accurate picture of America are discouraged from doing so by peer pressure, censorship, and fear of being labeled U. S. The United States, for example, is blamed for the suffering of Muslims whom it protected in Kosovo and Bosnia.
Take, for example, Saddam Hussein, who has started two wars, killed hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Arabs, looted and vandalized Kuwait, threatened his neighbors, tortured and repressed his own people, used chemical weapons against opponents and civilians, fired missiles against population centers, and tried to develop nuclear arms so as to dominate the region. Despite his record, Arabs throughout the Middle East are constantly told by their leaders that the United States is the party responsible for Iraq's problems, and that Washington is the one seeking to dominate the Persian Gulf.
Israel's true nature and policies are also distorted as part of this picture. This latter element is critical to the salience of the first in anti- American rhetoric, for if one believes that Israel is an evil force seeking to dominate the Middle East, kill Arabs, and destroy Islam, it would follow that one would view American aid to Israel as a supreme evil.
The truth, however, is that the United States has merely helped Israel survive efforts from Arab neighbors to remove it from the map. The U. S.- Israel relationship was in fact quite ambivalent for most of Israel's first quarter- century of existence, with the United States generally refusing to supply arms or other aid. The link only intensified in the face of hostile actions by Arab states, which aligned themselves with the Soviet Union and sponsored anti- American terrorism. And despite such hostility, the U. S. Such a result, after all, would undermine the radicals' chances of seizing power. This is why terrorism has always increased whenever it seemed that the diplomatic pursuit of peace might succeed.
Hence Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, urged by the United States, was greeted in the region not as a step toward ending occupation or achieving peace, but as a sign of weakness and a signal that Israel's enemies should escalate violence against it. The September 1. 1 attacks, meanwhile, were planned at a time when the peace process seemed closest to success. It is no accident that Middle Eastern anti- Americanism peaked at the very moment when the United States was proposing to support the creation of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in east Jerusalem.
Anti- Americanism - Public Diplomacy - Wikia. Anti- Americanism is a colloquial term used to imply negative attitudes and/or opinions regarding the United States. Following September 1. Gallup Poll, Pew's 2.
Global Attitudes Survey, and others highlighted extreme negative perceptions of the United States, usage of the term has intensified- -particularly among public diplomacy practitioners and academics. There is now a growing body of literature that seeks to uncover the roots and repercussions of heightened levels of anti- Americanism. Currently, the Iraq War has increased anti- American sentiment around the globe as US intentions for going to war are questioned.
Anti- Americanism entered the American political lexicon in earnest in 2. Pew Global Attitudes Survey: What the World Thinks, which documented a steep decline in public opinion about the United States following 9- 1. Subsequent Pew surveys from their Global Attitudes Project have found equally depressed attitudes towards the United States. Polls such as one conducted by the BBC for their programme . Similarly, Pew surveys document an appreciation for values like democracy, freedom of speech and elections – values which Americans closely associate with their image abroad. However, these polls also illustrate that many societies see a sharp degree of hypocrisy in America’s espousing of these values abroad.
For example, the Pew survey, “What the World Thinks in 2. U. S. Majorities in ten out of the eleven countries surveyed felt that the U. S. Regarding Israel, many Arabs believe that the US support for Israel is unfair. They know that the USA provides Israel with economic and military support which is then used to target Palestine and that US foreign policy regarding the Arab- Israeli conflict is shaped by the United States’ extreme and unthinking pro- Israel views. RUBIN (2. 00. 2) posits that Arab anti- Americanism does not stem from US policies, but rather because key Arab leaders attribute .
The recent international broadcasting efforts – Alhurra and Radio Sawa, were an attempt to provide a more pro- U. S. He argues that anti- Americanism does not come from a . He finds that Arabs admire the affluence of the U. S. In September 2. Danish newspaper printed twelve cartoon depictions of the prophet Muhammad, which is blasphemous to the Islamic religion. Initial protests were directed at Denmark and other Northern European countries in which publications republished the cartoons, but ultimately spread to many other Western nations including the United States. Debates ensued on whether it was right for Denmark and other European countries that reprinted the cartoons to publish them and how far they should go to defend freedom of speech.
The Gallup poll that took place February 9- 1. Americans thought that European newspapers that printed the cartoons “acted irresponsibly.” The same poll also found that 6.
Muslim intolerance of different viewpoints whereas 2. Western nations’ lack of respect for Islam.”.
The recent 4. 7- Nation Pew Global Attitudes Survey found that more than three- in- four Palestinians, Turks, Egyptians, and Jordanians have unfavorable views of the United States. Only 9% of those surveyed in Turkey, a NATO ally, have favorable views of the U. S., down from 3. 0% in 2.
These organizations are trying to heal the divide between Middle Easterners and Westerners. Embrace of American products and cultural artifacts remains rampant, as does anti- American sentiment. In a Pew Research Center survey entitled What the World Thinks in 2.
Japanese and 2. 3% of South Koreans think that the United States takes into consideration the interests of their own countries in making international policy decision. However, the same survey showed that majorities in both of those countries find Americans to be favorable, 7. Japan and 6. 1% in South Korea.
South Korean opinion of the United States in 2. United States and 4. Chinese feel that U. S. Only 2. 8% of Chinese have positive views of the United States. Despite the alliance between the two, SHIN (1.
North Korea are responsible for inciting anti- American sentiment in the South, escalating with the Kwuangju uprising in May 1. U. S. BONG (2. 00. Korean War and does not consider the North as posing a nuclear threat. They would rather be unified with the North. In addition, younger generations believe that when the US withdraws its troops, South Korea can show that it is self- sufficient in the area of national security.
In a Pew Global Attitude Project publication, Global Opinion: The Spread of Anti- Americanism, 6. South Korea said that they do not like the spread of American ideas and customs. American society is viewed as threatening to the national identity of the Korean people.
South Korea’s “Sunshine Policy” and a desire for a unified Korea are causing conflicts with the United States. Debate over unifying or liberating Taiwan from mainland China, dating back to the Taiwan Strait Crises of 1. China and the United States. According to MA (2.
Chinese blame the US for any issues that arise in the bilateral relationship between China and Taiwan and they believe that US support of Taiwan is an effort to weaken their country. Chinese nationalism calls for Taiwanese unification, and with the US supporting the Taiwanese government, Chinese nationalism has turned into anti- American sentiment. In China, 7. 7% believe that the U.
S. Times, “China’s Charm Offensive” Joshua Kurlantzick argues that Chinese leaders today present themselves as an alternative to the “meddling power of the West” maintaining that China is offering aid to countries in need, but not interfering with their domestic affairs. In another article by Kurlantzick China’s Charm: Implications of Chinese Soft Power, he believes that the growth in China’s soft power, the ability to influence through persuasion rather than coercion, has led to China’s new and favorable image in the world. The Program on International Policy Attitudes 2.
Nation Poll on China in 2. China has a mainly positive influence in the world, including positive ratings from neighboring countries, as well as positive views on their growing economic power. The results showed that China is viewed more positively than the United States, as the U.
S. The Pew Global Attitudes survey America’s Image Slips, but Allies Share U. S. Concerns over Iran, Hamas found that 6. Japanese have favorable views of the United States, down from 7. Despite the decrease in America’s image, Americans are viewed more favorably, with 8. Japanese having positive feelings towards American people. Support for the War on Terror has waned, falling from 6.
However, to keep American’s image high, THAYER (1. Pacific War time has been to displace Japanese nationalism with associating Japan with the free world, thus increasing positive attitudes towards the United States.
Much of the anti- American sentiment in Europe stems from the competition that occurs today between the United States and powerful countries in Europe, such as France, Great Britain and Germany. A London- based newspaper in October 2. French author Philippe Roger’s view that French anti- Americanism thrives when “France feels divided” and through denouncing America, tension is relieved.
However, Czech President Vaclav Klaus described European anti- Americanism as “fashionable” and “frustrating” in a 2. Czech newspaper. He encouraged Europe to become more individualistic and dynamic; qualities he attributed to America’s well- being. Those surveyed from Germany, France, and Great Britain have increasingly viewed the U.
S. Those results combined show that in 2. Germany, 6. 2% of those in France, and 3. Great Britain have unfavorable views of the United States, up from 3. This type of anti- Americanism comes from bitterness over the loss of their great power status and the image of America not as an ally, but as a powerful, domineering nation. However, KROES (2. Jean- Fran. According to Revel, many French elites believe that France is an alternative to the “American way” and the United States represents “everything that threatens to erode what France stands for.”.
According to the Program on International Policy Attitudes, French views of the United States have been very negative with 6. U. S. 9. 2% of those in France disapprove of the handling of the War in Iraq and only 9% see the United States as a stabilizing force in the Middle East. Since the “war on terror” has occupied the minds of the U.
S. There is an overwhelming sense that the United States is unresponsive to Latin America’s concerns, but at the same time expecting support for the war. This has led to growing anti- American sentiment in the area. The polls conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) in late 2. U. S. Only one third of those surveyed in Brazil and Chile believe that the U. S. Results were lower in Mexico and Argentina with 1. Majorities in each country highly disagree with the U.
S. His opinions, however, are not backed by any public survey. The blogger states that after the September 1. Brazil felt that the attacks were deserved and wish that more damage had been done. The same article discusses how anything (media, debates) that is observed as “bad” is quickly attributed to George W.
Anti- Americanism, according to al- TOHAMI (2. American policies and the position of the American administration on the rights of other people. He makes it clear that it is not directed towards the American people themselves. However, in a Pew Global Attitudes Report, entitled U.
S. Image Up Slightly, But Still Negative, they found that although the American people are still held in a higher regard than America, the gap has narrowed. Those surveyed rated Americans on 3 positive qualities (hardworking, inventive and honest) and four negative qualities (greedy, violent, rude and immoral).
From the results, people around the globe associate qualities such as hardworking, inventive, greedy and violent with Americans. Response to Anti- Americanism.