Douglas J. Macdonald

The New Totalitarians: Social Identities and Radical Islamist Political Grand Strategy Douglas J. Macdonald

Much discussion has occurred over a possible "clash of civilizations" between the Muslim world and the West for the last decade. While controversial, the "clash" thesis has had a large influence in the debate over the causes of, and possible remedies for, the spread of terrorist activity. Dr. Douglas Macdonald argues that the social identity theory behind the "clash" thesis is useful for analyzing the tasks before us in the "Long War" on Terrorism. The "clash of civilizations" is not actually occurring, he argues, but is rather the end goal of radical Islamist political grand strategy. This is largely the result of the totalitarian nature of the beliefs of the radical Islamist terrorists: like the Fascists and Communists before them, they ultimately cannot allow alternative value systems to exist in areas they control. Their goal is to spread such totalitarian beliefs to the ummah, that is, the entire Muslim world, in order to create a violent "clash" with non-Muslim societies. . .