Article
Tracking the War of Ideas: A Poll of Ottawa Muslims
Terrorism and Political Violence
(2011)
Abstract
A 2008 poll of 430 Ottawa Muslims found predominantly negative views of the U.S. war on terrorism, including the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. This poll also assessed approval of Western powers (U.S., Canada, Israel, United Nations) and challengers of Western power (Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hizballah, government of Iran). Surprisingly, attitudes of Ottawa Muslims toward militant Muslim groups were unrelated to their attitudes toward Western governments. Discussion suggests that this pattern, if confirmed in other Muslim polls, would mean that the war of ideas against radical Islam must address not one target but two: favorable opinions of militants and unfavorable opinions of the U.S. Muslims who come to like the West more may not like Muslim militants any less.
Keywords
- Clash of Civilizations,
- Muslim militants,
- Ottawa Muslims,
- terrorism,
- U.S. government,
- war in Afghanistan,
- war in Iraq,
- war of ideas
Disciplines
Publication Date
November, 2011
Publisher Statement
Taylor & Francis Group
Citation Information
Bidisha Biswas, Clark McCauley, Christian Leuprecht, Todd Hataley, et al.. "Tracking the War of Ideas: A Poll of Ottawa Muslims" Terrorism and Political Violence Vol. 23 Iss. 5 (2011) p. 804 - 819 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/bidisha-biswas/3/