Since the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, a large focus of the Western Powers, like the United States, has been on the Middle East. Out of this has come a conclusion that this area of the world is prone to be more violent than other parts and this is largely to due to the Islamic religion. This the West has concluded in large part through observation coupled with some qualitative data. However, is this an adequate assertion of the area, and of the religion of Islam? To begin various types of violence will be explored quantitatively and qualitatively to see if there is a difference in the level of violence seen in the Middle East as compared to Western States. Once it has been determined if there exists a difference in …show more content…
He states that the acts of violence in the Middle East have not been following the same decreasing pattern as seen by the rest of the world. To show this he employs a couple of methods. One of which he compares the number of interstate conflicts with the number of Islamic conflicts. By this graph, it can be clearly seen that since the 1990s, the number of interstate conflicts has been decreasing, but the number of Islamic conflicts has not. With the use of this data, he shows that the Middle East has not been following the trends of less violence as compared with the rest of the world (Pinker, 2011, pg 364-368). However, is this data alone to say that the Middle East is more violent? There are a number of issues need to be looked at besides conflict. One such issue that can be quantified is homicide rates. In comparing homicide rates from the Middle East with other Western States. Data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) from the years 1999-2011 shows these results:
There are a few issues with this data as it is difficult to get data and accurate date from this region due to the nature of some of the governments, however with what is provided there is enough to make a clear assumption. In this data, it can be seen that while a small number Middle Eastern States did see a decline in homicide the majority of them saw little to no change. One last issue is the number of
While we deal with our own feelings of fear and anger regarding the violence perpetrated against us, both physical and non-physical, it’s important to remember that we aren’t the only ones who feel victimized in the conflict. Perhaps it is true that the Middle East, for the most part, distains the West, but not for nothing and not even
Some explain how the Arab world fell behind the West in economic and social expansion, but the primary reason is due to the American intervention in the Middle East prior to 9/11. Throughout the Middle East, “America is perceived as a swaggering superpower that defends it interests (oil in the Persian Gulf) while ignoring its cultural impact” (Steinbrink and Cook 285). Widespread resentment against America results when the U.S. uses weapons against the Middle Eastern population in order to protect its own interests, while disregarding any possible effects that this may cause (Steinbrink and Cook 285). There are many different ways that the media can manipulate a story to make it pro-America and anti-Terrorist, thus it is very difficult to make sure whether the information being given is telling the actual story and not one that was manufactured to fit into propaganda of any
Over the past decade, wars and interventions in the Middle East have broken up existing states, fostered sectarianism and destroyed infrastructures, creating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. After years of revolutionary upheaval, the Arab world 's old system is on the verge of collapse. The United States and other countries bear the blame for this emergence and growth of the indigenous movements like the Taliban, AL-Qaeda, and IS. Order in the Middle East has been undermined by corrupt and illegitimate governments, abundance of energy resources, inadequate educational systems, and various religion-related and secular problems. Outside action have added to the problems, from poorly drawn national borders to recent interventions. In
The rise of radical Islam and it’s creation of it’s many terrorist groups is one of the largest political problems of the 21st century. The solution to this issue does not lie in blindly asserting military force within the Middle East, but rather targeting the root of the hate itself. Though, this does not disqualify military intervention. The target of this paper is to dissect the issues that create tension, with regards to the spectrum of modern terrorism, and to propose a solution to the conflict that rages on everyday. I believe that this is best accomplished through analyzing historical events and ideas that created our current situation. I will look into a few crucial events that I believe lead radical groups to harbor hatred towards
The 1994 Human Development report defines it as “concerns about the security of people who seek security in their day-to-day lives, examples would be: protection from the threat of disease, hunger, crime, social conflict, political repression and environmental hazards” (UNDP, 1994, p. 22). Now that it has been defined, Wheeler is able to confirm that in the Middle East, people have been living a life that lacks human security. The majority of Middle Eastern citizens have been in the midst of death and fear, and that lifestyle is unacceptable for the sake of
But, statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have shown that the homicide rates in the states against the death
This manuscript will include the summaries of my findings in each country along with some details here and there of what I think is some of the most interesting information I have gathered. Preceding these summaries, I will then explain the conclusions I have come to concerning the outcomes of my research during the past five months in the Middle East.
The Middle East as a whole has been generally one of the most violent regions in recent history. A major difference between the Middle East and Europe is that that unlike Europe, the Middle East is not unified nor is their sense of equality. Syria has experienced violent uprisings and war crimes fueled by the masses rebelling against an oppressive dictatorship. Indeed, the differences between the haves and the have nots are significant and often the cause of conflict where the ones less fortunate take to arms in an effort to better their situation.
As such many groups have attached themselves to one side or another claiming to fight for or represent them. The United States in particular has been a target of many groups in the Middle east. The United States involvement in the Middle east to many seems like a continuation of the western involvement into the area after WWI. This involvement as created a resistance to American occupation with the term “Islam is under attack”, becoming a religious call to arms. As such groups like Al Qaeda have attacked Americans and have ultimately changed the world after September 11, 2001. This attack undoubtedly highlights the global and international concern directed towards the area, as this attack initiated America’s global war on terror. This war led to heavy U.S. involvement in the Middle East with the toppling of government in Iraq, which arguably lead to the creating of the Islamic State or I.S.I.S. Consequently, the issues, conflicts, and violence of the, Middle East has always been an international concern and will remain until, the social, cultural and territorial boundaries of the area are
The first four figures provide a condensed version of the results pertaining to the first hypothesis. The data, specifically the mean value in Figure 1 illustrates that terrorist groups that were not motivated by religion averaged approximately 1.1 deaths per attack, whereas ideological groups that were motivated by a religious component averaged almost four times that number at roughly 4.3 deaths per an attack. This difference is also apparent when looking at the number of casualties associated with each group. Based upon Figure 2, terrorist groups that were not motivated by a religious component averaged roughly 2 casualties per an attack, whereas religiously motivated terrorists, averaged roughly 4.6 casualties per an attack.
Treligious tension runs high acroos all regions of the world, but when looking at statistics of religious conflicts the middle east has the greatest amount of religious war and turmoil than any other region of the world. Whether it be due to a diverse amount of rleligions spanning the close circumfrance of the middle east or because of political power, religious conflict is very prevalent in the middle eats. Algeria is no acceptoiin to this observation.
The resurgence of conflict between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims has created turmoil in the Middle East. Most recently, it has had a hand in causing the Syrian Civil War. This war has created economic conflict, a revival of jihadi networks, and an oppression of women and children. It is because of these reasons, that the
Surveys shows there has been a majority opinion that religion is the cause of recent suicide-terrorist attack around the world. In the wake of recent terrorist attacks, Western culture has jumped to an easy and apparent conclusion that seeking to eliminate terrorism means realizing the motivations of the terrorists. The perpetrators of most of these terrorist attack, have all claimed motivation from their religion. However, religious beliefs and opinions plays a significant role in the lives of individuals as they deal with concerns affecting their societies. Religions teaches about vital aspect on believers’ lives and make available a significant vision for it, which always colors its followers’ socio-political goals, actions, and deeds. This paper focuses on recent terrorist attacks around the world. As we know, religion in its cleanest practice has conveyed countless benefits for humankind, but it has also been used as a reason for persecution and war. This contributes to my claim that religion is a contributing factor to terrorism for the reasons that most doctrines are being misinterpreted and religion is used as a criteria for terrorist recruitment campaign.
In the Middle East, emphasis is put on names; Arabic honorific names are often used in preference to given names (Shaker, F. 2011). Eventually, they could share the same language, nationality or religion but having different life styles. Muslims eating habits are expected to be in function of their religious beliefs, by Islam regulations as described in the Qur’an and dictated by the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammed. Muslims consume all kind of food, except for the ones prohibited in Islam. Food cleanliness is one of their priority, nails, hair, mouth, teeth must be properly washed to prevent food contamination, and they use a “Mismark” before every meal which is a specific tooth cleaner proper to their culture. Islam teaching them that their food is provide by Allah for their survival and to maintain good health. Therefore, before starting eating, they must bless the food in the name of Allah; Muslims are advised to eat slowly with moderation. Muslims believe in sharing with others and eating together is value to them it brings harmony and facilitate better family relationships. Some Muslims were meat lovers in Guyana: The diet of the Pathan Afghan Guyanese was quite different from that of the Indian Muslims but eventually the authentic cuisine of the Afghans died as the few remaining Afghans interbred with non-Afghan Muslims. Her family’s physical features, culture and diet stood out among their Muslims brethren community. She always had an entourage of people
The major demographic changes in the Middle East and North Africa have been the massive increase in population, and urbanization which has seen the emergence of many large cities throughout the region. The reasons for this have been because of better health care, greater mobility of the population, economic opportunities in the cities and political changes.