Guest Blog: Winning the War of Ideas

I'm always on the lookout for sharp new blogging talent, and Darren Kaplan's blog fits the bill. This guest article is timely in light of our recent discussions about Dialogue. It will become even more timely when you read Hungarian Ambassador Simonyi's excellent Guest Blog later this week!

The War of Ideas
by Darren Kaplan

Far too many well-informed and otherwise intelligent people have confused the "war of ideas" we are fighting in conjunction with the War on Terror with the question of whether or not the populations of Arab and Muslim countries have favorable opinions of the United States. Since survey after survey repeatedly shows that people in Arab and Muslim countries have exceedingly poor opinions of the United States, the corresponding but flawed assumption is that we must be losing the "war of ideas."

Case in point: this piece in Slate by Daniel Benjamin. Benjamin correctly identifies the problem:

"Rumsfeld observes that we have no "metrics" for judging how well we are doing in the larger war on terror. Surely a key issue is whose ideas are gaining ground."

Benjamin goes on to describe the sermons and public statements of Muslim clerics, "delivering pronouncements that approach Osama Bin Laden's in spirit, depicting America as the head of world infidelity whose presence in Iraq justifies jihad," the popularity and frequency of which are surely indicative of the United States' relative success in the war of ideas.

But then Benjamin commits an all too common error:

"Rumsfeld might also consider polling data, such as the June results from the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which shows majorities in seven of eight Muslim nations surveyed believing their countries are militarily threatened by the United States-again, much as Bin Laden argues."
The assumption is that we're losing the war of ideas because the majority in 7 of 8 predominantly Muslim countries feel threatened by the United States. The Pew Global Attitudes Project has some polling numbers that are far more revealing of Muslim antipathy toward the U.S. than the ones cited by Benjamin, but that's not important for our purposes - Benjamin's contention that large majorities of Muslims dislike and fear the U.S. is not subject to dispute.

Rather, what should be in dispute is Benjamin's assumption that because large majorities of Muslims dislike and fear the U.S., the U.S. must therefore be losing the war of ideas. Permit me to suggest that Benjamin's assumption is fatally flawed, and that the U.S. can and likely will have no choice but to win the war of ideas without winning the love and admiration of the Muslim world.

The War within the War

I'll concede that finding yardsticks for success in the war of ideas is an exceedingly difficult proposition. Still, gauging success or failure by asking people in some of the poorest and most powerless countries of the world what their feelings are toward the richest and most powerful country in history seems like a highly suspect methodology.

Anti-Americanism is a fact of life well beyond the Muslim world, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Much has already been written on that subject, to which I have nothing to add except that the objective fact of Muslim anti-Americanism does not necessarily doom the U.S. in the war of ideas it is fighting in the War on Terror. To the contrary, those who focus on the universally negative attitudes toward the United States and its policies held by Muslims as a "metric" of success in the war of ideas are putting the cart before the horse.

The war of ideas is not a global popularity contest with George W. Bush running against bin Laden for prom king. The war of ideas is an attempt to alter the fundamental thinking of the Muslim world (and particularly the Arab portion of the Muslim world) so that concepts antithetical to radical Islam (chiefly democracy, secularism and civil rights) become highly prized while those concepts from which radical Islam draws sustenance (chiefly "victimism," Islamic supremacy and jealousy of western success) become valueless. In the end, it would of course, be preferable if Muslims also loved the U.S., but that unlikely outcome is unnecessary in order to prevail in the war of ideas.

Instead, we should concentrate on how ideas antithetical to radical Islam are faring in the Arab and Muslim world.

Reports From the Front Lines

In that regard, the Pew Global Attitudes Project gives much reason for hope. Consider that the study also found that:

"Despite soaring anti-Americanism and substantial support for Osama bin Laden, there is considerable appetite in the Muslim world for democratic freedoms. The broader, 44-nation survey shows that people in Muslim countries place a high value on freedom of expression, freedom of the press, multi-party systems and equal treatment under the law."

That's unquestionably a positive sign in the war of ideas against Islamism, which by definition refutes freedom of religion and expression, multi-party elections and equal treatment under the law. In those countries where Islamists have actually managed to fully secure the reigns of government, freedom of expression and the press, multi-party systems competing for real power and equal treatment of all are usually the first things to go. Those facts are self-evident even to Muslims. History also shows that Islamists have had little appeal in free societies that value freedom of speech, freedom of religion and multiparty elections. Islamists have only prevailed in societies where those values never took hold in the first place.

What the Pew Global Attitudes Project evidences is that the weapons we wield in the war of ideas are far more powerful than those of the Islamists. So powerful are those weapons in fact, that they likely transcend the antipathy with which Muslims hold the U.S. as the wielder. Accordingly, the connection between the successful penetration of pro-democracy and freedom ideals into the Muslim world and a positive view of the United States in that same Muslim world would seem to be tenuous at best.

It is even possible for the United States to prevail in the war of ideas and still be detested in Arab and Moslem countries. Indeed, so long as the United States remains at the apex of the world, that is, in fact, the most likely outcome of the war of ideas. Sadly, jealousy of the powerful is a prevailing force even in free societies. The difference is that victory in the war of ideas will ensure that such jealousy will be unlikely to result in violence and terrorism perpetrated against the U.S. and its citizens. Free societies are simply much less hospitable to violent movements even when that violence is directed at other countries. We do not, for example, fear attacks by Brazilian terrorists despite the fact that the Pew Global Attitudes Project indicates that the Brazilians have unfavorable attitudes towards the United States (only 34% favorable) in similar proportions to for example, Lebanese (only 27% favorable). (Pew Survey June 2003 p. 19)

The Lessons of History

The United States has already won a war of ideas at least once in the Muslim world, that's why we are no longer confronting a communist threat on top of the Islamist one we currently face in the Middle East. Nevertheless, our victory in that war of ideas did not result in an outpouring of love for the United States among Muslims. To the contrary, our victory over communist ideas actually resulted in an increase in loathing for the United States all over the world. (Apparently, nobody likes an uncontested champion.) Yet, our victory in the war of ideas against communism cannot be disputed.

Thus, when we consider which side is winning the war of ideas as a component of the War on Terror, care should be taken to divorce the appeal of the message from the appeal of the messenger. Were we selling cornflakes to the Muslim world, no doubt we would seek the most beloved spokesperson in the Muslim world as our pitchman. In contrast, the products the U.S. is "selling" to the Muslim world in the war of ideas—freedom, democracy, civil rights--thankfully sell themselves and do not demand that the U.S. be viewed with admiration or even grudging forbearance by Muslims in order for those ideas to prevail.

Other metrics will have to be devised in order to accurately measure America's current success or failure in the war of ideas.

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