"Jihadism's War on Democracy" is Dr. Walid Phares' chapter in a new book "Debating the War of Ideas," edited by Eric D. Patterson and John Gallagher. The Chapter argues that

"The Jihadist (read it as an ideological movement) campaign against democracies began in the early 20th century and targeted Arab and Muslim societies first, then liberal democracies in the West particularly after the Cold war.

It is crucial for public opinion in the West to understand the nature of the War of ideas so that it can support the appropriate strategies to counter the radical and terrorist forces.

The final stage in the war of ideas will be decided by democratic forces in the Arab and Muslim world as they confront the forces of authoritarianism, totalitarianism and oppression in their own societies."

Debating the War of Ideas

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The War of Ideas is being fought both within Islamic societies and between some Muslim voices and the West. The War of Ideas is a struggle between moral claims, political philosophies, and historical interpretations that compete for assent within a society and across borders. Like the ideological component of the Cold War, the War of Ideas is about the fundamental principles of human society, from the basis for law and structures of governance to gender relations and the nexus of religion and politics. It is a global War: the foes have resorted to arms to protect and promote their worldview. This book brings together some of the most important voices from different partisan, theoretical and religious perspectives to argue and forecast the next phase in the War of Idea

Table of Contents

Approaching the War of Ideas--John Gallagher and Eric Patterson * Jihadism’s War on Democracy--Walid Phares * “Dangerous Concepts” and the Struggle Within: Reclaiming State and Politics from the Islamists--Maajid Nawaz * Sharing With Equals: Modernity, Fundamentalism, and the Future--Karen Armstrong * Taqiyya: War and Deceit in Islam--Raymond Ibrahim * Debates over Just War and Jihad: Ideas, Interpretations, and Implications Across Cultures--James Turner Johnson * The War of Ideas: The Role of the “Afterlife”--Alan M. Dershowitz* The Clash of Civilizations?--Akbar Ahmed * Debating Absolutism and Pluralism in Contemporary Islam--Asma Afsaruddin * Democracy, Religion, and the War of Ideas--Eric Patterson * Inter-civilizational Conflict between Value Systems and Concepts of Order: Exploring the Islamic Humanist Potential for a Peace of Ideas--Bassam Tibi * The War of Ideas as Therapy: Reflections on a Eureka Moment in the “War on Terror”--Abdelwahab El-Affendi * Waging Trans-epistemological Warfare--Jarret M. Brachman * Counter-radicalization and Europe’s New Security Dilemma--Lorenzo Vidino * The Struggle for Islamism in the Levant: The Case of Northern Lebanon--Bernard Rougier * Dissonance and Denial: U.S. Foreign Policy and the War of Ideas--Robert Spencer

http://us.macmillan.com/debatingthewarofideas

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