Shaping Cultural Politics in the Muslim World: Women's Empowerment as an Alternative to Militarism, Terror, and War

Abstract

An alternative way to fight transnational terrorism is to undercut popular sympathy for its political goals. This approach calls for promoting reforms and basic human freedoms in countries in which terrorists reside. If war on ‘terror' eclipses the human rights agenda that characterized the 1990s, Western governments are likely to pay a prohibitively heavy price for business as usual — that is, supporting at any cost authoritarian, but pro-Western regimes. Many in the Muslim world see hope in a globalizing world. In this context, we must realize that Muslim women's power to participate meaningfully in the social, cultural, economic, and political affairs of their societies should not be underestimated. Their struggle is at the vanguard for human rights and broader security in Muslim societies. This essay argues that internal reforms provide a more reliable safeguard against terrorism than steps that deepen the roots of violence.