Defining "progressive" and "reactionary" and how they relate to the Mid-East might help unpick the arguments being made (or not) in this "War on Terror". In evidence he gave to a Parliamentary Committee, Blair said words to the effect that getting rid of Sadaam and bringing democracy to Iraq was a "progressive thing to do". Does anyone agree?
Naturally "Democracy" is associated with progressive ideals. "Islamists" are viewed as reactionary, anti-feminist medievalists. But they see themselves as revolutionaries. Why? They regard "democracy" as a tool, a means by which the West can perpetuate the post Ottoman, post-Versailles settlement in the middle-east, a way of shoring up the legitimacy nation states that were originally constructed according the imperial maxim, "divide and rule", internally incohesive, and small enough not to become major powers/challengers in the future. If one is to accept that point of view, then the American project to bring democracy to the mid-east is at its root reactionary. At the level of geo-political structure, its about maintaining the status quo. This is the foundation for Islamist argument for a Caliphate, which in our terms is reactionary, a turning back of the clock but in their terms is "progressive", and about tearing up the post-Versailles map of the Mid East.
Naturally "Democracy" is associated with progressive ideals. "Islamists" are viewed as reactionary, anti-feminist medievalists. But they see themselves as revolutionaries. Why? They regard "democracy" as a tool, a means by which the West can perpetuate the post Ottoman, post-Versailles settlement in the middle-east, a way of shoring up the legitimacy nation states that were originally constructed according the imperial maxim, "divide and rule", internally incohesive, and small enough not to become major powers/challengers in the future. If one is to accept that point of view, then the American project to bring democracy to the mid-east is at its root reactionary. At the level of geo-political structure, its about maintaining the status quo. This is the foundation for Islamist argument for a Caliphate, which in our terms is reactionary, a turning back of the clock but in their terms is "progressive", and about tearing up the post-Versailles map of the Mid East.
