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Page 4 of 7

• 1. Civilisation as we know it
• 2. After the Ottoman Empire
• 3. Democratic tyranny?
• 4. The 'Islamic threat'
• 5. 'Westernese'
• 6. Telling tales
• 7. Find out more
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The 'Islamic threat'

The nature of the Islamic threat is not military but cultural. The idea of an Islamic threat has to do with the way in which it undermines aspects of western identity. One way to think of an identity is in terms of a story you tell about yourself to others and yourself. The trouble with telling stories, however, is that you always leave something out.

This is partly because there are many aspects of ourselves that we would hide (even from ourselves), and as such, we rarely introduce ourselves as being boring or bad or untrustworthy... But also, being finite creatures, our stories about ourselves have to leave out many other possibilities. So, the story we tell about ourselves always has bits left out, attributes that we do not think really belong in our accounts of ourselves.

These left-out bits and reminders often lie forgotten and neglected, but, on occasion, they become part of a counter-narrative - in that they are put together to act as a mirror for our own identity. In this way, the story we tell about ourselves, is implicitly a story about how we are different from others. In other words, the story of yourself is also a story of somebody else.

'In the current world order, it is the story of the west identified as being modern, democratic and civilised that is the most dominant.'

The identity of the west is narrated, to some extent, by a set of implied contrasts with other stories: stories of the 'rest'. The identity of the west is based on often implicit assumptions about the way its story differs from the stories of the rest. The story of Islam, for example, is often in opposition to the stories of the west.

Thus the identification of the west as 'essentially' democratic, modern, and civilised requires the narration of Islam as 'essentially' authoritarian, traditional, and barbaric.

The trouble with these stories is that, like all stories, they are only partial accounts. There are other versions in which, for example, the west could be described as totalitarian, genocidal and racist; or Islam could be portrayed as being tolerant, progressive and egalitarian. The version that prevails is the one that is supported by most influential networks of power and knowledge. In the current world order, it is the story of the west identified as being modern, democratic and civilised that is the most dominant.

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Published: 2002-09-01