War without Violence: Leveraging the Arab Spring to Win the War on Terrorism
After a decade of war, the United States has failed to eradicate the threat of salafist jihadism. No matter how hard it tries, the United States cannot kill its way to victory in the war on terrorism. Sweeping changes across the Middle East—dubbed the "Arab Spring" by the media—have presen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Henley-Putnam University
2012-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Strategic Security |
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| Online Access: | http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1157&context=jss |
| Summary: | After a decade of war, the United States has failed to eradicate the threat of salafist jihadism. No matter how hard it tries, the United States cannot kill its way to victory in the war on terrorism. Sweeping changes across the Middle East—dubbed the "Arab Spring" by the media—have presented the West with a unique opportunity to pursue an alternative approach. Rather than engaging in war (politics through violence), the United States should engage in mass politics (war without violence) to compel the Arab world to reject the salafist jihadism idea. This article proposes a strategy calibrated to defeat international terrorism without unnecessarily antagonizing non-jihadist salafists and political salafists who enjoy broad-based support in the Arab world. The article goes on to identify key political figures already espousing elements of this counternarrative, and it describes the methods the United States should use to empower these and other anti–salafist jihadism activists. |
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| ISSN: | 1944-0464 1944-0472 |