Why Muslim Sectarian Politics of Rage in the Age of “Empires of Trust?”

Abstract:This presentation will explore how and why the anti-colonial nationalist resistance movements which gradually forced the end of European colonialism led into the rise of new ideologically driven Western Empires of Trust or Empires by Invitation i.e., the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Euro-American Capitalist Great Powers – controlling Muslim societies and cultures. The recent ever-escalating violence in the name of Islam in Muslim-majority regions against national and post-Soviet governments and their outside patrons will be examined in light of the oppressive political ecology, policies and practices of the Western and Russian empires of trust in the predominantly Muslim-majority societies. It will be argued that the root causes of Muslim politics of rage in these regions is not religious or sectarian, but an externally imposed and forcibly maintained inappropriate system of extractive governments. Therefore, addressing persistent violence, poverty, ignorance and oppression in the Muslim world demands appropriate political reforms, rather than pursuing counter-terrorist/insurgency wars against Islamist extremists, as has been the case for decades.