Muslims in Global Politics: Identities, Interests, and Human Rights

1. Muslims’ Quest for Identities, Interests, and Human Rights

Chapter  Muslims’ Quest for Identities, Interests, and Human Rights The interplay between market forces, transnational flows, and social relations is a complex and evolving process that is fraught with paradoxes . Nowhere are such complexities and contradictions more apparent today than in the construction of diverse and multiple identities in the imagination of people. Indeed, globalization has precipitated global solidarity on the one hand while facilitating fractionalizing, identity-based politics on the other. Western powers have typically equated the notion of globalization with the attempt to extensively penetrate and reform non-Western cultures .1 Globalization is seen by some in non-Western societies as a form of domination and by others as an emancipatory process. While globalization has led to the emergence of new structures and dynamics of cooperation between nation-states, the same cannot be said about its impact in the intrastate contexts, where globalization has empowered the individual vis-àvis the state, the market, and third parties. Whereas globalization is perceived by the West as a dominant set of ideas and a policy framework, many in non-Western societies contest it as a false universalism.2 That explains why globalization has often evoked a reaction in individuals in some nonWestern societies to define themselves as part of an identified group, such as a nation or a religious community. Despite the profound sociocultural transformations brought about by globalization, religious identity has had an enormous metaphoric value, resilience, and staying power. ‘‘Religious symbols and languages may become invested with new meanings,’’ writes Peter Mandaville, ‘‘but they still function to provide a framework of familiarity and a sense of identity.’’3 By the close of the twentieth century, the quest for identity had become integral to understanding the global dynamics of power politics, cultural politics, gender politics, and ethnic politics in the Muslim world. With  Chapter  more than one billion adherents throughout the world, Islam is the largest and the most forceful of the cultural rivals to the Western-centric values of globalization. As a religion, Islam is not immutable and travels well across time and borders. Islam provides an alternative moral and political vision to that presented by the globally dominant West.4 Although identity process is purposely constructed in some cases, it is a response to situational pressures in other cases. It is not the same for elite actors as for the common individual. The process is very dynamic and constantly in flux. This chapter offers an overview of trends of identity-based politics in the postwar period. It then examines the connection between modernization programs and legitimacy crises in the Muslim world. In the following section, we explore the role of Islam in identity construction utilizing three levels of analysis: Islam as a religious identity (individual level); Islam as a political force (national level); and Islam as a transnational force or space (global level). In the following section, we analyze the implications for the Muslim world of the post–September 11 era and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Special attention will be given to the nongeographic nature of identity formation as well as the postcolonial context. The chapter concludes by providing alternatives in view of Muslims’ search for identities and interests. Lack of attention to the link between identity, interests, and human rights drives the need for rethinking the notion of identity—that is, the desire for belonging and recognition. Identity Defined To define concepts such as self-image, beliefs, values, group affiliations, and competing identities has become crucial to an in-depth understanding of the highly complex and evolving politics of the Muslim world. The analysis of different ways in which identities are constructed also helps us make sense of any given situation. This chapter represents an effort to contextualize the components of identity in order to answer three questions: What is identity? How is it constructed? And why is it important? Identity may simply be defined as the extent to which an individual is aware of herself or himself. This self-understanding, which relates to selfesteem , self-image, and self-reflection, consists generally of those properties that render an individual unique and different from others. How a person defines herself or himself may, therefore, be viewed in relation to certain Identities and Interests  core values and convictions that broadly structure the individual’s life. While psychologists use the term ‘‘identity’’ to describe personal individuality , sociologists tend to use the term to describe...