ABSTRACT
So far we have looked at the construction of the Christian-Muslim frontier in the history of political organization, in people’s minds and in security relations among nations and communities. What about the economic aspects of relations between Christians and Muslims? Do people construct the civilizational frontier in their economic relations as well? The preceding chapters have focused on the concept of the civilizational frontier between Christianity and Islam in terms of theorizing identity and cultural relations. There is another argument, however, which regards communal conflict as the fruit of rational-choice behaviour of communal elites. They use the rhetoric of opposition among civilizations in order to mobilize their communities for political action and advance their egoistic, material objectives (Arfi 1998: 153-8). The following chapter examines these economic ramifications of the relations between the two cultural complexes focusing on two basic themes. First, the different economic performances of the countries of the two cultural complexes are a factor that nourishes the idea of confrontation among civilizations. The second theme is the role of the exclusive behaviour of interest-based, rent-seeking coalitions in strengthening the confrontational image of the frontier. These groups have a vested interest in keeping the political entities of the zone of contact small, easy to manipulate, and easy to profit from. Such behaviour reinforces the political and social fragmentation of the zone of contact, and it largely defines the economic dimension of the zone of the Christian-Muslim frontier.
