ABSTRACT
The nature and sources of anti-American sentiment in the Middle East constituted a contentious topic before the events of 11 September 2001, and have become even more so since. On the one hand, President Bush and his supporters maintain that America’s opponents in the region are inspired by a visceral hatred of Western freedoms, and of what America is rather than what it does. On this view, the answer to the problems posed by anti-Americanism is to achieve a political and ideological transformation of the region, thus creating a political culture more amenable to Western purposes through the putatively pacifying effects of democratization.1 On the other hand, critics of American policy argue that the extreme anti-American rhetoric associated with groups like al-Qaeda acquires wider credibility among Arab and other Muslim populations in the Middle East because American policies and actions render it plausible even to those who do not espouse Islamist or other radical ideologies. If this view is correct, democratization would not necessarily mitigate America’s difficulties, but might even worsen them, and the United States would be well advised to refashion its regional policies, especially in relation to Palestine.
