ABSTRACT
Over centuries of interaction and retrenchment the Islamic strategic view evolved from what might have been described as a "world domination theory" to a more circumscribed one, fashioned within the constraints imposed by a Western-dominated order. The confluence of instability within the Muslim world and a growing emphasis on peacekeeping in the West argues for very careful diplomacy within international organizations, and sensitive handling of command arrangements in peacekeeping operations. The Islamic tradition itself had a marked impact on Western strategic culture beginning with the experience of the Crusades. In the emerging strategic environment, considerations of deterrence and extended deterrence will have a strong Western-Muslim presence as a consequence of instability in the Greater Middle East, frictions along the borderlands with Islam, and the spread of weapons of mass destruction in the same regions.
