In "Radical State: How Jihad Is Winning Over Democracy in the West," author Abigail R. Esman argues that in large measure, it is actually jihad which has emerged victorious over democracy, not only because of the actions of Muslim terrorists, but because of our own response to extremist Islam in the West. With the best of intentions, Western (European) countries have permitted anti-democratic, ultra-conservative Islamic beliefs and traditions to flourish in their societies as theyAve responded to the influx of Muslim immigrants to their shores, largely as a result of the guest-worker programs which began in the 1960s and 1970s across Europe. But this multicultural approach has only backfired, creating cultural wars in which even the most intolerant and undemocratic of belief systems and values have been permitted, and as governments have turned a blind eye to such atrocities as honor killings, anti-Semitism, the spread of literature extolling violence, and calls for the destruction of the democratic state.
Esman focuses her narrative on the Netherlands, oft regarded as the most free, stable, and tolerant nation in the West, the paragon of democracy and tolerance. Using Holland as an example, she demonstrates the collapse of democratic values that has occurred in other Western countries-including America-as we struggle against radical Islam. In doing so, she shows how the Western response to the threat of radicalization has at times gone to dangerous extremes, counterbalancing the multiculturalistsA indulgence of radical Islam with the creation of restrictive, nearly-totalitarian laws and measures that are as destructive and toxic to our future-to free thought, free speech, and equal rights-as are many of the principles of Salafist and other fundamentalist streams of Islam. In addition, she shines a spotlight on the often-overlooked threat of cultural jihad in Europe and in America, and the infiltration of jihadist ideology on American institutions and powers.
Throughout the book, Esman returns frequently to the metaphor of the arts-to painting, to literature, to film-as symbol of the flourishing of great democratic freedoms and possibilities, of the creative potentials of our culture-and 0f the perils they now face.
Perhaps the only book to approach the issue of our own contributions to the increased threat of Muslim extremism in the west, "Radical State" uniquely articulates the dissolution of democratic values that have resulted from the actions of both left- and right-wing approaches to the problem. More importantly, the book strives to resolve the critical question of "what went wrongA-because to set things right again requires understanding how it all broke apart. And we must set it right, or jihad's victory over democracy will be complete, and sooner than we may realize.
