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BOOK REVIEW Radical State: How Jihad is Winning over Democracy in the West

Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. - 8/15/2010

Radical State: How Jihad is Winning over Democracy in the West
By: Abigail R. Esman
Praeger Security International (Imprint of Praeger, Santa Barbara, Dnever and Oxford), 2010

"Radical State" is a terrifying account of how militant Islam ended up transmogrifying its victims, casting them in its own morbid and grotesque shape as they strove to evade its pernicious influence and the violence that permeates its culture. Victims of abuse often end up being abusers and the erstwhile genteel and tolerant Netherlands - the focus of this study of infectious Islamic fanaticism and xenophobia - is no exception: following a string of murderous attacks by Muslims, the Dutch reacted with the curtailing of civil liberties and with a wave of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim measures. In one fell swoop, Holland, this bastion of liberalism, democracy, and tolerance has become the darling of the European far-right.

A guilt-ridden Europe has paid a dear price for its colonial transgressions: it let in 20 million Muslims, carriers of a civilization so alien to the West that it constitutes a clear and present danger to its very survival. Radicalism, militancy, fanaticism, anti-individualism, misogynism, and anti-Western sentiments are rife among these aliens and immigrants. It is nothing short of a fifth column and a backdoor to the great centers of Western power, such as the USA. Muslims make suave use of Western civil rights and reflexive multiculturalism and political correctness to further their agenda: a hostile takeover, not an amicable merger.

The author offers a blood-curdling account based on first-hand observations from the frontline of the clash of civilizations. Replete with portraits, interviews, transcripts of conversations, erudite analyses of news, a smattering of historiosophy, and incisive descriptions of conflicts followed by nefarious compromises this is one of the most frightening tomes I have read of late. "Radical State" amounts to medical dispatches regarding a body politique fighting for its survival and identity, soul-snatched from within, clueless and helpless and thrashing about in a desperate attempt to rid itself of its tormentors or, hopelessly, to negotiate a livable compromise with them.

But the author does not dare go where her narrative leads inexorably: history teaches us that only ethnic and cultural homogeneity yield peace and democracy in Europe. Ethnic cleansing and genocide have been repeatedly used (even in countries such as Norway and Czechoslovakia) to create homogenous polities not because of the evil inherent in the hearts of Homo europeansis (a-la Goldhagen) but because they provided workable outcomes. Europe should close its gates to immigrants whose culture and background are not recognizably Western, and, particularly, to Muslims. It should also expel Muslims from Europe in a graduated but decisive manner.

Islam and the West are mutually exclusive propositions. Huntington was right.

Islam is not merely a religion. It is also - and perhaps, foremost - a state ideology. It is all-pervasive and missionary. It permeates every aspect of social cooperation and culture. It is an organizing principle, a narrative, a philosophy, a value system, and a vade mecum. In this it resembles Confucianism and, to some extent, Hinduism.

Judaism and its offspring, Christianity - though heavily involved in political affairs throughout the ages - have kept their dignified distance from such corporeal matters. These are religions of "heaven" as opposed to Islam, a practical, pragmatic, hands-on, ubiquitous, "earthly" creed.

Secular religions - Democratic Liberalism, Communism, Fascism, Nazism, Socialism and other isms - are more akin to Islam than to, let's say, Buddhism. They are universal, prescriptive, and total. They provide recipes, rules, and norms regarding every aspect of existence - individual, social, cultural, moral, economic, political, military, and philosophical.

At the end of the Cold War, Democratic Liberalism stood triumphant over the fresh graves of its ideological opponents. They have all been eradicated. This precipitated Fukuyama's premature diagnosis (the End of History). But one state ideology, one bitter rival, one implacable opponent, one contestant for world domination, one antithesis remained: Islam.

Militant Islam is, therefore, not a cancerous mutation of "true" Islam. On the contrary, it is the purest expression of its nature as an imperialistic religion which demands unmitigated obedience from its followers and regards all infidels as both inferior and avowed enemies.

The same can be said about Democratic Liberalism. Like Islam, it does not hesitate to exercise force, is missionary, colonizing, and regards itself as a monopolist of the "truth" and of "universal values". Its antagonists are invariably portrayed as depraved, primitive, and below par.

Such mutually exclusive claims were bound to lead to an all-out conflict sooner or later. The "War on Terrorism" is only the latest round in a millennium-old war between Islam and other "world systems". Europe is in the crosshairs, enduring the crossfire. It should extricate itself from this Armageddon: it should rid itself of its Muslims.