Anti-American Attitudes in the Arab World

Abstract

Anti-Americanism in the Arab world today is not an inherent and unavoidable phenomenon of race or religion. It is a reaction to American policies and to the penetration of Western culture. It will be with us for some time to come for a number of reasons, including U.S. identification with Israel, U.S. involvement in local issues, and U.S. overidentification with local leaders. We will continue to have relations with Arab states in spite of it. The seizure of American hostages, which is one current gauge of anti-Americanism, is not a new phenomenon. The Algerians once held 150, and we paid a ransom of over $800,000 to obtain the release of 82 survivors because we had no alternative. Early in this century, Theodore Roosevelt blustered in order to obtain the release of American hostages in Morocco, but success was due more to the efforts of the French than to American armed strength. Neither case offers much of a precedent for handling today's hostage problem.

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References

1. For a more detailed discussion, see Bayard Dodge , “American Educational and Missionary Efforts in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 401:15-22 (May 1972).

2. For further details, see Evan M. Wilson , Decision on Palestine (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1979), pp. 24-35.

3. I say “probably” because there is no reliable guide to public opinion in the Arab world except when it finds expression in popular manifestations. Official censorship, fear of reprisals or of exposure, and lack of functioning representative institutions make it difficult, if not impossible, to know what the public really thinks about most questions of the day. The intelligent observer can guess or surmise on the basis of conversations, newspaper articles, and current events, but a surmise is still a surmise and is often unreliable.

4. L. Carl Brown , International Politics and the Middle East (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984).

5. See, for example, Found Ajami , “The End of Pan-Arabism,” Foreign Affairs (Winter 1978-79).