Causes of Anti-Americanism in the Middle East

Anti-Americanism
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WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF ANTI-AMERICANISM IN THE MIDDLE EAST? DISCUSS.
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What are the causes of anti-Americanism in the Middle East? Discuss.
1. Introduction
America, being a country that spurs admiration globally when it comes to its economy,
power and politics, also inspires greed, jealousy and frustration from other super power countries
who would want to run the world economy as it does. According to Lacorne (2010, p. 18),
anti- Americanism can be defined as the precarious and total dissimilarity with what Americans
do, as well as their cultural, economic and political belief system. This can be seen as a total
incongruity of the thoughts, civilization, people and policies that the United States comes up
with. The rejection of such policies and the adverse inclination of other nations against the
United States have no concrete base. In fact, anti-Americanism has no single clear cut definition,
but is rather an opinionated and misguided belief about America (Tarifa, 2010, p. 51). The
objective of this paper is to, thus, discuss the causes of anti-Americanism in the Middle East.
This subsequently brings out the parallel effect that anti-Americanism would bring on the two
nations, hence it similarly necessitates a brief discussion on the history of ant-Americanism.
2. A Brief History of Anti-Americanism
By taking a retrospective approach on the events preceding the anti-Americanism, which
was at the onset of September 2011, a coordinated attack on the United States soil left many dead
and hundreds injured. The group responsible were believed to be terrorists from the Arab
nations. This was established as a retaliatory attack owing to the presence of the American
soldiers in the Middle East, America’s support for Israeli -- nation that is at war with other Arab
nations --, and the Persian Gulf war that aided president Bush’s attempts to force Iraq out of
Kuwait. The Cold War, which led to the Soviet Union’s collapse amid a super-power agreement
between the United States and the Soviet Union, also further fuelled anti-Americanism since its

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purpose was to control the global economy, thereby bringing out the capitalistic nature of the
American people. It was through these events that the Middle East and the European Union
witnessed America’s global economic manipulation, and their controlling nature of the American
society (Dimant, et al., 2017, p. 5).
Additionally, the start and duration of the World War II witnessed the springing up of
leftist parties consisting of people that bore different political and economic views at the time, all
of whom initiated the new era of anti-Americanism. Since, at that time, America was
encroaching on every frontier including markets and globalization industries around the world,
their activities stirred hatred in other countries in Europe and the Middle East which were
lagging behind. This new era of hatred and predisposed bias spread to other Islamic nations
which similarly began to hone negativity against America. All of the above were the genesis of
what has today become the focus of most of world’s economies against America. Ultimately,
despite America’s positive strides with regard to equality, heightened progress and civilization,
economic and political advancement, long-standing differences still believe these to be a form of
capitalism in the United States, and thereby worsening any preconceived prejudices from the
Middle East towards America (Dimant, et al., 2017, p. 3).
3. The Causes of ant-Americanism
The negative sentiments and ideologies from the Middle East towards America can be
attributed to two parallel reasons: the United States’ blame on the Middle East for their
misfortunes, and the Middle Eastern countries’ blame and biases towards the American culture.
3.1. Cultural Differences
According to Walt (2006, p. 47), the opposition that the United States faces is
unavoidable and it is due to the power concentration, or the values and culture that the country

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holds. Middle East countries believe that the negativity that spawns from American citizens is
mainly due to their culture and belief system. Typically, Muslims are strong believers of their
way of life, hence certain cultural systems posited by Americans, such as sexual involvement at
early ages, procreation out of wedlock, and divorce rates are highly frowned upon. Therefore, the
Middle East instinctively believe that the woes faced by the Americans are resultant of the
consequences brought about by their own cultural belief systems, especially since they are
parallel to and against the Muslim culture (Anan & Holly, 2012, p. 12).
3.2. Extremist Behavior
In addition, America being a highly admirable country overshadows other countries’
cultures. Therefore, several other countries tend to copy what Americans do (Levin, 2010, p.
19). The Muslims in the East are opposed to such cultures of individualism, materialistic
behavior, violence and their level of democracy. The extremists from the Middle East countries
take advantage of these issues, and use them to proliferate violence and hate, and to radicalize
their citizens. Leaders of radicalized groups simply use religious fanaticism of mistrust, hostility
and violence to fuel their hatred towards the west (Levin, 2010, p. 63).
3.3. Middle East’s Blame on America
3.3.1. Poor Accountability by the Middle East
In the past decade the Middle East has always blamed other nations for their own
problems. For instance, during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East blamed Turkey
for their oppressions. Likewise, prior to the September 2011 terrorist attacks, the Middle Eastern
leaders focused their hatred towards the British, and later the French before turning hatred
towards America. Similarly, leaders in the Middle East use the oppression, poor economic