WPR's The New Rules: U.S. Needs an Activist, Independent Turkey
Monday, September 13, 2010 at 9:09AM 
If America could be magically granted its ideal Muslim strategic partner, what would we ask for? Would we want a country that fell in line with every U.S. foreign policy stance? Not if the regime was to have any credibility with the Islamic world. No, ideally, the government would be just Islamist enough to be seen as preserving the nation's religious and cultural identity, even as it aggressively modernized its society and connected its economy to the larger world. It would have an activist foreign policy that emphasized diplomacy, multilateralism and regional stability, while also maintaining sufficient independence from America to demonstrate that it was not Washington's proxy, but rather a confident great power navigating the currents of history. In sum, it would serve as an example to its co-religionists of how a Muslim state can progressively improve itself amid globalization's deepening embrace -- while remaining a Muslim state.
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Reader Comments (2)
"it would serve as an example to its co-religionists of how a Muslim state can progressively improve itself amid globalization's deepening embrace -- while remaining a Muslim state."
Mr. Barnett, perhaps I'm misrembering but if I recall correctly you have blogged in the past that Israel cannot continue as a Jewish state but somehow will have to secularize.
Why isn't the same true for Turkey or any other Islamc state?
Thank you for your time.
One word: demographics.
I believe bedroom communities of all stripes will exist in the future, but they live or die on popularity--meaning demographics.