Why Does the West Feel It Must Manage the Islamic World?

 

Why Does the West Feel It Must Manage the Islamic World?

Western hand hovers above Muslim map with puppet strings on minarets and oil, Muslims below watch with defiance, storm clouds and faint crescent above


Introduction: A Question Often Left Unasked

As a neutral writer, I often ask myself: Why does the West, from colonial times to today, feel the need to ‘manage’ the Islamic world? This question isn’t black and white. Many get trapped in conspiracy theories, as if every Western intervention is just greed for resources. The truth is more complex: political interests, security strategies, and ideological superiority. (Edward Said, Orientalism, 1978)

A Colonial Legacy That Never Fades

Looking back at colonial times, Europe didn’t just conquer Muslim lands but shaped legal systems, administration, and borders that still define today’s crises. The artificial borders in the Middle East, like the Sykes-Picot division (1916), split territories for European gain, not local realities. (James Barr, A Line in the Sand, 2012)

As a result, modern Muslim states often inherited structural vulnerabilities. When the West intervenes again—via invasions, embargoes, or ‘nation building’ they claim to continue a ‘historic responsibility’. To me, it’s ironic: colonialism once claimed to ‘advance’ the East, yet left structural burdens that keep inviting new interventions.

Strategic Interests: Oil and Sea Routes

Beyond politics, resources can’t be ignored. It’s no exaggeration when analysts say the Middle East is the ‘world’s lifeline’. Oil in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and sea routes like the Suez Canal make the region vital to the global economy. (Daniel Yergin, The Prize, 1990)

Personally, I see this as the real reason why the West often ‘secures stability’ translated into support for authoritarian regimes or outright invasions, like Iraq in 2003. All under the banner of ‘democracy’ or the ‘war on terror’, while energy security and trade routes sit at the heart of policy. (Noam Chomsky, Hegemony or Survival, 2003)

A Civilizing Mission: The Legacy of Orientalism

Beyond money and oil, there’s an ideological side. Since colonial times, the idea of ‘Orientalism’ the West seeing the East as exotic, backward, and in need of ‘saving’ still lingers. The West feels morally obliged to ‘enlighten’ the East through modernization, democracy, and human rights as defined by them. (Edward Said, Orientalism, 1978)

I’m not saying all modernization missions are bad. Universal values like education and women’s rights deserve support. But too often, moral rhetoric becomes a mask for intervention. The result? The West preaches democracy but props up regimes that serve its interests. Look at the US–Saudi Arabia alliance, despite Saudi Arabia’s poor democratic record. (Fawaz Gerges, America and Political Islam, 1999)

The Islamic World: Weak Internal Consolidation

In fairness, the problem isn’t just the West. The Islamic world often fails to build unified narratives and internal consolidation. Sectarian conflicts, power struggles, and elite fragmentation make foreign interference easier. (Olivier Roy, The Failure of Political Islam, 1994)

From Libya and Syria to Yemen, internal conflicts open the door for outsiders to ‘help’ often with hidden agendas. For me, it’s a bitter lesson: internal weakness always invites external ‘guardianship’.

Information Technology: Managing Through Narrative

In the digital age, ‘management’ doesn’t always need guns. Controlling public opinion through media, think tanks, and ‘soft power’ is the new weapon. How many foreign policies are built on public opinion shaped by Western media? Narratives like ‘Islamic radicalism’, ‘failed states’, and the ‘war on terror’ shape global perceptions. (Ziauddin Sardar, Postmodernism and the Other, 1998)

I believe this is why media literacy in the Muslim world must be stronger. Otherwise, the global narrative remains Western, framing Islam mainly through terror and backwardness.

Who Benefits?

A key question: who gains? My answer: global elites, the arms industry, energy corporations, and politicians who use the ‘Islamic threat’ for votes. While Muslims fight each other, arms markets and post-war reconstruction profits grow. (Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent, 1988)

Ironically, many Muslims fall into a victimhood narrative seeing themselves as eternal victims without crafting real answers. But real solutions need internal reconciliation and a cool-headed strategy for global politics.

Can the Islamic World Break Free?

To me, it’s not impossible. Muslim countries have huge assets: a young population, natural resources, strategic location, and intellectual heritage. But all this is worthless without transparent governance, critical education, and the courage to define an independent path. (Karen Armstrong, Islam: A Short History, 2000)

Solutions don’t come from heroic slogans alone. The Islamic world must build strong regional institutions, speak with one voice in diplomacy, and use technology to counter one-sided narratives. (Graham Fuller, The Future of Political Islam, 2003)

Conclusion: Understand, Don’t Hate

As a writer, I don’t want to fall into the ‘us vs. them’ trap. For me, understanding why the West feels it must manage the Islamic world isn’t to justify it, but to build resilience. We can’t demand respect while refusing to fix ourselves. We also can’t keep blaming the past without fixing the present. (Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations, 1996)

So the real question isn’t ‘Why does the West manage us?’ but How long will the Islamic world allow itself to be managed? The answer lies with us.

Lokasi: GWF8+V6 Blodgett Mills, NY, Amerika Serikat

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