Introduction: World Opinion on September 11, 2001—If the World Doesn’t Hate Us, Why Would Someone Do This?

Abstract

What perceived grievance could motivate individuals on the other side of the world to plot and carry out suicide attacks within the United States? The common response points to American policy in the Middle East, particularly toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Other explanations reference the ongoing decline of Muslim countries, rifts between secular governments supported by the West, and fundamentalist forces in the Middle East. All of these explanations have credence, and provide pieces of the puzzle. But analysts have neglected the relationships among the events of September 11 and other forms of religious and ethnic violence since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Understanding the roots of global rage in the post-Cold War era requires a global perspective that elaborates, without necessarily negating, the other explanations.