Challenges to the State 171fundamentalism.^24 But he never pre-
dicted how complex those religious
and po liti cal divides would become.
Extremist Islamic fundamen-
talism poses such a dual threat.
Although Islamic extremists come
from many dif er ent countries and
support dif er ent strategies for reach-
ing their end goal, believers are united
in their belief that po liti cal and
social authority should be based in the
Koran. This movement pres ents both
a basic critique of what is wrong in
many secular states and a solution that
calls for radical state transformation.
Islamic extremists see a long- standing
discrepancy between the po liti cal and
economic aspirations of states and the
actual conditions of uneven economic
distribution and rule by corrupt elites.
Extremist groups advocate vio lence as
the means to overthrow these corrupt
rulers and install religious authority in
their place.
The fight by the Afghans and
their Islamic supporters against the
Soviet Union in the 1980s proved to
be a galvanizing event for extremist
Islamic fundamentalism. It brought together religiously committed yet po liti cally and
eco nom ically disafected young Islamists from all over the world; fighting the “god-
less” enemy forged group cohesion, and fighting the better- equipped Soviet military
allowed them to hone their guerrilla tactics. These mujahideen (holy warriors) gained
confidence by beating the Soviets into retreat. When they returned to their home-
lands in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other parts of the Middle East, they were imbued
with a mission—to wage jihad (holy war) against what they viewed as illegitimate
regimes. During the fight in Af ghan i stan, Osama bin Laden, a Saudi national,
emerged as a charismatic leader. When the Taliban assumed power in Af ghan i stan in
1996, bin Laden and what remained of the mujahideen formed Al Qaeda. Yet, as we
will see in Chapter 8, Al Qaeda is just one of many Islamic fundamentalist groups,
Political protests have become globalized, a result
in part of new communication technology. Here,
an Iranian living in Greece holds a poster with an
image of a blood-drenched woman allegedly killed
in protests in Tehran. The video became
an Internet sensation, increasing pressure
on the Iranian government.