of challengers to the existing system. After a certain point, perhaps with
European military ascendance and circumnavigation that reduced the role of
caravan based trade, further economic growth was thwarted. Islamic economies
then began to wane and stagnate.^25
Meanwhile, given the unique qualities and histories of Christian Europe
such as 1) “constitutionalism” that began with the Magna Carta limiting the
authority of the king, and 2) the “military revolution” in which technologi-
cal advances/innovations in the kinds of gun powder weapons, the rifling
of barrels, as well as combat tactics, together with the re-organization of the
military, slowly but surely gave Europeans military superiority. As Christendom
thrived and Islamic societies stagnated, there was a wide spread ressentement
to the Western world extending to the point of issuing fatwas against Muslims
traveling to Europe. As a result of this, as Islam was overshadowed by ascen-
dant Christendom, the ressentement to the West has acted a cultural barrier
to embracing Western knowledge and techniques that has acted as a brake
upon modernization. The prosperity of Israel stands in sharp contrast with
its poor neighbors. The recent conquests of Afghanistan in 2002 and Iraq in
2004 reveal the military impotence of Muslim countries.^26 The ressentement
has grown.
Part III Colonialism and Reform
The Fate of Reform
As is typical of colonization, indigenous subjects frequently went to study in
the mother country. Quite often, they not only learned science, engineering
and medicine, but also learned about Western democracy, resistance and even
socialism. Indeed the writings of Marx and/or socialist parties influenced a
number of colonized people who attended Oxford, the Sorbonne or, in the
twentieth century, Patrice Lumumba University. Despite the legacies and bar-
riers posed by cultural traditions and structural impediments to modernity,
308 • Lauren Langman
(^25) Timur Kuran, The Islamic Commercial Crisis: Institutional Roots of the Delay in the
Middle East’s Economic Modernization. (Los Angeles, California, 2001): USC Center for
Law, Economics and Organization, Research paper, CO01–12, http://papers.srn.com/
abstract _id+276377 26
The “conquest” of Iraq may be a bit problematic. Despite declarations of “mis-
sion accomplished”, the Iraqis have not seemed to have accepted the “benign” occu-
pation by the US military.