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Few studies have empirically examined how media stereotypes of Muslims influence Americans’ support for public policies exclusively harming Muslims. Across three studies, we tested the short-term and long-term effects of news portraying Muslims as terrorists on Americans’ support for public policies harming Muslims domestically and internationally. Study 1 revealed that exposure to news portraying Muslims as terrorists is positively associated with support for military action in Muslim countries. Study 2 revealed that exposure to news portraying Muslims as terrorists is positively associated with support for public policies that harm Muslims domestically and internationally; this effect was fully mediated by perceptions of Muslims as aggressive. Experimental results from Study 3 revealed that exposing participants to negative Muslim media footage, relative to neutral or no-video footage, increased perceptions of Muslims as aggressive, increased support for harsh civil restrictions of Muslim Americans, and increased support for military action in Muslim countries. Exposure to positive Muslim footage yielded opposite results. We discuss the importance of media in exacerbating aggressive attitudes and public policies in the context of intergroup relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes Islam and Muslim-Western relations following the election of U.S. president Barack Obama. It discusses U.S. policies and those of Muslim countries, the possibility of Muslim reform, and prospects for future relations. The article explores reaction in Muslim countries to the election of Obama following the policies of the administration of former U.S. president George W. Bush and former British prime minister Tony Blair, particularly regarding the War on Terror, the supposed perception of Western crusades against Islam, and foreign policy. The author discusses a speech delivered by Obama in Cairo, Egypt, in 2009, and U.S. involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The author also discusses various Muslim attitudes toward the U.S.

The article looks at the cultural dimension of the fraught and conflictual relationship between the U.S. and many Muslims and Muslim countries as of 2011. The author identifies elements of American culture, including material acquisitiveness, individualism, and hedonism, which he says Muslims find contrary to Islamic values of thrift and self-restraint. He notes that U.S. analysts typically discount the cultural dimension of U.S.-Muslim relations and says this leads to erroneous interpretations of events, citing the scandal over U.S. soldiers' treatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

This article addresses the critical role that public diplomacy plays in improving the deteriorating image of the United States in the Muslim world. The authors argue that both public diplomacy and policies, including those on civil liberties, are vital to U.S. success in the war on terrorism and that the next U.S. president must designate this effort as a matter of highest national security importance. Many in the Muslim world believe that the war on terrorism is essentially a war on Islam; this view impedes the success of an effective foreign policy strategy. Previous efforts of public diplomacy have lacked funding, energy, focus, and an integrated strategy. The authors define six principles to improve America's security through winning the war of ideas, including addressing civil liberties concerns, and engaging diverse constituencies in the Muslim world. Finally, the authors describe ten public diplomacy initiatives to improve U.S-Muslim world relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al Qaeda today is a resilient organization, as evidenced by the London attacks of 2005, its resurgence in Pakistan, the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, and its influence on the war in Iraq. While al Qaeda is not strong enough to launch an attack inside the United States in the next five years, it will continue to train militants for successful attacks in Europe. Al Qaeda's leadership is likely to remain in place for years, and it is unlikely to lose its safe haven on the Afghan-Pakistan border in the near term, although it has suffered real reverses in Iraq. Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups will, in the long term, implode because of their unrestrained violence against fellow Muslims and lack of a real plan for governance, both of which make it difficult for them to transform into a genuine, political mass movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]