Identity politics, Islamism, and the ʻwar on terrorʼ: Chatham House and alternative visions of world politics

Multiple intellectual paradigms shaped Anglo-American foreign policy debates about the Middle East and the threats posed by Islamists in the past decades. One was a liberal paradigm, represented by Fukuyama’s ‘end of history’ thesis. A second one was an identity politics paradigm, captured by Huntington’s ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis. These paradigms fused in the context of the West’s liberal wars, seen as the solution to the challenges posed by sectarian conflicts and religious fundamentalism in the aftermath of the Cold War’s end and the attacks of 9/11. Two further realist and critical paradigms offered alternative assessments of Islamism and terrorism, focused more substantively on regional security and political dynamics than on ideology and identity. Chatham House’s research and events gravitated towards these latter perspectives, ultimately positioning the institute at odds with the British government’s most consequential decision in the War on Terror – the decision to invade Iraq in 2003.