Debating the War of Ideas

The War of Ideas is being fought both within Islamic societies and between some Muslim voices and the West. The War of Ideas is a struggle between moral claims, political philosophies, and historical interpretations that compete for assent within a society and across borders. Like the ideological component of the Cold War, the War of Ideas is about the fundamental principles of human society, from the basis for law and structures of governance to gender relations and the nexus of religion and politics. It is a global War: the foes have resorted to arms to protect and promote their worldview. This book brings together some of the most important voices from different partisan, theoretical and religious perspectives to argue and forecast the next phase in the War of Ideas.

The War of Ideas is being fought both within Islamic societies and between some Muslim voices and the West. The War of Ideas is a struggle between moral claims, political philosophies, and historical interpretations that compete for assent within a society and across borders. Like the ideological component of the Cold War, the War of Ideas is about the fundamental principles of human society, from the basis for law and structures of governance to gender relations and the nexus of religion and politics. It is a global War: the foes have resorted to arms to protect and promote their worldview. This book brings together some of the most important voices from different partisan, theoretical and religious perspectives to argue and forecast the next phase in the War of Ideas.

Eric Patterson, Ph.D. is Assistant Director of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs as well as Visiting Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown University. He is also the lead author for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Taskforce on Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy. Prior to this he was a White House Fellow, a Foster Fellow at the U.S. Department of State, and on faculty at Vanguard University in California. Patterson writes and teaches on ethics and security, religion and world affairs, and U.S. foreign policy. He is the author or editor of five books, including Christianity and Power Politics Today: Christian Realism and Contemporary Political Dilemmas (2008) and Just War Thinking: Morality and Pragmatism in the Struggle Against Contemporary Threats (2007). Patterson is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is an officer in the California Air National Guard.

John P. Gallagher is Director in the Office of Iraq and Afghanistan Affairs at the National Security Council, where he previously served as a 2007-2008 White House Fellow. Prior to the Fellowship, John was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point where he taught courses on Western liberalism and political Islam, American politics, and counterterrorism. A recipient of the William F. Murdy Award for teaching excellence, John was also the Director of West Point's national-merit scholarship program, mentoring twenty-two scholarship winners over two years. An Army infantry officer who has served with the 82nd Airborne Division and 1st Armored Division, John graduated from West Point in 1994 and holds two master's degrees with distinction from The University of Chicago, one in Public Policy and one in Political Theory. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was named a 2007 Young Leader by the American Swiss Foundation and a delegate to the American Academy of Achievement's 2008 International Achievement Summit.