Center for Global, International and Regional Studies

Why do “Islamic radicals”—including the partisans of al-Qaeda and other followers of Osama bin Laden--enjoy so much sympathy

in the Middle East and the wider Muslim world? Understanding

such a phenomenon is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for crafting a strategy to cope with the murderous violence of September 11, 2001.

This GLOBAL POLICY BRIEF explores these socioeconomic roots of Islamic radicalism:

- The multidimensional crisis of the Muslim world

- The rage of the young, a majority of the population in the Middle East, faced with poor prospects

- Increasing poverty and collapsing cities

- Failures of government