The London bombings have brought a resurgence of talk about a “Clash of Civilizations.”  There is some truth to this talk, but it’s not what conservatives think, according to data collected from a broad range of countries, which was reported in Foreign Affairs in 2003, and Ms. Magazine in 2004.  It’s not attitudes toward democracy that divides us, it’s attitudes toward gender:

Researchers Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris, drawing on data from the World Values Survey (WVS) wrote both articles. They did not draw attention to the fact that American conservatives are on the same side as the Taliban–but I will.

[Gory details below the fold]
While Bush and the neo-cons can at least pretend to be crusaders for democracy, and ideologues like Samuel Huntington can argue that Western Culture is inherently superior to and different from Islam, which is fundamentally unsuited to democratic self-government, there is actual realworld evidence that directly contradicts such assertions and pretensions.  

This goes well beyond the fact that Bush has proven himself an enemy of democracy in Haiti and Venezuela–not to mention all the countries whose leaders followed their citizen’s wishes and did not support the invastion of Iraq.

The reality is that attitudes toward gender are a prime indicator of sharp differences between the West and the Muslim world–and that those differences are relatively recent developments, which are growing stronger as Western youth become increasingly egalitarian in outlook, while their Muslim counterparts remain wedded to traditional views.

The Spring, 2004 article in Ms. Magazine, “It’s the Women, Stupid!” is shorter and more to the point, while the March/April, 2003 article in Foreign Affairs, “The True Clash of Civilizations” spells things out in a bit more detail. Its introduction reads:

Samuel Huntington was only half-right. The cultural fault line that divides
the West and the Islamic world is not about democracy, but sex. According to a new survey, Muslims and their Western counterparts are still worlds apart when it comes to attitudes toward divorce, abortion, gender equality, and gay rights – which does not bode well for democracy’s future in the Middle East.

“…or in America,” we might add.

In particular, the Foreign Affairs article explains the questions underlying the chart results above, which were reproduced in both articles:

The chart on the previous page draws on responses to various political and social issues in the World Values Survey. The percentages indicate the extent to which respondents agreed/disagreed or approved/disapproved of the following statements and questions:
DEMOCRATIC PERFORMANCE
¦ Democracies are indecisive and have too much quibbling. (Strongly disagree.)
¦ Democracies aren’t good at maintaining order. (Strongly disagree.)
DEMOCRATIC IDEAL
¦ Democracy may have problems, but it’s better than any other form of government. (Strongly agree.)
¦ Approve of having a democratic political system. (Strongly agree.)
STRONG LEADERS
¦ Approve of having experts, not government, make decisions according to what they think is best for the country. (Strongly disagree.)
¦ Approve of having a strong leader who does not have to bother with parliament and elections. (Strongly disagree.)
RELIGIOUS LEADERS
¦ Politicians who do not believe in God are unfit for public office. (Strongly disagree.)
¦ It would be better for [this country] if more people with strong religious beliefs held public office. (Strongly disagree.)
GENDER EQUALITY
¦ On the whole, men make better political leaders than women do. (Strongly disagree.)
¦ When jobs are scarce, men should have more right to a job than women. (Strongly disagree.)
¦ A university education is more important for a boy than for a girl. (Strongly disagree.)
¦ A woman has to have children in order to be fulfilled. (Strongly disagree.)
¦ If a woman wants to have a child as a single parent but she doesn’t want to have a stable relationship with a man, do you approve or disapprove? (Strongly approve.)
DIVORCE
¦ Divorce can always be justified, never be justified, or something in between. (High level of tolerance for divorce.)
ABORTION
¦ Abortion can always be justified, never be justified, or something in between. (High level of tolerance for abortion.)
HOMOSEXUALITY
¦ Homosexuality can always be justified, never be justified, or something in between. (High level of tolerance for homosexuality.)

As the authors explain:

Despite Huntington’s claim of a clash of civilizations between the West and the rest, the WVS reveals that, at this point in history, democracy has an overwhelmingly positive image throughout the world. In country after country, a clear majority of the population describes “having a democratic political system” as either “good” or “very good.” These results represent a dramatic change from the 1930s and 1940s, when fascist regimes won overwhelming mass approval in many societies; and for many decades, Communist regimes had widespread support.

Furthermore:

an equal number of respondents on both sides of the civilizational divide (61 percent) firmly reject authoritarian governance, expressing disapproval of “strong leaders” who do not “bother with parliament and elections.”

(Hence, the need for “other means” to disable democratic accountability.)

The authors do note a difference in attitude toward religion in politics, but this is not limited to Muslim countries:

Islamic societies display greater support for religious authorities playing an active societal role than do Western societies. Yet this preference for religious authorities is less a cultural division between the West and Islam than it is a gap between the West and many other less secular societies around the globe, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

What does draw a sharp distinction are gender attitudes, both toward women and toward gays.  Women first:

However, when it comes to attitudes toward gender equality and sexual liberalization, the cultural gap between Islam and the West widens into a chasm. On the matter of equal rights and opportunities for women–measured by such questions as whether men make better political leaders than women or whether university education is more important for boys than for girls–Western and Muslim countries score 82 percent and 55 percent, respectively. Islamic societies are also distinctively less permissive on homosexuality, abortion, and divorce.

These issues are part of a broader syndrome of tolerance, trust, political activism, and emphasis on individual autonomy that constitutes “self expression values.” The extent to which a society emphasizes these self-expression values has a surprisingly strong bearing on the emergence and survival of democratic institutions. Among all the countries included in the WVS, support for gender equality–a key barometer of tolerance and personal freedom–is closely linked with a society’s level of democracy. In every stable democracy, a majority of the public disagrees with the statement that “men make better political leaders than women.” None of the societies in which less than 30 percent of the public rejects this statement (such as Jordan, Nigeria, and Belarus) is a true democracy.

Now, in America today it would surely be a political death sentence for a party to openly deride the ability of women to participate in politics. Yet, at the level of common public opinion, almost half of self-identified extreme conservatives (those who rated themselves “7” on a scale of 1-7) agree that “Most men are better suited emotionally for politics than are most women.”  This is more than 3 times the number of extreme liberals who say the same thing, as recorded by the General Social Survey:

I did not have access to the WVS data.  The GSS data, is generally, though not directly comparable. However, it it is broken down into 7 divisions of political self-identification, which makes it extremely useful for distinguishing political views that vary by ideology.  

Another GSS question that’s relevant here is  ABCHOOSE, “A pregnant woman should be able to obtain a legal abortion for any reason whatsoever, if she chooses not to have the baby,” which allows a neutral choice.  This makes it generally comparable to the WVS question on abortion, “Abortion can always be justified, never be justified, or something in between,” which got 48% approval in the West generally, compared to 25% is Muslim countries. Here’s how Americans stacked up:

Finally, red states rather famously have higher divorce rates than blue states, and it’s not surprising that GSS doesn’t ask an agree/disagree question like the WVS, “Divorce can always be justified, never be justified, or something in between.” But it does ask if divorce should be made easier, harder, or left the same:

.

Attitudes towards gays are significant because of their cross-cultural outgroup status:

The way a society views homosexuality constitutes another good litmus test of its commitment to equality. Tolerance of well-liked groups is never a problem. But if someone wants to gauge how tolerant a nation really is, find out which group is the most disliked, and then ask whether members of that group should be allowed to hold public meetings, teach in schools, and work in government. Today, relatively few people express overt hostility toward other classes, races, or religions, but rejection of homosexuals is widespread. In response to a WVS question about whether homosexuality is justifiable, about half of the world’s population say “never.” But, as is the case with gender equality, this attitude is directly proportional to a country’s level of democracy.

Among authoritarian and quasi-democratic states, rejection of homosexuality is deeply entrenched: 99 percent in both Egypt and Bangladesh, 94 percent in Iran, 92 percent in China, and 71 percent in India. By contrast, these figures are much lower among respondents in stable democracies: 32 percent in the United States, 26 percent in Canada, 25 percent in Britain, and 19 percent in Germany.

And, again, we take a look to see which side conservatives are on in the clash of civilizations. GSS asked two similar questions in the 1990s. Here are the results of both:

And:

Again, these are only generally comparable. They were done in the 1990s, and younger people in the West are strikingly more accepting of homosexuality.  Still, the liberal/conservative split very much resembles the Western/Muslim split.  The conclusion here is obvious: the “Clash of Civilizations” is just another name for the “Culture Wars.”  Liberals are on the side of the West. Conservatives are on the same side as the Muslim civilizations they both demonize and try to identify with liberals.  

They are also, of course, on the same side as bin Laden.