The vast majority of findings reported to date from the 2002
Gallup Poll of the Islamic World concern perceptions of the West,
rather than of Islam. They have provided a detailed picture of
residents' assessments of Western culture, of non-Islamic values
and of the perceived characteristics of Western societies -- both
collectively and on a country-specific basis.
However, Gallup's survey also asked those within these
predominantly Islamic societies how they view their own
sphere -- specifically, what traits they think are characteristic
of the Islamic world. Each survey respondent was read a series of
descriptive statements and asked which, if any, they felt applied
to the Islamic world.
Of the eight statements tested, perhaps the most provocative was
the assertion: "People are free in controlling their own lives and
future." Outsiders have commented widely on the social and
political structures of these societies -- but what is the view of
the residents themselves on this score?
Personal Freedom of Opportunity in the Islamic World --
"Damning With Faint Praise"?
In none of the eight countries in which this question was asked
did a majority of respondents express the view that the Islamic
world is a realm in which people are generally free to control
their own lives and future. In fact, only in Pakistan (45%) and
Indonesia (32%) did more than a quarter of all respondents accept
this as an apt description of Islamic societies.
In Iran (23%), Jordan (22%), Lebanon (21%), Morocco (21%) and
Turkey (20%), the view that residents of the Islamic world enjoy
considerable personal freedom is a rare one, and in Kuwait that
perspective is rarer still (10%). This question -- along with a
handful of others deemed to be excessively sensitive -- was not
included in the Saudi Arabia questionnaire.
It is worth stressing that the question was asked with reference
to the Islamic world in general, and did not constitute an
assessment of the level of personal freedom of opportunity within
the respondent's own country. It is thus possible for residents of
countries with comparatively high levels of personal political
freedom (among the nations surveyed) to offer relatively harsh
assessments of the level of freedom that residents of the Islamic
world generally enjoy.
Indeed, Kuwaitis and Turks are the least likely to describe the
Islamic world as one characterized by personal freedom --
notwithstanding the fact that Turkey itself enjoys a vigorous
multiparty democracy and Kuwait's parliament and press are among
the most contentious and outspoken in the region.
It should also be noted that the phrase, "people are free to
control their own lives and future," does not necessarily have an
exclusively political connotation. In addition to the degree of
formal political freedom enjoyed in a given society, a wide variety
of factors may constrain economic and social mobility -- unequal
access to education, rigidly prescribed ethnic, class or tribal
hierarchies, etc. -- all of which may sharply limit an individual's
ability to determine his or her personal future.
Perceptions of Political Equality in the West
In contrast, residents of these same societies are considerably
more likely to say they see the West as a region in which citizens
enjoy equality with regard to their individual liberties and
duties.
In four of the nine countries in which this question was asked
with regard to the West, outright majorities accept it as an
appropriate description (Lebanon: 78%, Jordan: 60%, Turkey: 62%,
Morocco: 55%). Furthermore, in three others -- Kuwait (46%),
Indonesia (39%) and Pakistan (33%) -- at least a third of those
interviewed did so. Only in Saudi Arabia (16%) do fewer than one in
five accept the notion that citizens in the West enjoy substantive
political equality.
In general, younger adults are somewhat more likely than their
older compatriots to view the West as a region in which the word
"equality" can fairly be used to describe citizens' enjoyment of
civic rights and responsibilities.
