Theories of Democracy - Essay Example

17 April Theories of democracy: Why does Mitchell use the term McJihad? Is he suggesting they should be combined? Mitchell uses the term McJihad to describe the absence of a logic known as capitalism. It is the absence of this capitalism due to which the US has been able to promote violence across the Middle East and other Muslim countries so persistently for last many years. This violence to control the oil resources is funded by the US government which signifies deficiency of capitalism (Mitchell 230).

Mitchell suggests that McWorld and Jihad can be combined. Actually, we are living today in an age of McJihad because it is an age where capitalism seems to operate through different mechanisms, but only by adopting the force and authority of “conservative Islamic movements” (Mitchell 203). These conservative Islamic movements run in the name of Jihad. Neither Jihad nor McWorld can be considered democratic.What is missing from Barber’s analysis according to Mitchell? According to Barber, governments supportive of fundamentalist Islam are less likely to be supportive of the US interests, while Mitchell suggests in his article that such governments are more likely to be aligned with the US interests.

This idea, the coalition of Jihad and McWorld, is missing from Barber’s analysis because it is claimed by Mitchell that the US government is quite familiar with working with Muslim emirs “whose power depended upon strict interpretations of Islamic law” (Mitchell 1). Barber puts forward this idea that McWorld and Jihad are indifferent to each other (Barber). In contrast, it is implied by Mitchell that we do not live in an age of Jihad vs. McWorld as suggested by Barber, but we actually live in the age of McJihad.

This concept is missing from Barber’s analysis.Works cited: Barber, Benjamin, R. “Jihad vs. McWorld.” The Atlantic. Theatlantic.com, 01 Mar. 1992. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.Mitchell, Timothy. “McJihad: Islam in the U.S. Global Order.” Social Text 20.4 (2002): 1-18. Print.Mitchell, Timothy. Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil. New York: Verso Books, 2011. Print.