The Cold War’s end positioned Islam as communism’s replacement global threat

Evidence

In the waning days of the Cold War, once it had been defeated in Eastern Europe, a triumphant liberal democracy found Islam as a viable replacement for communism as a global threat. … The theory that Islam is incompatible with democracy, Enlightenment liberalism, and the West in general was encapsulated in Bernard Lewis’s work and then taken up by Samuel Huntington in his famous “clash of civilizations” thesis. … This argument that replaces communism with Islam as the global bogeyman has enormous attraction for those already predisposed to Islamophobia. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 240

In the waning days of the Cold War, once it had been defeated in Eastern Europe, a triumphant liberal democracy found Islam as a viable replacement for communism as a global threat. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 240

Categorization

• XREF: Directly tracks the chapter-level racecraft argument about Islam’s racialization under U.S. empire; parallels Said’s Orientalism as scholarship tied to governance (ch32). — connects to: Invasion-era stereotypes of foreign Muslims double as domestic anti-immigrant racism — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 242; Islam’s racial function shifts with changing Muslim demographics.; State surveillance treated militant Islam as more threatening than non-violent Christianity — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 193 (+15 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 240
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Islam replaced communism as the West’s designated global enemy threat #corroborates (0.98)
• Communism’s collapse left West and Islam as mutual perceived threats #corroborates (0.92) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 246
• The Cold War’s end left Islam and the West mutually perceived threats #corroborates (0.90) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 246
• Western publics and leaders perceived Islam as the post-Cold War threat #corroborates (0.90) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 579
• Islam replaced communism as the U.S. constructed menace #corroborates (0.88) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 302
• Practicing Islam functionally replaced Communism as the most threatening subversive activity #expands (0.80) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 476
• Islam replaced communism as the West’s fear narrative after 1979 #qualifies (0.75) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 90
• Neoliberal theorists conflated communism with Islam as an orientalist enemy. #exemplifies (0.75) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 125
• Modern Islamophobia dates to post-Cold-War American global dominance. #expands (0.72) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 39