Islam and Globalization: Secularism, Religion, and Radicalism SEAN L. YOM W hat is Islam’s place within globalization? Many prominent scholars characterize the religion as incapable of adapting to a globalized so­ciety because Islam instinctively opposes globalization and the secular values it entails. However, this explorative endeavor favors a multidimen­sional rather than polemic approach, one that views the recent Islamic re­vival, radical Islamic militants, and the broader return of religion around the globe as critical aspects of globalization. This investigation does not so much advance a centralized argument as it acts as a web of possibilities, linking concepts and realities together under a global framework in the hope of positing a broader appreciation of Islam and its evolution vis-à­vis globalization and the normative context within which it lies situated. At the end of the Cold War, partly in response to the ideological lacuna left by the collapse of international bipolarity and partly in reaction to the realization that globalization was inexorable, numerous scholars pro­posed new paradigmatic theories of international relations that expressed a new dynamic of global conflict. These architects, whom Sadowski memorably labels»global chaos theorists«, described globalization as a fragmenting process, eroding the sovereignty of states and fomenting the rebirth of new social, cultural, and religious loyalties. 1 They forecasted a world divided along religious-civilizational lines that»seemed to be slip­ping over a precipice into an epoch of ethnic and cultural violence«. 2 As such, the revival of religion – particularly Islam – heralded a mutiny against modernity, globalization, and even secularism. 3 Globalization, defined as»[T]he inexorable integration of markets, nation-states, and 1. Yahya Sadowski, The Myth of Global Chaos (Washington, d.c. : Brookings Institute Press, 1998), 4. 2. Ibid. 3. As used by Sadowski but originally developed by Durkheim, anomie describes a state of normative confusion in which irrational violence increases as social re­straints decay. See Steven Lukes, Emile Durkheim: His Life and Works (New York: Harper and Row, 1972), 210–11, and Sadowski, 27–34. 84 Yom, Islam and Globalization ipg 4/2002