Bruce Lawrence- From Axis of Evil to Arc of Hope: Muslim Futures After 9/11

Keynote Address by Professor Bruce Lawrence:
From Axis of Evil to Arc of Hope -- Muslim Futures After 9/11

In early 2002 President George W. Bush announced Iraq, along with North Korea and Iran, as the Axis of Evil. [His UN Delegate John Bolton later added Syria, Libya and Cuba to the original list of 3, for a total of 6, with 4 being majority Muslim countries.] Now, nine years later, in the aftermath of two US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab spring has produced an arc of hope. It encompasses Tunisia and Egypt, with the possibility of Libya, Yemen and Syria, but without Iraq and Iran can it be a durable, transformative arc of hope, or will it, like the axis of evil, become a slogan of US foreign policy that disappears when it outlives its viability? The decadal anniversary of 9/11 marks the moment to revisit and also revise our assessment of Muslim futures.

Bruce B. Lawrence is Marcus Family Professor of the Humanities Emeritus and Professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. The inaugural director of the Duke Islamic Studies Center (2005-2009), he is currently completing a monograph on religious minorities as secular citizens, from coastal Africa to island Asia. Lawrence was a Carnegie Scholar of Islam from 2008 to 2010.

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