Islamic Extremism and the War of Ideas: Lessons from Indonesia [Hardcover]

John Hughes examines lessons learned from the practice of public diplomacy—especially international broadcasting—in the cold war and tells how the United States could more effectively counter extremism, promote democracy, and improve understanding of itself in the Islamic world. He offers Indonesia as a successful example of the melding of democracy, Islam, and modernity and suggests that this country and other nations where Islam and democracy coexist—such as Turkey—could play a significant role in helping thwart Islamist extremism.

John Hughes examines lessons learned from the practice of public diplomacy—especially international broadcasting—in the cold war and tells how the United States could more effectively counter extremism, promote democracy, and improve understanding of itself in the Islamic world. He offers Indonesia as a successful example of the melding of democracy, Islam, and modernity and suggests that this country and other nations where Islam and democracy coexist—such as Turkey—could play a significant role in helping thwart Islamist extremism.

John Hughesis a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and former editor of theChristian Science Monitor. He is currently a professor of international communications at Brigham Young University and writes a nationally syndicated column for theMonitor. Hughes served for six years as Africa correspondent and six years as Far East correspondent before becoming theMonitor'seditor. A Nieman Fellow at Harvard, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Indonesia and the Overseas Press Club Award for his investigation of the international narcotics traffic. During the Reagan administration he was associate director of the United States Information Agency, director of the Voice of America, and assistant secretary of state for public affairs and department spokesman. He later chairl£.