The Decline of American Power  

"We tend to think and to speak of Christianity as the "West" and Islam as the "East." ... Why? ... We have had some answers recently that are well known to you. Samuel Huntington sees the West and Islam as two antithetical "civilizations" that are in long term political conflict. Edward Said sees Orientalism as a false construct erected for ideological reasons by the Western world, one both pervasive and pernicious in its effect. I prefer to approach the question another way and ask the question, why is it that the Christian world seems to have singled out the Islamic world as its particular demon, and not merely recently but ever since the emergence of Islam? Actually the reverse has probably also been true, that Islam has regarded Christianity as its particular demon."--The Decline of American Power (2003) by Immanuel Wallerstein

"Can the West do without a demon? I doubt it at the moment. The West is facing a massive crisis ... This same confusion and self-doubt pervades the Islamic world."--The Decline of American Power (2003) by Immanuel Wallerstein