This paper argues different viewpoints about the outbreak of violence against Western countries.Terrorist action on September 11, 2001 against the American State supposed to be a vocal point. Many Western analysts believe that there is a serious confrontation between the West and Islam. The Western countries, specially the US, with reference to these terrorist attacks, have executed violent and military responses against many Islamic groups and Islamic countries. In turn, these operations created counter-attacks against the US and some other Western allies. This article presents five different perspectives which want to explain the incidents. These perspectives which are mainly collected from Western sources, include Imperialism, counter- response, decreasing the role of States, Islamism and the clash of civilizations. All of them would be explained and criticized. The paper argues that the West has failed to reach a comprehensive and conclusive theory; but each prespective provide some explanation for the violent incidents.
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