'Bows of pseudo-profundity' and 'moral certitude': Alan Johnson and Democratiya

The merger of the online journal Democratiya, with Dissent, provides an obvious point to begin assessing the role of Alan Johnson's creation. The following is not intended as the last word on this subject, but as a contribution to a process of analysis. The approach here will be to focus on the argumentation used in Democratiya, specifically in the one article written for the journal by Johnson. "Camus' Catch: How Democracies can defeat Totalitarian Political Islam" addresses both practical political initiatives and broader ideological responses to the threat of 'totalitarian Islam'. It is an extended version of a speech that Johnson gave at a conference organized by the Medbridge Strategy Centre, an organization established by the European Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Congress to 'promote a strong relationship between Europe and its Middle East partners that share the same values', a group that lobbies for Israel.