(The writer is Director of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. He was formerly U.S. Ambassador to Syria and to Israel and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.)

A coherent policy framework toward Islam has become a compelling need as foreign policy challenges erupt involving an "arc of crisis" extending from the Balkans, the Caucasus, North Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia. In Bosnia, Chechnya, Nagorno-Karabagh, Algeria, Gaza and the West Bank, Southern Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Kashmir, the rallying cry of Muslim fighters - "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Great") - is heard in a complex web of violent conflicts.

Each of these situations has its own historic, ethnic, and political context. However, the common thread is Muslims asserting their identity and political goals against both non-Muslim and Muslim regimes. In the former instance we have the examples of Muslims versus Serbs in Bosnia, Chechens versus Russians in Chechnya, Azeris versus Armenians in Nagorno-Karabagh, Muslim radical groups versus Israelis, and Muslims versus Hindus in Kashmir. In the latter instance we have Muslim groups opposing established regimes in the Islamic world, for example, in Algeria and Egypt. And outside the arc of crisis we have Muslim extremists engaged in acts of terrorism, as exemplified by the World Trade Center bombing in New York and the hijacking of an Air France flight and bombings by Algerian Islamic extremists in France. Parts of this mosaic comprise the militant Islamic regimes in Iran and the Sudan which preach and export a militant version of Islam aimed at the secular world - Muslim and non-Muslim.

Is this a "clash of civilizations" that Professor Samuel Huntington refers to, or the manifestation of particular political, ethnic, religious and cultural conflicts which have intensified in the post-Cold War era? It is most likely the latter but, regardless, it is evident that policy makers must now address religious, ethnic, and cultural factors in a way which was not readily apparent during the bipolar confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. In fact, the realpolitik approach to foreign policy which prevailed during the Cold War was based largely on balance of power considerations and is insufficient to deal effectively and comprehensively with today's realities. The international community now finds itself without a coherent policy framework as it reacts to individual fires as they erupt along the arc of crisis.