The culture of a startup is a reflection of its economic context: A startup receives VC funding, has few employees to start with and must optimize growth in order to be successful. It's also a reflection of the power relationship of the founders and the other employees: the culture of a startup optimizes the values and preferred organizational structure of the founders. Startup culture does not cause these things, it is the reification of these relationships. It is symbolic.

It is an important characteristic of ideology that it is symbolic: it means that multiple people can interpret it in different ways. Which interpretations are "correct"? The ones that conform to the underlying power structure. The power structure punishes "misinterpretations" and rewards "correct" interpretations.

Just as different start-ups have different ideologies because they have different power structures and economic relations, Islam in the Middle East is not a coherent political ideology. The Islam of Iran reflects the organization of its government, not the other way around. The Islam of Saudi Arabia reflects the organization of its government, not the other way around.

The Islam of Da'esh, which is considered heterodox by literally every other sect of Islam, is a reflection of its power structures.

The same signs and ideas reflect different physical realities. What drives the development of signs and ideas? The physical reality. Only the material can propagate ideology, and only the material that propagates itself succeeds in the long-run.

What use is it to say that "Islam is a political religious ideology for most of the Middle East"? What analytic and predictive power does this statement have?

I agree with what you are saying but not to the degree that the ideology is purely influenced by the governmental structure. Islam existed far before either Iran or Saudi existed. Their formation was influenced by the type of ideas Islam enforces as much as Islam was influenced by the power structure that eventually formed as all the pieces fell into place by the formation of those nations. Islam enables interpretations that lead to the formation of these oppressive regimes and then these regimes and then the power structure continues to enforce that interpretation.

> Islam enables interpretations that lead to the formation of these oppressive regimes and then these regimes and then the power structure continues to enforce that interpretation.

Ok, sure. I can agree with that, but in my opinion it's a low-power assertion. Liberalism as an ideology allows imperialism and coups, too. Like the one that ousted the democratically elected prime minister of Iran and replaced him with the autocratic Shah.

There is nothing especially poisonous about Islam. The politics of the Middle East are largely driven by global capitalism, imperialism, and war. What has more political force? A cruise missile or a copy of the Quran?