From Militants To Politicians : Atavist Islam And The Concept Of Democratic Peace
تاريخ النشر: 29/09/2008
الناشر: مركز الإمارات للدراسات والبحوث الاستراتيجية
نبذة الناشر:The viability of countering Middle East terrorism by inducting extremist movements into mainstream political processes has become a contentious issue, and one high on the international security agenda. The existential threat posed to advanced industrial and urbanized societies, and to those countries moving towards higher economic and social development, warrants ...considerable anxiety as well as energetic political and military countervailing action. Although the events of 9/11 took place over six years ago the threat clearly persists. Tragically, although the Middle East may be the epicenter, Islamist terrorism has a global dimension affecting London and Mumbai as well as Baghdad and Riyadh.
The US-led "global war on terror" (GWOT) is a direct response to these small, violent groups which claim to be acting in the name of Islam. At its worst, the combination of ruthless, fanatical terrorism, weapons of the mass destruction, and spiteful rogue states could be catastrophic for target societies. It is, therefore, the core responsibility of progressive leaders, democratic or otherwise, to do their utmost to prevent the realization of such threats.
The concept of a "war on terror" is often ridiculed, not least in the West. For instance, the eminent American intellectual Francis Fukuyama argued that "terrorism is only a means to an end; in this regard, a war on terrorism makes no more sense than a war on submarines". In Britain, Professor Sir Michael Howard, the venerable military historian and strategic thinker, suggested that "terror as such could not be an adversary. We cannot be at war with an abstract noun," although he is somewhat happier with the increasing use by the Pentagon of the term " the long war" instead of the GWOT. Nonetheless, a "war on terror" is a valid metaphor for a concerted effort to thwart and defeat these unrepresentative Islamic elements which, though limited in number, can create substantial damage by waging a brand of subversive, asymmetrical war. إقرأ المزيد