Download or read book The Fight for Legitimacy Liberal Democracy Versus Terrorism written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study uses an interdisciplinary approach to address the challenge of transnational threats, namely terrorism, to liberal democracies. Terrorism poses unique challenges to the liberal democratic state, and the transnational nature of terrorism necessitates cooperation between and among states. However, terrorism must be analyzed in a political and strategic context. The forces of globalization and fragmentation and the increasing claims of irredentism and secession, require a reexamination of state legitimacy. The best way for states to win legitimacy vis a vis terrorists is by adhering to liberal democratic values and cooperating with other such states. Such cooperation, which affects domestic and foreign policies, requires a convergence of political cultures among those cooperating states. This study analyzes three cases: the Basques in Spain, the ethnic Albanians in Macedonia, and the Kurds in Turkey. This study sheds light on how academics and policymakers ought to characterize and categorize terrorism, and it provides insights on the concepts of political legitimacy, liberal democracy, political culture, and political community. As the US assesses its homeland defense posture, it must resist any temptation to weaken its liberal democratic values, and as a superpower, it must encourage other states to adhere to liberal democratic values as well. Liberal democracy is not just a normative concern, it is a security imperative in today"s transnational security environment.
Download or read book The Fight for Legitimacy written by Cindy R. Jebb and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2006-07-30 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Terrorism cannot be treated as a monolithic threat. Moreover, as much as we may wish to focus on the terror tactics and terrorist means, we cannot overlook the ends. In fact, good policy can only be crafted with an understanding of the terrorist strategy; that is, how terrorists integrate their means to secure their goals, given their perception of the security environment. The groups covered in this book change and evolve. While their governments must take aggressive actions to secure their populations against attacks, those governments that recognize the real grievances can simultaneously take action that addresses those grievances. This two-pronged approach simultaneously bolsters state legitimacy across the ethnic and majority populations, while demonstrating state effectiveness regarding insecurity. The authors argue that the best way for states to win legitimacy vis-a-vis terrorists is by adhering to liberal democratic values, cooperating with other states, and applying prudent counterterrorist tactics. Inter-state cooperation, which affects domestic and foreign policies, requires some convergence of political cultures among those cooperating states. This book begins by analyzing five hotspot situations and their regional effects: the Basques in Spain, the ethnic Albanians in Macedonia, the Kurds in Turkey, the Chechens and Russia; and the Palestinians, Israel, and a future Palestinian state. These cases shed some light on how we should understand, characterize, and categorize terrorism, and they provide insights into the concepts of political legitimacy, liberal democracy, political culture, and political community. As the United States assesses its homeland defense posture, it must resist any temptation to weaken its liberal democratic values, and, as a superpower, it must encourage other states to adhere to liberal democratic values as well. Liberal democracy is a security imperative in today's global security environment.
Download or read book Terrorist Or Revolutionary written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political theory tends to automatically rule out the use of legitimate political violence in the hands of citizens. Thus, theorists separate "terrorism" from the "legitimate" use of violence in certain instances. Violence against the liberal state, for example, is usually considered not only reprehensible in itself (as all violence is), but illegitimate, since democracies provide non-violent means of expressing dissent or even changing the system itself. I argue that the exclusion that is performed within the field itself reflects a larger exclusion that operates at the very heart of liberal democracy. The chief aim of this paper is to address the distinction that theory makes between the terrorist and the revolutionary and explore what this distinction reveals about our assumptions about the law, the legitimacy of the state, and the right to protest. Thus, the non-normative basis for Law means that we do not always have to obey the Law, particularly if doing so interferes with our moral beliefs. I end by suggesting that in a situation in which our sense of "right" clash with the law, we may have to act when we are moved to. We will never be sure whether our course of action is sound, but that cannot preclude action for all time. Perhaps the only honest and moral prescription a political theorist can give is this: When an unconscionable situation arises, we must act (after reflection), if only to remain true to our personal convictions; afterwards, we must accept the consequences of our actions, both good and bad. This paper is not, therefore, an excuse for terrorism or revolutions, but is rather an attempt to call attention to the uncertain grounds on which political theorists (and dissidents, and governments) tread when defending or condemning the use of violence for political ends. The philosopher's role is to exhort her fellow men to greater heights in order to improve the world, but in doing so, she herself takes a leap into a moral void, since she knows not whether she "is in danger of providing the alibi for a criminal." Thus for anyone who wishes to act in the public sphere, "[c]ourage is indispensable because in politics not life ... the world is at stake."
Download or read book Terrorism Versus Democracy written by Paul Wilkinson and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2011-02 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines global terrorist networks and discusses the long-term future of terrorism.
Download or read book Terrorism and the Liberal State written by Paul Wilkinson and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Road Warriors written by Daniel Byman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-02 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, fighters from abroad have journeyed in ever-greater numbers to conflict zones in the Muslim world to defend Islam from-in their view-infidels and apostates. The phenomenon recently reached its apogee in Syria, where the foreign fighter population quickly became larger and more diverse than in any previous conflict. In Road Warriors, Daniel Byman provides a sweeping history of the jihadist foreign fighter movement. He begins by chronicling the movement's birth in Afghanistan, its growing pains in Bosnia and Chechnya, and its emergence as a major source of terrorism in the West in the 1990s, culminating in the 9/11 attacks. Since that bloody day, the foreign fighter movement has seen major ups and downs. It rode high after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, when the ultra-violent Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) attracted thousands of foreign fighters. AQI overreached, however, and suffered a crushing defeat. Demonstrating the resilience of the movement, however, AQI reemerged anew during the Syrian civil war as the Islamic State, attracting tens of thousands of fighters from around the world and spawning the bloody 2015 attacks in Paris among hundreds of other strikes. Although casualty rates are usually high, the survivors of Afghanistan, Syria, and other fields of jihad often became skilled professional warriors, going from one war to the next. Still others returned to their home countries, some to peaceful retirement but a deadly few to conduct terrorist attacks. Over time, both the United States and Europe have learned to adapt. Before 9/11, volunteers went to and fro to Afghanistan and other hotspots with little interference. Today, the United States and its allies have developed a global program to identify, arrest, and kill foreign fighters. Much remains to be done, however-jihadist ideas and networks are by now deeply embedded, even as groups such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State rise and fall. And as Byman makes abundantly clear, the problem is not likely to go away any time soon.
Download or read book Avoidingtheterroristtrap whyrespectforhumanrightsisthekeytodefeatingterrorism written by Parker Thomas David and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2019-06-17 with total page 924 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than 150 years, Nationalist, Populist, Marxist and Islamist terrorists have all been remarkably consistent and explicit about their aims: Provoke the State into over-reacting to the threat they pose, then take advantage of the divisions in society that result. Faced with a major terrorist threat, States seem to reach instinctively for the most coercive tools in their arsenal and, in doing so, risk exacerbating the situation. This policy response seems to be driven in equal parts by a lack of understanding of the true nature of the threat, an exaggerated faith in the use of force, and a lack of faith that democratic values are sufficiently flexible to allow for an effective counter-terrorism response. Drawing on a wealth of data from both historical and contemporary sources, Avoiding the Terrorist Trap addresses common misconceptions underpinning flawed counter-terrorist policies, identifies the core strategies that guide terrorist operations, consolidates the latest research on the underlying drivers of terrorist violence, and demonstrates how a comprehensive and coherent counter-terrorism strategy grounded in respect for human rights and the rule of law is the only truly effective approach to defeating terrorism.
Download or read book The Lesser Evil written by Michael Ignatieff and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2005-09-04 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Must we fight terrorism with terror, match assassination with assassination, and torture with torture? Must we sacrifice civil liberty to protect public safety? In the age of terrorism, the temptations of ruthlessness can be overwhelming. But we are pulled in the other direction too by the anxiety that a violent response to violence makes us morally indistinguishable from our enemies. There is perhaps no greater political challenge today than trying to win the war against terror without losing our democratic souls. Michael Ignatieff confronts this challenge head-on, with the combination of hard-headed idealism, historical sensitivity, and political judgment that has made him one of the most influential voices in international affairs today. Ignatieff argues that we must not shrink from the use of violence--that far from undermining liberal democracy, force can be necessary for its survival. But its use must be measured, not a program of torture and revenge. And we must not fool ourselves that whatever we do in the name of freedom and democracy is good. We may need to kill to fight the greater evil of terrorism, but we must never pretend that doing so is anything better than a lesser evil. In making this case, Ignatieff traces the modern history of terrorism and counter-terrorism, from the nihilists of Czarist Russia and the militias of Weimar Germany to the IRA and the unprecedented menace of Al Qaeda, with its suicidal agents bent on mass destruction. He shows how the most potent response to terror has been force, decisive and direct, but--just as important--restrained. The public scrutiny and political ethics that motivate restraint also give democracy its strongest weapon: the moral power to endure when the furies of vengeance and hatred are spent. The book is based on the Gifford Lectures delivered at the University of Edinburgh in 2003.
Download or read book End of History and the Last Man written by Francis Fukuyama and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006-03-01 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since its first publication in 1992, The End of History and the Last Man has provoked controversy and debate. Francis Fukuyama's prescient analysis of religious fundamentalism, politics, scientific progress, ethical codes, and war is as essential for a world fighting fundamentalist terrorists as it was for the end of the Cold War. Now updated with a new afterword, The End of History and the Last Man is a modern classic.
Download or read book Writing the War on Terrorism written by Richard Jackson and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2005-07-22 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the language of the war on terrorism and is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand how the Bush administration's approach to counter-terrorism became the dominant policy paradigm in American politics today.
Download or read book National Populism written by Roger Eatwell and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2018-10-25 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A crucial new guide to one of the most important and most dangerous phenomena of our time: the rise of populism in the West Across the West, there is a rising tide of people who feel excluded, alienated from mainstream politics, and increasingly hostile towards minorities, immigrants and neo-liberal economics. Many of these voters are turning to national populist movements, which pose the most serious threat to the Western liberal democratic system, and its values, since the Second World War. From the United States to France, Austria to the UK, the national populist challenge to mainstream politics is all around us. But what is behind this exclusionary turn? Who supports these movements and why? What does their rise tell us about the health of liberal democratic politics in the West? And what, if anything, should we do to respond to these challenges? Written by two of the foremost experts on fascism and the rise of the populist right, National Populism is a lucid and deeply-researched guide to the radical transformations of today's political landscape, revealing why liberal democracies across the West are being challenged-and what those who support them can do to help stem the tide.
Download or read book Freedom in the World 2018 written by Freedom House and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-01-31 with total page 1040 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Freedom in the World is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The methodology of this survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories.
Download or read book Human Rights in the War on Terror written by Richard Wilson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-10-03 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reviews the war on terror since 9/11 from a human rights perspective.
Download or read book Militant Democracy written by András Sajó and published by Eleven International Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a collection of contributions by leading scholars on theoretical and contemporary problems of militant democracy. The term 'militant democracy' was first coined in 1937. In a militant democracy preventive measures are aimed, at least in practice, at restricting people who would openly contest and challenge democratic institutions and fundamental preconditions of democracy like secularism - even though such persons act within the existing limits of, and rely on the rights offered by, democracy. In the shadow of the current wars on terrorism, which can also involve rights restrictions, the overlapping though distinct problem of militant democracy seems to be lost, notwithstanding its importance for emerging and established democracies. This volume will be of particular significance outside the German-speaking world, since the bulk of the relevant literature on militant democracy is in the German language. The book is of interest to academics in the field of law, political studies and constitutionalism.
Download or read book Rupture written by Manuel Castells and published by Polity. This book was released on 2018-12-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The majority of citizens in the world today do not trust their political representatives, the mainstream political parties, the established political institutions or their governments. This widespread crisis of legitimacy underlies a series of dramatic changes that have taken place in recent times in the global political landscape, such as the unexpected election of Donald Trump, Brexit, the demise of traditional political parties and the election of a political outsider in France, the transformation of the political system in Spain (including the secessionist movement in Catalonia), the rise of the extreme right in Europe and the nationalist challenges that threaten the European Union. In this short but wide-ranging book Manuel Castells analyses each of these processes and examines some of the potential causes of people’s disaffection towards the institutions of liberal democracy, including the effects of globalization, the impact of media politics and the internet, the increasing corruption of politicians, the insulation of a professional political class from civil society and the critique of the existing order by new social movements. He also examines the impact of global terrorism and war on the xenophobia and racism that are fuelling the surge of extremism among a growing proportion of the population. The fact that many of these trends are present in very different contexts suggests that we are witnessing a deep-seated crisis of the model of democracy that has been the cornerstone of stability and civility in the last half century.
Download or read book Bridging the Gap written by Cindy R. Jebb and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2004 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Bridging the Gap scholar and military officer Cindy R. Jebb asks why the United States, with its considerable diplomatic, economic, and military resources vested in the Middle East, has not been able to successfully implement plans to quell unrest in the region. To find an answer, Jebb specifically focuses on the factors that drive United States' foreign policy decisions in Egypt and Syria in a Cold War and post-Cold War context. The epilogue brings forward the post-Cold War findings to a post 9/11 world, providing insights on the changing legitimacy formulas for both states. Using comparative politics literature to answer the international relations question of why states behave as they do, this searching study builds an important foundation for further research in other critical areas of current scholarly interest, including democratization, consensus-building, multilateral institutions, and ethnic studies. Bridging the Gap will be indispensable to scholars in the international, comparative, and security fields, and Jebb's insights will be of particular value to Middle East regional experts and policy makers.
Download or read book The Political Economy of Terrorism written by Walter Enders and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-31 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Political Economy of Terrorism presents a widely accessible political economy approach to the study of terrorism. It applies economic methodology – theoretical and empirical – combined with political analysis and realities to the study of domestic and transnational terrorism. In so doing, the book provides both a qualitative and quantitative investigation of terrorism in a balanced up-to-date presentation that informs students, policy makers, researchers and the general reader of the current state of knowledge. Included are historical aspects, a discussion of watershed events, the rise of modern-day terrorism, examination of current trends, the dilemma of liberal democracies, evaluation of counterterrorism, analysis of hostage incidents and much more. The new edition expands coverage of every chapter, adds a new chapter on terrorist network structures and organization, accounts for changes in the Department of Homeland Security and the USA Patriot Act and insurance against terrorism. Rational-actor models of terrorist and government behavior and game-theoretic analysis are presented for readers with no prior theoretical training. Where relevant, the authors display graphs using data from International Terrorism: Attributes of Terrorist Events (ITERATE), the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), and other public-access data sets.
