International Terrorism
Table of Contents
The modern world is full of different social, political and other movements that use various methods for reaching their aims. The majority of democratic countries consist of the parties that use peaceful approaches and policies but in other states, the situation is opposite. One of the commonly practiced aggressive ways of fulfilling political and social objectives of specific groups of individuals is terrorism. Unfortunately, people that choose it hurt many others when practicing non-peaceful methods for the protection or establishment of their values and beliefs. One of the modern movements that perform terroristic acts in numerous Western countries is ISIS which has the target of the creation of an Islamic state with an orthodox form of the government. In contrast, its opponent, the UN, aspires for the global preservation of human values, freedoms, and beliefs. Apparently, these organizations contradict each other and use dissimilar methods for the support of their agenda. However, the analysis of their core values demonstrates that although they are antagonists, they can reach a compromise. It is possible in case both ISIS and the UN agree to respect the goals and cultural traditions of each other refusing from the policy of active influence.
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The Perspective of ISIS
Currently, ISIS is one of the most aggressive organizations in the world that seeks the formation of an individual state that functions under an orthodox Islamic code of values. The established land should be called caliphate, unite the territories of Iraq, Syria and other countries of the Middle East, and have Sharia Law (“ISIS Fast Facts”). The facts that prove that this establishment is terroristic are the initiation of the war in the Middle East and 90 attacks in 21 countries that killed more than 1,400 individuals (“ISIS Fast Facts”). In addition, the participants of the terroristic activity record different videos showing that they punish people and perform public executions in diverse forms.
ISIS has chosen the path of terror because the plans of its establishers faced resistance from the other communities of the world. One of the reasons for this is the attempts to unite the territories that once were the part of an ancient caliphate and nowadays represent independent countries (“ISIS Fast Facts”). At the same time, the scholars claim that ISIS is more than a terroristic organization as it has the signs that allow differentiating terrorism of a new form. For instance, Cronin claims that although ISIS was based on the ideology of Al Quaeda and was an ally to it, it has changed its status [sic]. In contrast to Al Quaeda, it has territory, directly controlled military forces, infrastructure and extensive financing supplies (Cronin). As a result, its leaders tend to characterize the institution as a separate state that wants to restore its ancient borders. For this reason, other countries oppose this perspective as ISIS expresses intentions to invade their lands. Similarly, numerous international organizations including the UN have recognized that ISIS has unprecedented goals and should be discontinued.
The Perspective of the United Nations
The United Nations has been founded as an organization that maintains peace and recognition of human rights by all countries of the world. It is entirely dovish although it has specific military forces which have a function of supporting peace in and between the states engaged in warfare. The UN was established in 1945 after the end of the World War II as the Allies recognized that the humanity had to maintain peace and oppose the perspective of having a global war (“About the UN”). As a result, it maintains only pacifist policies, and even if it pressures the governments of various countries, its forces do not kill anyone. Currently, the UN has 193 Member States which have representatives in the General Assembly where they discuss problems of the humanity of all kinds (“About the UN”). Being a member of the UN is respectable for any nation and serves as the recognition of its democratic pathway.
The methods of the pressure of this establishment are mainly recommendations, protest statements, and sanctions, and even though the UN has military forces they do not act as active combatants. Both for the civilized and non-civilized countries, economic sanctions of the UN are one of the worst weapons as they lose the support of other states and face an economic demise. For instance, scholarly investigations have proved that the sanctions issued by the organization lead to a significant annual decrease of GDP of the target countries (Neuenkirch and Neumeier). This extensive negative effect is possible because in the case of sanctions, every member of the UN validates them. For example, they may refuse to trade with or invest in the economy of the target state undermining its economic power (Neuenkirch and Neumeier). However, this type of the pressure is almost non-efficient against ISIS as it is a non-existing self-declared formation that seeks for the recognition of its borders and existence.
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The Solution
Although it is hard to find a solution that suits both the UN and ISIS, it is possible due to the fact that each of these organizations has a specific code of values and cultural beliefs. For example, the UN functions on a democratic basis and respects fundamental humanitarian principles and views (“About the UN”). Likewise, ISIS has the values of Sharia Law which respects an orthodox form of government that rules according to the religious guidelines (“ISIS Fast Facts”). The issue that leads to the problems between these two parties is the fact that the representatives of ISIS use terrorism as the main method of achieving their aims. Instead, they should enter a political discussion and achieve compromise, which would lead to the recognition of ISIS as a valid and legal international party with controversial goals. Experts state that it is impossible to achieve compromise only through fighting and bombing and claim that a calm long-term strategy should be more effective (Powell). Therefore, the UN should negotiate with the leaders of the ISIS regarding the perspective of refusing from the policy of terror and aggression.
A striking fact is that the war with terroristic groups can be ended by performing peaceful steps. In this sense, Powell refers to the history arguing that “we nearly always end up talking to terrorist groups rather than defeating them militarily [sic]”. Thus, a valid strategy for persuading ISIS abandon terrorism is the discussion of the conditions under which the recognition of some of its values is possible. For example, the UN should recognize the modern borders of ISIS but underline that its leaders should not go any further and invade other countries. Similarly, the members or the “citizens” of ISIS may have a state that functions under Sharia Law with every member adhering to it. At the same time, the members of the UN should be guaranteed that ISIS would not practice murders, bombings and other forms of terrorism. The basic goal of such a scheme is to use a political strategy for defeating the idea behind ISIS (Powell). Thus, there is a perspective that in the case the members of the UN recognize ISIS and its current territory and laws, the organization will transform into a real state. In return, the government of ISIS should accept the humanitarian values promoted by the UN. As a result, its members will turn to internal policies and the establishment of the welfare of its citizens instead of fighting and killing people worldwide.
Conclusion
Summarizing the presented information, the paper concludes that although the UN and ISIS are the two opposing organizations, it is possible for them to achieve a compromise. Obviously, it is hard as ISIS is a terroristic movement that has killed hundreds of people worldwide aspiring for the creation of a caliphate. In contrast, the UN recognizes only peaceful strategies and measures and even its pressure is mainly political and economic. The achievement of a mutual compromise is possible in the case of peaceful negotiations where the parties will recognize the fundamental values of each other. As a consequence, ISIS is expected to refuse from terrorism and found a real state with Sharia Law but respect of humanitarian values monitored by the UN.
