Global Governance and the UN: An Unfinished Journey

4 Terrorism

4 terrorism •฀Antecedents:฀Putting฀9/11฀into฀Context •฀Knowledge฀Gaps:฀Confronting฀Alternative฀Hypotheses •฀Normative฀Gaps:฀Democracy,฀Human฀Rights,฀and฀the฀ ฀ Elusive฀Definition •฀Policy฀Gaps:฀Group฀Grievances,฀Intractable฀Conflicts,฀ Poverty alleviation, wmds •฀Institutional฀Gaps:฀Making฀Better฀Use฀of฀Existing฀Capacities •฀Compliance฀Gaps:฀Mixing฀National฀and฀International฀ measures •฀Conclusion:฀Steps฀to฀Controlling฀the฀Global฀Menace on 11 september 2001—now usually referred to as 9/11—global terrorism struck at the symbolic headquarters of global power and globalization . This was followed over the next five years by other horrific terrorist attacks in such locations as bali, madrid, beslan, Tel aviv, London, and mumbai.1 iraq witnessed more acts of terrorism than anywhere else in 2004–2008; there, the preferred modus operandi of large-scale car bombings was complemented by the kidnapping and beheading of foreigners. These examples confirm that terrorism is indeed, in the words of a 2002 un report, “an assault on the principles of law, order, human rights and peaceful settlement of disputes on which the . . . [un] was founded.”2 a major difficulty the united nations faces in trying to fill normative , policy, institutional, and compliance gaps on terrorism is the familiar refrain about one country’s or group’s terrorist being another’s freedom fighter.3 This is not mere empty sloganeering, as conceptual labeling carries considerable political implications. many western leaders initially accepted the branding of nelson mandela as a terrorist by the apartheid south african regime; today he is internationally revered. conversely, how many western countries would accept palestinians using the same tactics against the israelis that the kosovo Liberation army employed suc- terrorism 129 cessfully against the serbs? successive u.s. administrations have had links to numerous unsavory regimes in Latin america that have ruled by terror and sometimes also to opposition groups that have committed terrorist acts against governments hostile to u.s. interests.4 This hot contemporary topic has a shorter history within the united nations than the security issues discussed in the previous two chapters. nonetheless, this chapter examines significant antecedents and the five gaps and suggests that more un involvement would benefit efforts to halt this scourge.5 Antecedents:฀Putting฀9/11฀into฀Context international efforts to confront terrorism predate the united nations. The League of nations drafted a convention for the international repression of terrorism in 1936. The twenty-first century thus was foreshadowed by efforts to bring national laws into harmony in order to cope with “the use of criminal violence for political ends.”6 until the 1990s, the General assembly debated terrorism almost entirely as a general problem of international law rather than one relating to specific events or conflicts.7 The thirteen existing un conventions8 related to terrorism identify particular forms of outlawed action but contain no definition of terrorism per se.9 The lack of consensus among member states about how to define terrorism exposes a rift in the world organization that also explains why the un has been a marginal actor in this issue area. reaching broad transnational agreement on the definition of terrorism is no easy matter. some states may find it useful to oppose the terrorisme du jour but also want to preserve their freedom to choose similar force in the future. There always have been two main sticking points. First, many developing countries justify armed violence that includes attacks on civilians by those fighting for national liberation—as did american colonists fighting the british and French résistants fighting nazi occupiers. second, “state terrorism” arguably should be included in any definition,10 but for many, the use of force by israeli and more recently by u.s. forces is hard to mention in the same breath as suicide bombers in the London tube or at madrid’s central station.11 yet the historical fact remains that some jewish groups perpetrated acts of terrorism in their armed national liberation movement against british rule in the middle East, and the same is true of india’s struggle for independence from the british. 130 internAtionAl secUrity While western states sought to delegitimize and criminalize terrorism by pointing to its horrific consequences, countries who participated in the non-aligned movement, particularly when armed national liberation movements were fighting colonialism, tried to soften un responses by emphasizing its underlying causes such as misery, frustration, despair, grievances, and foreign occupation. similarly, while western states highlighted acts of terrorism perpetrated by nonstate actors against innocent individuals, nam states...