This article is about the phenomenon of terrorism. It analyzes the nature of it, using of religion in the terroristic activity. The author compares the features of terrorism before September 11 of 2001 and after it. The article explains the difference between ―old‖ and ―new‖ terrorism. The article considers ―Arab spring‖ as a form of ―new‖ terrorism when terrorist groupings came to power in a state with the help from outside – from the USA. The author makes a conclusion that terrorism remains the same in its essence it is a tool to achieve some political goals.
As such terrorism is not a new phenomenon. It existed in early history. The specific of religious terrorism is that religious dogmas, views and faith are used in terroristic activity. One can find examples of religion using in order to promote interests of some social or political group in history. We can take Christianity of 11th century when the era of Crusades took place. That time religion was used in order to terrorize an opponent, to promote interests of Christian states using terroristic methods or methods of horror. The purpose of Crusades was to capture holy lands from disunited Muslims. Religion was the instrument of influence on soldiers, fighters in order to make them struggle with people of another faith. That was one reason. The most pragmatic aim of religious wars was to conquer new territories, to spread own influence on them and to promote interests. [1, p. 11].
Today Islam is used in the same way. Religious views push people to struggle in political aims and goals.
Why phenomenon of religious terrorism is so frightening today?
Religious terrorism came to the international arena after the September 11 of 2001. Before this event a state considered itself as the most powerful and mighty actor of international relations in military sense. During existence of Westphalia system of international relations (after 1648) central actors of the issues of war and peace were exactly the states. Sometimes non-state actors – pirates, military groupings of trans-border ideological movements (anarchists, socialists), groupings of nations struggled for self-determination – influenced greatly on the condition of peace and international security in different regions. But states were sources of essential part of challenges and threats, main participants of military contradiction. International security was almost only state-centric [2, p. 2].
The most dramatic changes in the sphere of world security occurred at the end of XX century when transnational religious terrorism challenged security of many states and international community as a whole [2, p. 3]. Peculiarity of terroristic groupings is that they have not ―return national address‖. Exception is semi-legal basing of Al-Qaeda in the territory of Afghanistan. It was controlled by regime of Taliban which was illegitimate from the point of view of international law but was de-facto recognized. The numerous terroristic groupings are hidden in world community. Part of them gains the support from states in the kind of finances and military tools [2, p. 5].
One can consider next peculiarities of terrorism before September 11: its predominately internal character, capture of power inside a country using violence and terror, ideological and religious slogans. But after the development of the processes of globalization the situation was changed. Cultural, moral unification of the world took place. We can imagine that this unification was made on the Western model. Just the values of the West were recognized as unique, eternal and universal for all the humanity. That‘s why states of non-Western world tried to protect themselves from the vanishing in this universal world of Western values. At the beginning of XXI century the discontent of this trait of globalization occurred. That‘s why terrorism changed and it gained such features as: network type of organization, ideology of opposition to globalization and Western way of life, wide network of financing from illegal economic activity, etc. [3, p. 2]. Such situation attracts to terroristic groupings young men who are representatives of quite new epoch – epoch of globalization.
So, in Westphalia system of international relations states were the main actors in the sphere of world security. The situation was changed with the collapse of Yalta-Potsdam system of international relations or in other words at the end of XXth century. Alongside with states new actors of international communication came to the world arena. Terrorism was one of these actors. The events of September 11 were the border between ―old‖ and ―new‖ world. That time states of the world realized that terrorism now is serious opponent which should be taken into account in the foreign policy realization. The complicacy of situation was that states did not realize the counter agent – with whom they should fight in order to protect themselves. That‘s why Western states paid attention to authoritarian states of East in the whole and Arab world in particular in order to find terrorists and destroy them and as a result make themselves more secure. Let‘s consider if it was right tactics of the West.
Connection of terrorism and processes of ―democratization‖ of Arab and Muslim world.
The most noticeable consequence of so called ―Arab spring‖ was the strengthening of political positions of radical Islamists in Muslim states where the changing of ruling regime took place. The USA and European Union wasted efforts in order to support opposition in the states of Arab world. But it is obvious that new political elites of Tunisia, Egypt or Libya will not develop the Western forms of democracy. Even the USA State Department recognized that Arab revolutions gave terrorists an opportunity to widen their influence in the region [4, p. 44]. M. Kaddafi, H. Mubarak, earlier S. Hussein suppressed the political ambitions of radical Islamists and terrorists. After their dismissing the vacuum of power was created in the region. Terrorists used the situation. In the absence of restrain centers terrorists go to politics, using democratic institutes, capture governmental power and obtrude population their own conception of Islam which is quite different with real Islam. The USA tried to influence on so called opposition in order to democratize states of Muslim world. It sponsored military groupings of opposition in order to struggle with ―authoritarian‖ rulers of the past. The USA presupposed to replace regimes of the region into more profitable for the USA and to simplify the tasks of US foreign policy in the region of Middle East and North Africa. But terrorists got the power, arms and finances began to struggle against the USA in order to preserve the power and to liquidate the influence of infidels on the policy of the region. Another reason in the spread of ideas of ―Arab spring‖ is that petroleum monarchies of Persian Gulf use terrorists and radical Islamists in order to promote own influence in the region and to suppress the influence of the USA, EU and Shiite block in the head of Iran. Here it is the situation when terrorism and religious radicalism is used in order to realize external political interests [4, p. 47].
That‘s why the spreading of democratic values without taking into account the specific of the region, its political structure, religious and ideological features influences on the dissemination of terrorism not only in the region but in the neighboring territories as well. In this case it is valid for states to protect themselves from such new kind of terrorism, to strengthen military-political integration units. This statement is very actual in the light of recent events. It is well known that US sponsored terroristic grouping Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fought in Syria against Bashar Assad now acts against the USA in the territory of Iraq. Terrorists of this grouping provide warfare on the border with Turkey. It means that they spread their activity up to European continent. It is real threat not only to states of the region of Middle East but to all world community. Terroristic groupings began to act seriously and aggressively. They became the real force which should be taken into account in the international politics.
States should struggle with terrorism in various ways. Each country nowadays has internal doctrine on struggle with terrorism. International organizations, integration units also proclaim struggle with terrorism among their aims. But in the conditions of globalization activity of one state or small groups of states can affect greatly of world politics. That‘s why states of the region of Middle East now pay for the ill-thought foreign policy of the USA in the region. It is impossible to use force democratization. This process should be done gradually. States of Arab world should understand by themselves if they want to develop in democratic way or not and what kind of democracy they want to develop.
So as we can see from all above mentioned facts terrorism is not a new phenomenon. It was appeared in Ancient times. Nowadays terrorism is changed dramatically. It became more complex, more various in its activity. It acts as one of the main participants of international relations. This is quite new in terrorism as a phenomenon. But the central idea remained the same – to use terror in order to promote interests of some political groups, use religious views in order to incline more proponents of terroristic activity.
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