Terrorism And Idealism Analysis

. Terrorism, is not an essential concern for realism theory, as it should not automatically trigger conflicts and promote terrorist to the unit level. Realism seeks to link terrorism to failed states or state sponsors of terrorism. In the case of ISIL it is perhaps significant that their aspiration is to create a state and to define themselves as one. Obama, in turn, has pledged to destroy ISIL, to take back their territory, cut their financing power and hunt its leaders. He emphasized that ISIL is only a little group with few arms and power, and more importantly that they will not be capable to strike a mortal blow to the United States. Obama, as realist scholars have speculated, does not consider terrorist a threat to national interest in terms of …show more content…
Idealism proposition is less focused on military power as proposed by realists and more aimed on “soft power”. Multilateral efforts should be addressed towards treating the cause of terrorism. As Keohane declared, “you need to follow policies that make you seem legitimate in the eyes of large numbers of people […] Terrorists only survive if they have a lot of supporters in the population”. It would therefore appear that idealism theory has the tools to deal with terrorism. Applied to the events in Paris and other similar terror attacks, idealism tries to ask relatively simple questions like what are the reasons that push people to turn to terrorism. Why the majority of the world is horrified and considers these acts as criminal while terrorist are ready to give up their life to participate in violent actions? Finding the answer to these questions is only the first step. Addressing the influence of terrorism does not establish a solution but can help directing soft power actions to defuse the roots of terrorism. Investing in education and cooperation rather than military threat or retaliation will lead in the long term to de- radicalize terrorist and their potential