| dc.description.abstract | International terrorism is seen as the main threat to international security today, at least in the US. In this report it is
argued that religion is the main driving force for the people behind what normally is called “international terrorism”.
Extremist or fundamentalist islamist groups, see Islam - as they define it - as threatened by western values and
American power. The main Muslim states, like Saudi Arabia, are not defending the religion, but cooperate with
America. These Islamist groups therefore see it as their duty to defend their religion with all means, including terrorist
attacks against civilians. In the vocabulary of the Copenhagen School of International Relations, these groups have
“securitized” religion for themselves, because of the failure of Muslim states to do so. In the report it is also argued that
the process of “securitizing” an item is closely parallel to the debate about jihad, or “Holy War” inside the Muslim
world.
Because the worldview and perceptions of politics in these religiously inspired groups are so different from those in the
western world, a meeting of minds leading to compromises is difficult to envisage. The Western world simply cannot
accept the demand of these extremists. The main problem therefore to simultaneously wage a war against terrorism
destroying the terrorist cells while avoiding giving them more sympathy and support in the Muslim world. Therefore the
war on terrorism can not be isolated from other political problems in the Middle East. | en_GB |