Since the failures of management that resulted in the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon Washington D.C. there has a concerted Counter-Terrorist effort by the government of the United states of America. This effort far from fighting and defeating terrorism has undermined the global norms and institutions by that are already in pace to deal with and to combat terrorism.
Multilateral institutions like International Law with its associated norms of behaviour set guidelines to mediate the diplomatic relationships between nation states on matters of collective important like terrorism. With that stated the effectivity of these norms and institutions are in direct correlation to how many nations especially larger nations like the United States are actively supporting their implementation. As a result of globalisation global norms and institutions have increasingly come under attack both from terrorism and also from counter-terrorism measures.
As the worlds only remaining superpower the United States of America has an important role in upholding the implementation of global norms and institutions. One of the most important global norms in world diplomacy is the role played by multilateralism, which helps provide mutual gains for nations through cooperation. Through organisations like the United Nations the counter-terrorist response of the international community can have a greater legitimisation and success.
The role that international institutions play in the formation of multilateral consensus for dealing with collective security issues such as terrorism. Through its collective acts and decisions- ranging from the holding of a debate, investigative missions and resolutions, or the imposition of sanctions to physical intervention- the institution can inflict serious cost on the delinquent state.
Consensus building among nation states lies at the plinth of multilateral institutions. With the adoption by more and more states of the practices and principles of international norms and institutions the role of the nation state is world polity is increasingly being placed under pressure.
Since the signing of the Treaties of Westphalia in 1648 the international institution of the nation state has been the dominative norm of international relations. In accordance with the process of globalisation our post-reformation society has been led into conflict with the emerging states that were carved out of the remnants of the Ottoman Empire in what Samuel Huntington has called the Clash of Civilisations. The Campaign of Terror that has been launched by the reactionary Islamic Fascists as a response to the process of globalisation is having an impact on the legitimacy of the three norms of the nation state the control of territory, population an the use of force. The United States has inevitably become the prime target for this new wave of terrorism as it is the major contributor to the process of globalisation as the world’s pre-eminent economic, cultural and military superpower.
The Phoenix like rise and rise of the United States of America since the end of the First World War to now be the worlds sole super power has led to the rise of what is an ideology of American Exceptualism. This sense of U.S. distinctiveness has been expressed in all facets of U.S. foreign policy especially in its counter-terrorism responses. This belief has seen successive U.S. regimes that treat the United Nations as a rival for world leadership. For the United States to recognise and strengthen the UN would imply stepping down from its pedestal of world leadership.
If the U.S. was to recognise the authority of the U.N. and back away from it belief of U.S. superiority then they would be subjected to the same norms and institutions to which they seek to subject the rest of the world to. Currently the counter-terrorist reaction of the U.S. with its ideology firmly planted in the ideology of American Exceptualism has compromised in a significant manner the global norms and institutions of our western democracy system of governance.
The global institution of national sovereignty and its diplomatic norms are encapsulated in the international legal principle jus cogens. This legal principle as a norm of behaviour compels nation states to comply with international institutions. There are numerous incidences in the counter-terrorism response of the United States that can be said to be in breach of jus cogens.
Two such international institutions that the United Sates has violated are the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the International Covenants on Human Rights. They U.S. government has displayed contempt for international norms and institutions through such actions the detention and torture of Afghani prisoners incommunicado and without charge in Guantamo Bay. These actions are not only in direct violation of global norms and institutions but also provide an ideological legitimisation for Islamic Fascists to carry out their Campaign of Terror.
In our modern global context where terrorists have access to new and ever improved technologies such as the internet, mobile phones and symtex there is a need to hold individuals accountable for their actions in accordance with global norms and institutions. This can in my opinion help achieve the dualistic ambitions of punishing the perpetrators of these atrocities and assist in the prevention of further terrorist attacks.
So in conclusion since the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. the global norm of the use of force by the state has been greatly weakened. The United States through its pervasive ideology of American Exceptionalism in its reactionary unilateral counter-terrorism response have further undermined global norms and institutions. The U.S. unilateral response far from removing any legitimacy the Islamic Fascists may have had has actually increased the justification for the use of indiscriminate violence as a political tactic.
The perpetration of such acts as the torture and detainment incommunicado of prisoners abducted from Afghanistan and Pakistan the U.S. has undermined two important global institutions, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the International Covenants on Human Rights. As a result of globalisation both the dialectically conflicting partners of terrorism and counter-terrorism are wearing away at global norms and institutions. The resolution of their contradiction will result in a diminished role for the nation state in the lives of ordinary individuals as we inevitably move progressively towards an international community of peace and harmony, a cause that is indeed worth fighting for.
Justin Arnold