Terrorism and the UN: Before and After September 11 (United Nations Intellectual History Project)

273 Pages·2004·9.86 MB·English

by  Jane Boulden

Terrorism and the UN

Terrorism and the UN
Before and After September 11
Edited by Jane Boulden and Thomas G. Weiss
Indiana University Press
Bloomington and Indianapolis
This book is a publication of
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Terrorism and the UN : before and after September  /
edited by Jane Boulden and Thomas G. Weiss.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN --- (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN --
- (pbk. : alk. paper)
. Terrorism—Prevention—International cooperation.
. United Nations. . War on Terrorism, – . World
politics—1995–2005. I. Boulden, Jane, date II. Weiss, Thomas George.
HV.T 
'.—dc

          
In memory of those
who gave their lives
working for peace at
United Nations Headquarters
Baghdad, Iraq
August 19, 2003

Contents
August 9,  ix
Acknowledgments xi
List of Abbreviations xiii
Part I. Framing the Debate
1 Whither Terrorism and the United Nations? 
Jane Boulden and Thomas G. Weiss
2 Charter Values and the Response to Terrorism 
S. Neil MacFarlane
Part II. The “New” International Arena
3 September  and Challenges to International Law 
Nico Schrijver
4 The U.S., Counterterrorism, and the Prospects for a Multilateral Alternative 
Edward C. Luck
5 Improving the International Response to the Transnational Terrorist Threat 
Karin von Hippel
6 The Inherent Difficulties of Interinstitutional Cooperation in
Fighting Terrorism 
Thierry Tardy
Part III. The World Organization Responds to Terrorism
7 The Role of the Security Council 
Chantal de Jonge Oudraat
vii
viii Contents
8 Using the General Assembly 
M. J. Peterson
9 The Political Economy of Terrorism 
Mónica Serrano
10 The Root Causes of Terrorism and Conflict Prevention 
Rama Mani
About the Contributors 
Index 
August 19, 2003
Having been prompted by the terrorist attacks of September , , and
then completed in the midst of the Security Council debate on Iraq, this book
goes to press only a few days after the tragic bombing of the UN headquarters
in Baghdad on August , .
The perils of unilateralism and multilateralism have been starkly presented
in the events following the declared “end” of the War in Iraq on May , .
The aftermath of this war has demonstrated that while U.S. power may be an
order of magnitude greater than that of any other state at present, that power
has limits. It also demonstrates that these concepts are not as mutually exclu-
sive as they may seem. Global security problems require global solutions. It is
beyond the capability of any actor, even the remaining superpower, to tackle
problems by going it alone. Transnational security problems require multi-
lateralism.
In our introduction, we suggest that the events surrounding Iraq are “quite
separate” from the UN’s role in dealing with terrorism. The bombing in
Baghdad has effectively eliminated most of that separateness. The fact that
the division of labor between the non-UN-authorized “coalition” forces and
the United Nations was clear (by both UN choice and U.S. design), and that
the UN’s presence was oriented toward helping the Iraqi people meant little
to the forces that determined that terrorist tactics would help achieve their
ends. Indeed, it may be the very constructive and humanitarian nature of the
world organization’s activities that made it such a target. There is a bitter
irony in this fact, but it is an irony that is precisely indicative of the inherent
complexity and pernicious nature of terrorism.
The Baghdad bombing presents the United Nations with an extraordinar-
ily difficult dilemma with implications that extend well beyond its role in
Iraq. A retreat behind fortified walls and a failure to confront the source of
the threat is a de facto victory for terrorists. Plowing ahead without taking
protective measures may result in more attacks. Either option contains within
it the likelihood that the accessibility and efficacy of the world organization
will be limited and, perhaps, even undermined. One of our starting points in
undertaking this book was the assumption that as the institution mandated
ix