Apocalypse Forever? International Relations Implications of 11 September

Abstract

This is a contribution to ongoing discussion of the international relations issues raised by the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. It acknowledges apparent "failings" (of analysis or prediction) in the IR literature but then suggests the shortcomings are really the product of divergent traditions of analysis (behaviouralism, structuralism and evolutionism) which isolate different aspects of phenomena for attention. The paper then discusses the contrast between "hard power" and "soft power" - to help identify the distinctiveness of the new forms of terrorism (their "non-linear" objectives and the lack of proportionality involved). It concludes on an encouraging note by urging international cooperation as a solution, even in cases where the protagonists' resentments have tended to militate against conventional channels of dispute resolution.