State vs non-state armed groups - a political economy of violence Item Type Article Authors Jegede, Francis; Bampton, Kevin; Todd, Malcolm Citation Jegede, F. and Bampton, K. (2015) 'State vs non-state armed groups – a political economy of violence', Annual International Conference Proceedings of the 5th Political Science, Sociology and International Relations (PSSIR), Bangkok, 14-15 September. DOI 10.5176/2251-2403_PSSIR15.44 Publisher Global Science and Technology Forum (GSTF 2015) Journal Annual International Conference Proceedings of the 5th Political Science, Sociology and International Relations (PSSIR 2015) Download date 24/09/2021 05:20:12 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10545/620544 State vs Non-state Armed Groups – A Political Economy of Violence Dr. Francis Jegede College of Law Humanities & Social Sciences University of Derby Kedleston Road, Derby DE22 1GB, United Kingdom. [email protected] Mr. Kevin Bampton College of Law Humanities & Social Sciences University of Derby Kedleston Road, Derby DE22 1GB, United Kingdom. [email protected] Prof. Malcolm Todd College of Law Humanities & Social Sciences University of Derby Kedleston Road, Derby DE22 1GB, United Kingdom. [email protected] Abstract—The early 21st century has witnessed the rise in violent extremism with groups such as Al Qaeda and Islamic I. INTRODUCTION State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Middle East, the One of the greatest challenges facing the world’s nations Boko Haram in West Africa, and Al Shabaab in East Africa. and society at large in the early 21st century is the rise of The activities of these and other non-state armed groups have violent extremism amongst non-state actors and groups, whose created a general state of panic and fear that is spreading activities are genially believed to pose serious security risks to beyond their areas of operation to other parts of the political current world economic and political order. Spanning across world. Rather than diminishing the influence of these groups, Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world, the the states’ counter extremism strategies seem to be further activities of non-state armed groups such as Al Qaeda, Islamic fuelling the extremism and creating new waves of violence State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Boko Haram, Al that threatens global security and undermines the very essence Shabaab, and other splinter organisations, commonly referred to as terrorists1 groups, are causing a great deal of concern of our collective wellbeing. This paper examines the socio- amongst national security chiefs, political leaders, government economic and political environment in which these armed officials, foreign policy analysts, and people across all faiths, groups have thrived and poses the question as to whether the creed and religious persuasion. failure of politics and development are to blame for the rise of extremism. The paper proposes a new approach to combating In the last 14 years in particular, the global trends in 2 extremism that involves re-connecting people with politics and terrorist activities , have reached an alarming rate, with over development. The basic contention of this paper is that there five-fold increase in the number of people killed. The number has been a failure of the state to satisfy the wellbeing of its of deaths from terrorist activities rose from 11,133 in 2012 to citizens. The paper provides an explanation of, but by no means a justification of, the use of violent extremism in the early 21st century. 1 Terrorism is a highly contested issue with over 100 definitions of what constitutes a terrorist act. Different countries have different views of a terrorist. (See E. S. Smith, International Security: Politics, Policy, Prospects Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, pp. 152- 158). Keywords: violence, extremism, failing states, non-state 2 According to the British view, terrorist activities involve the use or threat of action groups/actors, late capitalism, statelessness. intended to (a) influence the government or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and (b) advance a political religious and ideological cause. (Smith 2010, pp. 152. 17,958 in 2013, representing an increase of about 61% [3]. Table: Selected socio-economic indicators of countries most affected by terrorist activities as measured by Global Terrorism Index Globally, terrorism-related deaths rose from 3,361 in 2000 Source: Human Development Report, 2013 to 17,958 in 2013. While terrorism is a global phenomenon, five countries, all located in the developing world, suffer a disproportionally high Mean Literacy Huma Life Literacy incidence of terrorism. These are Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Populat Years rates Global n expecta rates ion of (adult Nigeria and Syria [3]. Together, these five countries account Terrorism Develo ncy at (youth Country (million schooli aged 15 Indexa pment birth aged for 82% of the total deaths from terrorist activities. In s) ng and (2014) Indexb (years)d 15-24) (2013) (years)c above) comparison, only 5% of all terrorist related deaths were (2013) (2013) (2012) (2012) (2012) recorded in the OECD countries3 over the last 14 years. Iraq 10.00 0.642 33.8 5.6 69.4 78.5 93.1 Afghanis Although there are over 55 countries affected by terrorism 9.39 0.468 30.6 3.2 60.9 - - tan in the last 14 years, Table 1 shows fifteen most affected nations Pakistan 9.37 0.537 182.1 4.7 66.6 54.9 70.7 in terms of number of lives lost, injuries sustained, property Nigeria 8.58 0.504 173.6 5.2 52.5 51.1 66.4 4 damaged based on their Global Terrorism Index (GTI) . Syria 8.12 0.658 21.9 6.6 74.6 84.1 95.3 India 7.86 0.586 1252.1 4.4 66.4 62.8 81.1 In both developed and developing world, the threat of Somalia 7.41 - 10.5 - 55.1 - - terrorist activities has become the major national security Yemen 7.31 0.500 24.4 2.5 63.1 65.3 86.4 Philippin concern. This concern is heightened by the recent rise in ultra- 7.29 0.660 98.4 8.9 68.7 95.4 97.8 violent groups such as ISIL and their territorial ambition to es take control of the Middle Eastern countries of Syria, Iraq, Thailand 7.19 0.722 67.0 7.3 74.4 93.5 98.1 Russia 6.67 0.778 142.8 11.7 68.0 99.7 99.7 Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Palestine and Southern Turkey. Kenya 6.58 0.535 44.4 6.3 61.7 72.2 82.4 Together with ISIL, Boko Haram, the Taliban and Al Qaeda Egypt 6.50 0.682 82.1 6.4 71.2 73.9 89.3 5 constitute the four most feared terrorist organisations , Lebanon 6.40 0.765 4.8 7.9 80.0 89.6 98.7 claiming 66% of deaths from terrorist attacks [3]. Libya 6.25 0.784 6.2 7.5 75.3 89.5 99.9 a Global Terrorism Index (GTI) based on the number of lives lost, injuries sustained, The growing concern about the activities of these property damaged and the psychological after-effects of terrorist activities in a country. organisations has led to a hard line response by Western b Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite measure of average achievement in governments, led by the United States, resulting in the use of three basic dimensions of human development—a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living. military force to confront these terrorist armed groups. While a c The average number of years of schooling that a child of school entrance age can great deal of literature exists on the nature, motives and the expect to receive if current patterns of age-specific enrolment rates continue throughout spread of terrorist activities, there is very little discussion on the child’s life. d The number of years a newborn infant is expected to live if current patterns of age- the global economic and political contexts in which these specific mortality rates at the time of birth stay the same throughout the child’s life. groups operate. This paper seeks to provide an explanation of, but by no means a justification of, the use of violent extremism in the early 21st century and pose the question of whether the current counter-terrorism strategy is effective. II. EXPLAINING THE RISE OF VIOLENT EXTREMISM A. Historical, economic, social and cultural factors The recent rise in terrorist activities and violent extremism can best be understood in the context of global capitalism in its late stage. More than at any time in human history, the start of the 21st Century is marked by unprecedented increase in human population, extreme inequalities, and growing pressure over economic resources [6]. This has resulted in the creation of a two-tier society in which, on the one hand, we have prosperous areas/regions of the world with stable governments and functioning institutions, and on the other hand, an economically fragile areas and politically unstable states with failing institutions. Feeding on 3 Excluding the September 11 attack on the United States, Turkey and Israel recorded the weakness or the failure of the state to satisfy the wellbeing the highest number of deaths amongst the OECD countries. 4 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) is a quantitative measure of the impact of terrorism based of its citizens, especially in the economically and politically on the number of lives lost, injuries sustained, property damaged and the psychological marginalized areas of the world, is the growth of new non- after-effects of terrorist activities in a country, designed by the Institute for Economics governmental actors.