Global terrorism as a threat to the international order. The Islamic State case

Abstract

The goal of this article is to reflect on what kind of political violence is defined as “terrorism” and what are the consequences of being defined that way. Considered that this designation carries an assumption of barbarism, irrationality, criminality and craziness, to define an act or an organization this way allows to carry out a depoliticization of this kind of violence and to erase the political content behind it. This process is carried out with “terrorism” because its political goals represent a threat to the “shape” of a society or to the international system and, in general terms, to the current hegemonic order. The theoretical lines draw in the first part of the article will eventually be applied to the case study of the Islamic State. Considering the political goals the organization wants to achieve —the creation of a state/caliphate through terror, the reconfiguration of the power relations, first in the area and secondly at the international level, and a different global order– it can be understood why this represents a threat to the international society of states that, in order to protect their legitimacy and their status quo need to describe it as “terrorist” and, consequently, hide and erase its political claims.