In short, the phenomenon of ISIS is fundamentally a consequence of the West’s destabilisation of Iraq and its interventions in Syria; of its thoughtless undermining of the state and military institutions that had cohered two vast and fragile nations in the Middle East for decades, an undermining which unleashed civil and sectarian conflict in Iraq, exacerbated the civil war in Syria, and directly cultivated new stateless spaces in which a self-consciously map-redrawing group like ISIS could flourish. As we listen to the horrifying reports of what is currently being done to the Yazidi people, let us do more than shake our heads in horror: let us also ask who made such a hellish situation possible in the first place. But that’s the problem: analysis is frowned upon in modern-day foreign-policy debates. Indeed, the ‘Something Must Be Done’ lobby, the ‘Do Something’ campaigners for Western intervention overseas, actively discourage and even demonise political scrutiny of the complex causes of global conflicts. Today, as we have seen everywhere from Bosnia to Darfur, to respond to a foreign crisis with anything other than emotional handwringing, with anything more than a cry of ‘Take Action’, is to run the risk of being branded an apologist for evil or even a genocide denier. Such are the terms used to ostracise those who dare to say that things might be more complex, and more our fault, than the simplistic media and political posturing against ‘New Nazis’ would have us believe. The anti-intellectualism of the ‘Do Something’ brigade is astonishing: it castigates analysis and demands simply action; it demonises academic rigour and allows only the expression of an emotional desire to strike against evil, to hit the bad guys; it treats any discussion of the potential long-term consequences of Western action as cowardice, and holds up its own demand for action as decent and honourable. But this is the opposite of the truth. I wish we lived in a political climate where this was a no-brainer.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 00:06:20 +0000
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