Donald Trump's plan to "bomb Isis" would "simply generate new recruits for terrorism" while damaging democracy, Oxford university vice chancellor and counter-terrorism expert Prof Louise Richardson has said.
“Trump said he was going to bomb Isis – I think that’s possibly the worst thing he could do.
"The world has a great deal of experience in dealing with terrorism and seeing it as a purely military problem is simply inconsistent with any democracy. The only countries that have managed to obliterate terrorism by mass murder are not democracies," Prof Richardson told RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke show.
The Co Waterford-born political scientist, formely based at Harvard, has published several highly-regarded books on international security and terrorism and has testified before the US Senate on these issues. On January 1st last, she became the first woman vice chancellor of Oxford.
Speaking on a visit to Dublin for a series of lectures, she said she was worried about who Mr Trump was going to blame when he could not deliver on his election promises.
“I think he is going to be frustrated when he realises the limitations on his presidency. Although he has enormous advantages in having both the Senate and the House and the opportunity to influence the Supreme Court too. I believe he is not going to be able to deliver on his promises.
“What I worry about is who is he going to blame when he can’t deliver them.”
Regarding international security, she said: “Ultimately terrorism is a political not a military problem. Terrorists are weak, if the problem could be solved militarily it would have been solved long ago. So threatening to bomb all terrorists will simply just generate new recruits for terrorism. It requires far greater levels of sophistication than Mr Trump has yet demonstrated.
“History will look back on the declaration of war on terrorism as a catastrophic mistake. It plays directly into the hands of terrorists when the most powerful countries in the history of the planet declare war on what is a fairly motley group of extremists living, in Al-Qaeda’s case, under the one of the poorest governments on the planet.
“I think terrorism requires a much more sophisticated response.”
Prof Richardson said she was deeply concerned about the Trump presidency for other reasons.
“Some of the policies he mentioned during the campaign are mutually inconsistent. Many of those policies would be deeply damaging to the American economy not least to many of the people who voted for him.
“I think this week people are stunned and shell shocked and angry, so many of them are appalled. I think it is something of an indictment when I say that I don’t know any one who voted for Donald Trump, yet half the US population did. There is a big gap between the liberal elite, and I include myself in that group, and the broader population.
“I don’t know any one who voted for Trump and I know very few who voted for Brexit.
“It suggests a need for more engagement with the population at large. When you look at the voting patterns there is a direct correlation between income and between education level in those who voted for Brexit and Mr Trump.
“That’s a dangerous separation and we need to address it.”