Globalisation and the roots of terrorism

Madam, - Peadar Kirby's analysis of the "new terrorism" ( Irish Times March 24th) is fundamentally flawed

Madam, - Peadar Kirby's analysis of the "new terrorism" (Irish Times March 24th) is fundamentally flawed. He cites approvingly the many commentators who "point out that the deep social polarisation and inequalities fostered by globalisation worldwide provide the breeding ground for terrorism's recruits. This is as true of young Muslims in western European countries as it is of the large youth population throughout north Africa and the Middle East."

Both these commentators and Mr Kirby are wrong: it is in fact the lack of globalisation that is the breeding ground of terrorists in the greater Middle East.

Apart from the export of oil (and carpets), the greater Middle East is not really connected to the world economy. The region attracts less than 1 per cent of global foreign direct investment flows, and even that figure is in decline. The result is a region with severe economic problems. The GDP of all of the 22 Arab countries combined is $531.2 billion, less than that of Spain, which is $595.5 billion.

Unemployment across the region is on average, 15 per cent, the highest in the developing world. High unemployment, growing poverty, rampant corruption and undemocratic regimes (often supported by the West) have contributed to the rise in Islamic extremism right across the Arab world, while the humiliations of the Arab-Israeli conflicts and the defeat and occupation of the Iraq have fuelled a rage against Israel, the US and the West in general.

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Osama bin Laden's current base of operation is Afghanistan, one of the least globalised countries in the world. Previously, he was based in Sudan, another failed state with no real links to the global economy. Terrorism, and indeed the majority of security threats to peace today, come not from globalised or globalising nations, but from failed states in these regions which are unable or unwilling to join the global economy.

To defeat Islamic terrorism we must work for a just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinian people, promote prosperity in the region by encouraging trade between the nations of the region and between the Arab world and the West, and encourage the development of democracy and human rights, especially greater rights for women.

The way to win the war on terror is not through the use of military force but, as Chris Patten said in a recent speech in Dublin, to drain the swamp in which the terrorist hides.

The swamp, in this case is the unemployment, poverty and undemocratic governments, which bedevil the region.

The best way to drain that swamp is truly to integrate the region into the global economy. Far from being the cause of terrorism, globalisation is its cure. - Yours etc.,

EOIN RYAN TD, Dáil Éireann, Dublin 2.