A Naive Constructivist's Approach to the IS

             On June 29^th, 2014 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi created the Islamic State, a bastion of militant Sunni Islam.  Since its construction, the Islamic State (IS) has embarked on a campaign of terror and brutality, killing thousands of innocents across the Middle East. As a constructivist, I believe that education, not violence, is key to combating the dangerous social forces behind the radical Islamic State.
             In order to understand this viewpoint the tenets of constructivism must be laid out. Students of constructivism believe that international relations are historically and socially constructed. Constructivists believe that the goals of states and the people in the states come from their identity, a “We are ‘X’ therefore we should do ‘Y’” mentality. (Lecture, Constructivism). The French philosopher Michel Foucault espoused a similar theory he called “discourse”. Discourse, Foucault explained, is a “regime of truth” a society establishes that frames and enforces a certain set of morality, goals, and politics (Foucault, Power/Knowledge, 109-133). Constructivism and discourse both boil down to the idea that societal constructs ultimately have a huge role in determining the morality and policy of states and people.

            Couple the theory of constructivism and the theory of discourse with some basic assumption about human nature, and the natural conclusion is to use education to combat Islamic radicalism. One basic assumption is that humans are born a blank slate for the most part, and people are taught rationality, morality, etc. by the society they are born into.  So with this “blank slate” or “tabula rasa” theory, a theory perpetuated by some of the greatest philosophers of all time, including John Locke, we can conclude that no one is born evil, and no one is born irrational, barring some genetic predisposition that makes them irrevocable evil or irrational, such as anti-social personality disorder. Furthermore, we can posit that no one chooses to be evil or irrational, rather, people are made "evil" thanks to social forces convincing them that "evil" is "good". When ISIS members behead journalists, kill Kurds, and threaten Western civilization, they are not doing so out of a desire to be evil, they are doing it because they have been taught it is good. Al-Baghdadi himself stated that they he is fighting for “dignity, might, right and leadership” (Strange, The Telegraph). The fighters in the Islamic State honestly believe they are the forces of good, thanks to the social forces influencing their moral sense.

            Building off these assumptions and theories, we should assume that, in many regards, the militants in the IS are not militants by choice, but rather due to social forces that have warped their ability to think rationally, making good into evil and vice versa. The social and political forces behind the IS are the problem, and we must find some way to destroy those forces, if we truly want to destroy the IS, and promote peace in the Middle East. The question now is how to destroy these forces. Military intervention will only fuel the hatred that extremists feel towards Western powers. If we kill a member of the IS, his brother, father, sister, mother, son, daughter, will all feel a personal grievance and hatred towards Western powers, and any or all of them may take up arms against the "evil" of the United States. Short of committing literal genocide and obliterating every family in the Middle East, we cannot use violence to destroy this radicalism. Instead of using violence, we should use education and other soft powers to destroy the irrational and barbaric social forces that fuel the rage of the IS. By using education, we will not only save the lives of all those individuals in the Middle East that the IS is currently threatening, but also save the lives of the brainwashed members of the IS. Violence should only be used to keep the IS contained, and prevent any further attacks on the Yazidis, Kurds, Iraqis, and Syrians, but bombing IS strongholds and cities will only perpetuate a cycle of violence that we as a species must end.

            You can trace back a cycle of dogmatic violence to the beginning of humankind. The only way to stop the circle is for the developed and educated states of the world to recognize the citizens in the IS as victims, and use our power to elevate the IS to the light, rather than burn it to the ground.

Bibliography:

Foucault, Michel, and Colin Gordon. Power/knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977. New York: Pantheon, 1980. Print.

Strange, Hannah. "Islamic State Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Addresses Muslims in Mosul." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 5 July 2014. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.