Between cosmopolitism and Westphalia: the case of terrorism

Planas Gifra, Laura

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.17103/sybil.25.5

Between cosmopolitism and Westphalia: the case of terrorism

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Citation

Planas Gifra L. Between cosmopolitism and Westphalia: the case of terrorism. Spanish Yearbook of International Law. 2021;25:100-9. DOI: 10.17103/sybil.25.5

Abstract

The construction of global norms has always been complex, but today this has become more evident than before. The willingness to create an international legal framework might be less seductive than before. What is more, in the field of security it becomes even harder to develop global norms, as security is intrinsically linked with the sovereignty of the state, which might lead to more unwillingness to be bound by international obligations. States share different approaches on how to solve international problems, which complicates the designing a common international strategy. Some share a perspective based on Cosmopolitism which involves international cooperation, while others base their security strategies on geopolitical concerns and national interests. The case of terrorism is of particular importance as in the past couple decades it has become one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. And while this should be reason enough to agree on finding a common solution, its sole definition has become a complex matter. This paper analyses the necessity of developing global norms on terrorism and the difficulties of their approval precisely because of the clash between models based on Cosmopolitism and those based on Westphalia.