Monday 26 January 2015

Talking to Terrorists: How to end armed conflicts by Jonathan Powell

Terrorism has ripped at the heart of western countries like Australia and France, in recent months, provoking many different opinions on how to respond. Jonathan Powell is a political negotiator who believes that governments must engage in talks with terrorists. His is not a politically popular position, but as he explains, history bears witness to the fact that governments usually sit down and talk in the end.

But are these new terrorists in the same mould as previous groups, or, do we have to respond differently? As a veteran practitioner of political negotiation on behalf of the British government with the IRA, Powell has been party to many occasions when ideology has had to bend in order to secure practical solutions to peace. He sets out the various arguments that he has come across by those who believe governments should never talk to terrorists and looks at whether groups such as ISIL are similar in nature to previous groups. He argues that they are and that, finally, the West should learn the lessons from the past instead of engaging in useless rhetoric for political purposes.

This book is largely a detailed description of past political negotiations with a number of terrorist groups such as the Farc of Colombia, Tamil Tigers, IRA, ETA, and PLO. In the last chapter, Powell responds to claims that groups like ISIL aren’t like their predecessors, in that they don’t have specific political goals and concrete demands. He reiterates his position as an experienced practitioner that it is impossible to quash terrorism with force alone. Governments must talk, but talk with the right people (hopefully the more moderate). Today's terrorists have often turned out to be tomorrow's leaders (think Nelson Mandela suggests Powell). Starting a conversation is by no means appeasement and usually provides both sides with an insight into each other's viewpoint. Being able to step into the other side's shoes is usually the first step toward peace.

Reviewed by Spot



Catalogue Link: Talking to Terrorists

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