Workshop Abstract-Mutahir Ahmed

ABSTRACT

THE ROLE OF VIOLENCE IN SOUTH ASIAN AND THE MIDDLE EASTERN REGIONS AS AN IMPEDIMENT TO THE CBMS PROCESS

MUTAHIR AHMED*

The spread of violence is becoming the most hard-hitting political, cultural and social phenomenon in South and the Middle Eastern regions. Presently, the two regions are facing religious, sectarian, ethnic and revolutionary violence.

The paper is an attempt to analyze the role of violence in both conceptual and regional aspects. The central theme of this paper is that in the post- old War era the role of violence/terrorism is focussed on radical Islamism, which emerged as a subject of critical concern throughout the world, especially in the Muslim world. The term Jihad, has become very popular in some circles and has a political meaning in the context of a particular ideology, propagated by a section of ideologue and theologian in the Muslim World. On the contrary, the West has very strong reservations against the very term Jihad . The West perceives Jihad in the context of force or aggression, which was further institutionalized in the shape of violence/terrorism and is not acceptable to the West at any cost because it sees it as a threat to democracy and freedom: the ideal of western political civilization.

The paper is divided into three parts. First part deals with the theoretical aspect of term violence and sees it in an historical perspective and it further discusses the literal meaning of violence and how it has been politicized in contemporary international politics. The second part analyzes the role of violence as religious and cultural phenomena. In this part the ideological orientation of radical Islamism or religious fundamentalism has been discussed and analyzed in detail. The third part deals with the role of violence in the South and the Middle Eastern regions. The two regions are presently under the grip of violence/terrorism at both state and society's levels. A detailed analysis has been given in this perspective that how states and societies of the two regions react towards the culture of violence. Furthermore, this part also discusses the institutionalization of violence in the two regions, which has further promoted the culture of intolerance, and now it has become a challenge to CBMs regime. In conclusion, the paper has analyzed that the role of violence is subject to weak institutional framework of state and society, particularly in the South and the Middle Eastern regions.

* Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Karachi.

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