Transnational Terrorism Within the Theory of International Relations: Opportunities and Answers of Foreign Policy in Countering al-Qaeda and the ’Islamic State’

Abstract

The study offers a comparative analysis of how the main schools of international relations – realism, liberalism and constructivism – can contribute to formulating adequate answers to international terrorism. The author argues that international (specifically U.S.) responses to the threat of al-Qaeda could have been more proportionate and delivered better results had not primarily realist traits of decision making been taken into consideration but other approaches as well. Now, when a similar conduct can be observed on behalf of the United States, the paper emphasizes the value added by the different traditions of international relations that should be taken into consideration.