Abstract
Modern terrorism and insurgency is the result of complex social activity on several levels. Various types of terrorism and insurgency manifested in various ways. During the past few decades, terrorism and insurgency have become frequent, destructive and more international. This explains why liberal democracies have responded to terrorism in a number of forceful ways, because terrorism and insurgency are a direct threat to democracy, people human rights. The paper holds that liberal democracies conducting counter insurgency and the Western states that provide those operations must recognize and understand that the respect for human rights is central to supporting effective counter – terrorism and counter – insurgency strategies. The paper equally reveals that the rise of state – sponsored terrorism and insurgency and the use of the internet to plot and coordinate terrorism and insurgency acts do underscore the need for liberal democracies to coordinate global counter – terrorism and insurgency policies. The paper explores the fact that, people turn to terrorism and insurgency due to lack of opportunities for meaningful expression and democratic change and also due to lack of avenue to express their frustration. The ultimate treatment of the problem is to destroy the environment that produces violence. The paper found out that, some states have allowed their territories to be used to carry out terrorist and insurgency acts. Some of them have failed to ensure that terrorist and insurgency acts are established as serious criminal offences and are punishable. Many states have failed to sign international and regional conventions geared towards combatting international terrorism and insurgency. The paper concludes that, there is a link between terrorism, insurgency and liberal democracies. Political leaders in liberal democracies are expected to act lawfully against terrorism and insurgency without eroding the civil liberties of the populace.
Keywords: Diplomacy, Counter-terrorism, Counter-insurgency, Liberal Democracies, Military Operation
DOI: 10.36349/sokotojh.2021.v10i01.008
