The World After September 11th: Change and Continuity

Abstract

September 11th, 2001 has become the date used most frequently by the media, diplomats, politicians, the military, academics, and ordinary citizens across the world both when discussing current affairs and trying to anticipate what the future holds. The horrendous terrorist attacks against the United States perpetrated on that day have profoundly shocked the world community. The destruction of the World Trade Center in New York and a part of the Pentagon building in Washington D.C., with the loss of more than 3,000 lives, were the first attacks against the United States on U.S. soil since the Japanese surprise attack against Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, and were even more outrageous given that the absolute majority of the casualties were civilians. Just as in the wake of Pearl Harbor, the September atrocities set the United States on the path of war, this time against both the global Al-Qaeda terrorist network led by the pariah Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, who allegedly masterminded these atrocities and offered support for their execution, and against the regimes which harbored or sponsored the terrorist groups. Soon after the attacks, the United States, having secured the backing of a broad international coalition and assisted by its allies, launched a multidimensional campaign with the aim of disrupting Al-Qaeda, capturing Osama bin Laden, and dissuading the so-called “rogue states” from further pursuit of policies in support of international terrorism. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which has been hosting bin Laden and his training camps for the past several years, became the first target of the war on terrorism, as the U.S. deployed its formidable air power against the Taliban military assets and infrastructure and, in conjunction with the offensive of the Afghan opposition on the ground, succeeded in evicting the Taliban from power. The war goes on and probably will continue on different fronts and in different theaters for a long time to come. Its outcome and effects remain to be seen. However, while bearing in mind the uncertainty that war brings into world affairs, the implications of the events of September 11 can already be assessed and generalized with a measure of confidence. This article will explore the ways that September 11 has already influenced and still can affect world politics in the future. It will attempt to provide some perspectives on the factors these events have brought or can possibly bring into the realm of international relations and what are the implications to the international system as a whole and to the processes within it. The major aim of such an