Kinsman: Should a state ever consider negotiating with terrorist organizations? And if so, under what circumstances?

By:
Jeremy Kinsman
/
5 June, 2014
By: Jeremy Kinsman
Former ambassador to the European Union and high commissioner to Britain

“We don’t negotiate with terrorists” is a slogan without substance. States need to negotiate with anybody able to conclude a necessary outcome. They generally do, if under the radar or via intermediaries. Moreover, negotiation doesn’t mean validation of a cause or withdrawal of hostility to it. Nor is it just bargaining over the price to pay for hostages. Hostage negotiations need to have on the table the alternative of credible recourse to all-out force against the hostage-takers, including for repeat acts.

Circumstances are also different for each case. The Bergdahl case has virtually nothing to do with the past kidnapping of Fowler and Guay who were peaceful envoys of the UN Secretary-General. Would anybody suggest there should NOT have been negotiations to free the Canadians? The fact that our colleagues have their lives back and the kidnappers have been on the run ever since appears to be the best possible result.

Before you click away, we’d like to ask you for a favour … 

Journalism in Canada has suffered a devastating decline over the last two decades. Dozens of newspapers and outlets have shuttered. Remaining newsrooms are smaller. Nowhere is this erosion more acute than in the coverage of foreign policy and international news. It’s expensive, and Canadians, oceans away from most international upheavals, pay the outside world comparatively little attention.

At Open Canada, we believe this must change. If anything, the pandemic has taught us we can’t afford to ignore the changing world. What’s more, we believe, most Canadians don’t want to. Many of us, after all, come from somewhere else and have connections that reach around the world.

Our mission is to build a conversation that involves everyone — not just politicians, academics and policy makers. We need your help to do so. Your support helps us find stories and pay writers to tell them. It helps us grow that conversation. It helps us encourage more Canadians to play an active role in shaping our country’s place in the world.

Become a Supporter