The world must unite in the struggle to defeat Islamic State fanatics

The global financial crisis taught the world how profoundly interdependent our economies have become. In today’s crisis of extremism, we must recognise that we are just as interdependent for our security, as is clear in the current struggle to defeat Islamic State (IS).

If we are to prevent IS from teaching us this lesson the hard way, we must acknowledge that we cannot extinguish the fires of fanaticism by force alone. The world must unite behind a holistic drive to discredit the ideology that gives extremists their power, and to restore hope and dignity to those whom they would recruit.

IS certainly can – and will – be defeated militarily by the international coalition that is now assembling and which the United Arab Emirates is actively supporting. But military containment is only a partial solution. Lasting peace requires three other ingredients: winning the battle of ideas; upgrading weak governance; and supporting grassroots human development.

Such a solution must begin with concerted international political will. Not a single politician in North America, Europe, Africa, or Asia can afford to ignore events in the Middle East. A globalised threat requires a globalised response. Everyone will feel the heat, because such flames know no borders; indeed, IS has recruited members of at least 80 nationalities.

IS is a barbaric and brutal organisation. It represents neither Islam nor humanity’s most basic values. Nonetheless, it has emerged, spread, and resisted those who oppose it. What we are fighting is not just a terrorist organisation, but the embodiment of a malicious ideology that must be defeated intellectually.

I consider this ideology to be the greatest danger that the world will face in the next decade. Its seeds are growing in Europe, the United States, Asia, and elsewhere. With its twisted religious overtones, this pre-packaged franchise of hate is available for any terrorist group to adopt. It carries the power to mobilise thousands of desperate, vindictive, or angry young people and use them to strike at the foundations of civilization.

The ideology fuelling IS has much in common with that of al-Qaeda and its affiliates in Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, North Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. What most worries me is that a decade ago, such an ideology was all that al-Qaeda needed to destabilise the world, even from a primitive base in the caves of Afghanistan. Today, under IS, adherents have access to technology, finance, a huge land base, and an international jihadist network. Far from being defeated, their ideology of rage and hate has become stricter, more pernicious, and more widespread.