Introduction
Every coin has two sides but traditionally, only one side is decorated or unique with the other side taken for granted, even ignored. The same concept applies to contemporary human relations with the beaten path being considered the only path while the most acceptable opinion about a subject, is the only opinion about it. Nelson Mandela, one of the most recognized heroes in the modern world was convicted of terrorism on his own plea of guilty. He admitted in court to have done all that he was charged with then used the hearing as a platform to explain why he did it. In the war of 1812, the British believed they had a righteous cause to fight against a bunch of rebels led by George Washington, the greatest American hero. These two examples give a scenario where the back of the coin became the front of the coin when history was written. The above begs the question which would be considered the front of the coin when the international relations history in the war on terror is finally written?
The World Event of Focus
The world event of focus is the November 2015 terror attack that took place in France. It is considered as the most deadly attack on French soil since the Second World War. It is also among the deadliest reaction against the western powers since the advent of the war on terror (Fang, 2015) . This attack is unique in that it had a maximum impact from a perspective of terror. Terrorists seek to convince their victims that they can never be safe under any circumstances. The November attack in France was preceded by a minor attack in January that made the nation make all necessary preparations against terror. November found France at the height of preparedness but by the end of the attack, seemingly extremely well-coordinated activities in different places left 130 victims, most of them innocent civilians dead (Fang, 2015) . Seemingly, the attackers were seeking to tell the French authorities that they are helpless in protecting their people.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
There were only two main parties to the abovementioned event. The first is the instigator, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The second party is the French government in general and particularly the French security apparatus. President François Hollande and his interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve can be considered as among the main players on the French side. The Al-Hayat Media Group, a faction of ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack. French citizen Fabien Clain claimed to have engineered the attacks (Robinson, 2015) .
International Relations Theory that Would Best Explain the Event
To this date, there has only been one narrative about the November 2015 terror attack in France. This narrative is that a bunch of criminal cowards led by sadistic murderer descended on France and perpetrated heinous crimes upon its populace leading to the senseless deaths of innocent people. Any other opinion about this subject would be frowned upon and even condemned. To arrive at what history would say about it, however, it is important to carefully look at both sides of the coin, more so the side that the world is not looking at (McLaughlin, 2013) . The only international relations theory that allows for looking at both sides of the coin with an open mind is Post-structuralism.
Overview of Post-structuralism
Post-structuralism is not per se a well-established novel theory of international relations but rather an attack on the more accepted theory of structuralism. Structuralism engenders using the beaten path to determine the way (McLaughlin, 2013) . It considers activities and events based on the well-established norms, knowledge, and wisdom. It can be reduced to the celebrated words of Charles the great at the diet of worms where he told Martin Luther that whoever believes that everyone else is wrong, must be wrong. What Charles the great meant was that he may not understand what Luther was talking about but he knew the common norms and knowledge about the subject. If Luther was seeking to argue that the commonly accepted norms were wrong, then he must be wrong. Structuralism is the main basis for the international affairs coin having only one side. Therefore, anything done by the so-called terrorists must be wrong and anything done against them must be right. Post-structuralism stands against this stoic position by arguing that the reality of every situation must be determined by the facts and bearing factors of that situation (McLaughlin, 2013) . The right and wrong of that situation must be purely based on merits, not presuppositions. Post-structuralism would be the right way to determine what history will say about the attack.
Application of Post-structuralism to the Event
Journalists, investigators, and researchers have already carefully handled the question of what happened during the November 2015 terror attacks in France. The main issue for history will be why it happened and who should carry the blame for the same. This is where Post-structuralism comes in. The ISIL is a shadow government that is not recognized by any formal organization in the world. It also stands as an enemy to almost all formal governments and is condemned by the UN as a terror organization. Structuralism would take the beaten path and condemn ISIL outright but post-structuralism would require a closer scrutiny (McLaughlin, 2013). Today, speaking for the ISIL can be considered as either condoning or supporting terror activities. The Americans and the Russians are at loggerheads in Syria today as they seem to have taken different sides in the said conflict. They, however, always seem to agree when it comes to fighting against the ISIL. This makes the ISIL a tiny organization that is seeking to fight against the whole world.
It would, however, be critical to question the source of the ISIL as it is a relatively new organization. Structuralism would say that this is a group of religious criminals who took advantage of a vacuum to perpetrate terror across the world. Post-structuralism would demand that the issue is looked at from a balanced perspective. Two events led to the formation of ISIL. The first is the September 2001 terror attack in the USA and the resultant war on terror while the second is the west supported Arab Spring that changed the shape of the Arab world for many years to come. The former led to an attack by Allied Forces into Iraq and the latter to civil war in Syria. The two left a large segment of the Levant with no real leadership leading to the rise of the ISIL.
Within a very short time, the ISIL proved themselves as very effective and successful in ground combat and soon got mainstream group forces in both Syria and Iraq on the run. Step by step, larger segments of the Levant came under ISIL rule. Among the tactics that made ISIL famous was their ruthlessness which involved recorded beheadings which shocked the world. Everyone protracted ISIL and the allies commenced an all-out war against the organization (Snyder, 2016) . The main thrust of this war was aerial bombardment and this is where the November 2015 terror attacks come in. According to ISIL, the attack was retaliation for the thousands of tons of bombs that the allied forces, including France, rained on the Levant in their fight against ISIL. The wars in Iraq and Syria have caused approximately 1 million local lives, most of them innocent civilians who have died as collateral damage. Many of these deaths have been caused by allied pilots who drop bombs from great heights and cannot see who receives the bombs on the ground. The question that Post-structuralism would pose is between a pilot who drops bombs capable of killing thousands of hapless victims and a suicide bomber who looks his enemies in the eyes and dies among them, who will history call a terrorist?
References
Fang, M. (2015, November 18). Timeline of the Paris attacks and aftermath . Retrieved October 25, 2017, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paris-attacks-timeline_us_56490a09e4b0603773499133
McLaughlin, J. E. (2013). Post-Structuralism in group theory and practice. Journal of Systemic Therapies , 32 (2), 1-16. doi:10.1521/jsyt.2013.32.2.1
Robinson, M. (2015, November 18). Revealed: French voice behind chilling ISIS Paris massacres message is also a homegrown terrorist behind other attacks in his own country. Retrieved November 05, 2017, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3323851/French-voice-chilling-ISIS-Paris-massacres-message-homegrown-terrorist-attacks-country.html
Snyder, S. (2016, April 10). The US is dropping bombs quicker than it can make them . Retrieved October 25, 2017, from https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-04-10/us-dropping-bombs-quicker-it-can-make-them
