The purpose of constructing a background theory was to enable us to generate answers to some of the hard cases mentioned at the beginning of chapter 3. In this chapter the aim is to demonstrate a practical application of this method. Let us look at the normative problems posed by various unconventional uses of violence in the modern world.

Unconventional violence as a normative problem in international relations

In the modern world few conventional wars are fought, yet there is a great deal of violence of one form or another in world politics. We are all acquainted with the typical cases. Foreign activists place bombs in stations in major cities. An embassy is raided by guerrillas. The staff is held hostage and demands are made which are of an international nature. Suicide bombers drive trucks laden with explosives into key installations in Israel and the Middle East in order to influence the foreign policy of the USA. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) launch mortars at the runways of Heathrow. States, too, practise various kinds of unconventional violence — for example, sabotage against the installations of neighbouring states, active support of liberation movements engaged in violence of one sort or another in foreign states, and so on.