"The Discreet Charms of Indian Terrorism" Week 13 Substantive

The author talks of a "Gandhian vision" which focuses on "politics as a dialogical encounter which, set within that moral univese, can reduce the area of human violence." (11)

Though I feel that Gandhi's view is respectable, I do not feel that it fits within the international system today. I feel politics post 9-11 have become more of a catalyst for violence than a reducer. Terrorists today use politics in what is called "spoiling" meaning they purposely target citizens in democratic countries, knowing that they will respond by electing leaders who will use violence in response. These leaders attack the areas with the terrorists, and end up killing citizens. These areas then allow terrorists to promote, in this case, anti-American sentiment and allows terrorist organizations to gather support for their cause.
There is also the case of corrupt leadership or promoting violence to ensure personal goals, such as oil revenues, rather than for diplomatic or humanitarian purposes. For this reason, I believe the war on terror has made politics a catalyst of violence.