Introduction: Understanding Reality, Interpreting Change

• Author: Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith
• Profession: Professor of Political Science and Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at York College of The City University of New York
• Pages: 23-33

- xxiii -

Introduction:

Understanding Reality,

Interpreting Change

Ivelaw L. Griffith

The greatest and the most decisive act of judgment which a statesman and

commander perform is that of recognizing correctly the kind of war in

which they are engaged; of not taking it for, or wishing to make of it,

something which under the circumstances it cannot be. This is, therefore,

the first and most comprehensive of all strategic questions.

Carl von Clausewitz 1

The words above, penned by one of the great strategists of modern history,

are both timeless and timely. Timeless in that, while composed in the nineteenth

century, they are still relevant in the twenty-first century, and will be for the

foreseeable future. Timely in that, although written with conventional warfare

in mind, they are pertinent to the unconventional conflicts in which several

states currently are engaged. But it should be noted that, in the context of the

globalization and interdependence characterising the contemporary world,

Clausewitz speaks not only to statesmen and generals of states directly engaged

in conflict. His words should also resonate with statesmen and security

practitioners of states that are affected collaterally. In other words, Clausewitz’s

proposition is relevant to the Caribbean.

Complexity of Terrorism; Complex Terrorism

Understanding contemporary Caribbean security realities against the

backdrop of the age-defining phenomenon of terrorism is, therefore, not just

desirable but necessary. Pursuit of this understanding prompts two related

questions: What is meant by ‘age-defining phenomenon’? What do I mean

by ‘age of terror’, which is a term that appears in the title of this volume?2

In dealing with these two questions, one well-known fact is worth noting

here: terrorism, which involves politically-motivated acts of violence often

involving innocent individuals and with drama and fear as main ingredients,

is not new. As one leading terrorism scholar explained even before September

11, 2001 (hereafter called 9/11),