Terje Rød-Larsen speaks to Caabu about ISIS ideology and expansionism

Caabu hosted a briefing in Parliament with Terje Rød-Larsen, Norwegian politican and diplomat, and President of the International Peace Institute on 16 June 2015; The Return of Ideology: the Challenge of Our Time

You can listen to a recording of the briefing in full here.

The briefing was chaired by David Jones MP, and discussed the re-emergence of political idealism and ideology in the form of groups such as ISIS and what it means about tackling these kind of groups. 

Rød-Larsen spoke of the parallels between the expansionism of ISIS, and its idea of "utopia" and "paradise" to that of Nazism:

"The parallels between the western and the eastern political ideologies and political movements are clear and obvious; the strong man, a sense of revival and purpose, a revolutionary goal of tearing down everything that represents the established society and culture in order to construct a new world, a utopian society. Totalitarian ideologies seek to create a perfect society on earth, a utopia, a paradise on earth, whether it is called the Third Reich, the dictatorship of the Proletariat, the Caliphate or the Islamic Republic of Iran. It therefore comes with an expansionist agenda. ISIS, for example is anti-nationalist. It promotes a trans-national Caliphate, without nations, comprising a population of multiple tribes and ethnic groups. So for instance, they are against the creation of a state of Palestine because that is contradictory to the idea of a Caliphate."

You can listen to Terje Rød-Larsen's briefing in full here.