International Legal Regulation of Countering Propaganda of War and Manifestations of Extremism

Abstract

The research paper analyses the international legal regulation of countering manifestations of extremism and propaganda of war. The understanding of extremist activity as an encroachment on the foundations of the constitutional order and the security of the state, as well as the violation of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of the individual and the citizen resulting from the denial of legal and/or other generally accepted norms and rules of social behaviour have been formulated. It is established that the proposed definition is built on two basic criteria. The first is the circle of public relations, which is prone to extremist encroachment (such as: the foundations of the constitutional order, state security, rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of an individual and a citizen). The second is motivation of extremist manifestations, that is, denial of legal and/or other generally accepted norms and rules of social behaviour. The following constructive features of extremism are distinguished: a) attachment, that is, loyalty or devotion to someone or anything (attachment of extremism is expressed in devotion to a certain ideology); b) the extreme nature of views, positions and arrangements in human activity (they reflect the essence of extremism, since they are characterized by the ideology of intolerance of the existing state system and violent methods of struggle); c) extremist acts can be committed both by individuals and groups or organizations; d) the spheres that are prone to negative effect of this phenomenon (the spheres of public consciousness, social psychology, morality, ideology, relations between social groups, ethnic groups, public associations, political parties and denominations). The directions of international cooperation in the field of countering extremism in the form of propaganda of war and hatred based on generally recognized principles and norms of international law, which serve as the unification and harmonization of means and methods of countering extremism and terrorism, are disclosed. The conceptual features of extremism produced by the world community are formulated, which include: a) specific motivation characteristic of extremist crimes; b) global nature of the danger directed at all world powers; c) transnational organized nature of the activities of extremist organizations, such as unification and harmonization of the means and methods of countering extremism and terrorism.