Since 1979, the United States Department of State has maintained an official list of countriesLinks to an external site. that are designated as "state sponsors of terrorism". Currently, the list includes Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Syria. Previous designees include Sudan (1993-2020), Iraq (1979-2004), and Libya (1979-2006). Countries on this list may be subject to various types of sanctions, restrictions on foreign aid and weapons sales, travel bans, and other types of political and diplomatic pressure. Members of Congress have even discussed adding Russia to this list in response to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The goal of this list is to compel state sponsors to halt their support for terror groups. However, you may notice (as many critics have pointed out) that some countries on this list are not actively engaged in sponsoring terror groups. Others have done so in the past but have long since stopped doing so, while many other states have long been known to provide different degrees of support to terror groups (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan) but have never been officially listed as sponsors (see also Chenoweth & Moore, pg 305).

Is this a problem? Does the selective and inconsistent nature of the sponsorship list undermine the goal of getting these problem states to stop sponsoring terrorist groups? Why or why not?