Motivations and Causes of Terrorism
Despite the end of the Cold War and the faltering beginnings of a peace process in the Middle East, terrorism still remains a serious threat in many countries, not surprisingly, given that the underlying causes of the bitter ethnic and religious struggles which spawn terrorism pre-dated the Cold War, and most of these conflicts remain unresolved.
While the former Soviet Union sponsored terrorism on an opportunistic basis, the idea that all international terrorism was concerted by the KGB during the Cold War is clearly an over-simplification. The overthrow of the communist dictatorships did remove an important cluster of state sponsors of terrorism. However, one of the main attractions of terrorism to its perpetrators is that it is a low-cost but potentially high-yield weapon, and it is generally possible to find weapons and cash from alternative sources, including militant supporters and sympathizers in your own home base and those living and working in prosperous countries in the West, as well as from racketeering, extortion and other forms of criminal activity, and in some cases, alternative state sponsors. Moreover, the end of the Cold War has also had a major negative effect on political violence: the removal of communist one-party rule has unleashed numerous long-suppressed, bitter ethnic conflicts.
WESTERN EUROPE
In Western Europe it is the historic separatisms of Irish republicanism in Northern Ireland and Basque nationalism in Spain that have spawned the most lethal and protracted terrorism. In Northern Ireland the IRA and Loyalist cease-fires are still holding, and the British and Irish governments and the Social Democratic and Labour Party leader, John Hume, deserve credit for their efforts towards peace. But the cease-fire is still extremely fragile, and it is going to be very difficult indeed to convert it into a lasting and honourable peace. The declared objectives of IRA/Sinn Fein and the Unionists are as far apart as ever, and the terrorist para-militaries still have their stocks of weapons and explosives. In Spain ETA has been greatly weakened by improved Franco-Spanish police co-operation, but the terrorists show no signs of giving up.
EASTERN EUROPE
In the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe the removal of communist dictatorship has taken the lid off many simmering ethnic rivalries and ...
... middle of paper ...
...conviction before courts of law;
· tough measures to penalize the state sponsors who give terrorist movements safe haven, explosives, cash and moral and diplomatic support;
· a determination never to allow terrorist intimidation to block or derail international diplomatic efforts to resolve major political conflicts in strife-torn regions, such as the Middle East. In many such areas terrorism has become a major threat to peace and stability, and its suppression therefore is in the common interests of international society.
To conclude on an optimistic note, one major aspect of advanced technology gives the democratic governments a potentially winning card in their battle against terrorist organizations. Whereas developments in terrorist weaponry and the vulnerability of modern complex societies help the terrorists, the development of sophisticated fine-grained computers and terrorism databases provide superb assets for the intelligence war against terrorism. If these developments are matched by greatly enhanced international intelligence sharing and counter-terrorism collaboration, they can lay the foundations of long-term success over terrorist organizations.
Kash, Douglas A. “An International Legislative Approach to 21st-Century Terrorism.” The Future of Terrorism: Violence in the New Millennium. Ed. Harvey W. Kushner. London: Sage Publications, 1998.
Miller, M. A. (2013). The foundations of modern terrorism: state, society and the dynamics of
The threat of global terrorism continues to rise with the total number of deaths reaching 32,685 in 2015, which is an 80 percent increase from 2014 (Global Index). With this said, terrorism remains a growing, and violent phenomenon that has dominated global debates. However, ‘terrorism’ remains a highly contested term; there is no global agreement on exactly what constitutes a terror act. An even more contested concept is whether to broaden the scope of terrorism to include non-state and state actors.
After 9/11, governments put resources into building up their operational counter-terrorism capacities expanded the financial plans and extended the numerical quality of their knowledge groups and authorization powers. Thus, governments could screen a bigger number of suspected terrorists, colleagues, supporters and sympathizers and lead opportune captures.
Hermann.G, M., 2008. Concepts of Terrorism: Analysis of the rise,decline,trend & rise. Netherlands: Institute of International Relations.
The prominent developments in terrorism since the 1970s, that is claimed to make terrorism ‘new’, firstly includes a shift in the nature of terrorist organisations. Secondly, there has been change in the structure of the networks comprising terrorist groups. Thirdly, terrorists use weapons that maximise the number of casualties they cause, mainly weapons
Terrorism has influenced civilizations throughout history and has even started wars. In 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, who was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo. They were killed by Gavrilo Princip, who was one of six assassins. Their goal was to have Austria-Hungary to create a South-Slav provinces and eventually turn it into a Greater Serbia or a Yugoslavia . These helped start World War I Terrorists are individuals or organizations that use violence as a tactic to achieve political goals. These terrorists are often involved in mass killings and have a trained military. In the our nation’s 237 year history, America has had its fair share of terrorist attacks, but how has terrorism affected American society, government, and international relations.
With the rise of Islamic extremist groups, international terrorism has now become a worldwide social dilemma. The roots of this social problem include a variety of possibilities; however, most commonly terrorism is perceived as an issue triggered by the economic and political inefficiency of a country. In recent years this belief was particularly supported during presidency of George W. Bush and later reinforced by the “anti-Islamic” sentiment triggered by the events of September 11, 2001. Likewise Joseph Kahn and Tim Weiner, authors of World Leaders Rethinking Strategy on Aid to Poor, agreed with President Bush’s strategy of financially assisting the poor Middle Eastern nations to combat terrorism. In addition to poverty, transnational terrorism is also attributed to the political
Probably the most contested cause of terrorism is an aggrieved group resorting to violence for nationalist or separatist reasons; depending on one's point of view, this can be considered as resistance against an oppressor. The separation of states is an effect of unfairness in competition/rivalry when an ethny is subordinated or disadvantaged in economic opportunity, social status, political voice and rights, or cultural expressions. To generalize it further, ethnic conflict arises from a complex combination of class, inequality, political opportunity, mobilization resources and ethnic strength. And another factor is social stratification or inequalities in the distribution of scarce resources. And when they feel unfairness the relatively deprived they started
Terrorism has been around for centuries and religion-based violence has been around just as long. (Hoffman, 2). The violence was never referred to as terrorism though. Only up to the nineteenth century has religion been able to justify terrorism (Hoffman, 2). Since then, religious terrorism became motivated and inspired by the ideological view (Hoffman, 3). Therefore, it has turned against the main focus of religion and more towards the views of the extremist and what is happening politically (Winchester, 4).
Terrorism is one of the most extensively discussed issues of our time and at the same time it is also one of the least understood. The term itself “terrorism” means many different things to different people, cultures, and races. As a result, trying to define or classify terrorism with one universal definition is nearly impossible. The definition of terrorism used in this research is a reflection of much of the Western and American way of defining it. The definition of terrorism is,
Political violence is the leading cause of wars today. Personal agendas have led to many of the political objectives that cause violence today this has caused many problems throughout the world and will continue to do so until a solution to this issue is found. Political objectives have been advanced involuntarily dependent upon the kind of government a nation exercises. For instance, in a democratic nation political groups must worry about convincing the majority in order to advance ethically. Those who try to influence the majority through acts of violence are considered today as “terror” organizations. Though perhaps if it were not because of the recent 9/11 terror attacks that maybe such warrants would not be seen as terror attacks, but instead the result of partisan advancement. Acts of terrorism have been around throughout the evolution of mankind. Terror attacks have even been traced back as far as the religious roots of an ancient middle east (Ross, Will Terrorism End?, 2006). However as man evolved, so did terrorism. Today’s extremism involves some of the main characteristics of ancient terrorism, but much more developed. Political advancement is no longer the root cause of terrorism acts. Instead influxes of “holy” wars have been appended the prior definition of terrorism. Mistakably modern terrorism has been confused for Political violence with political objectives, but research will establish that the nature of terrorism is fundamentally different from other forms of political violence.
Terrorism is not necessarily a new phenomenon and it will never be removed from society. Terrorism has been defined as a application of violence or threatened violence intended to panic society, to weaken or overthrow incumbents, or to bring political change. There will continue to be minority or oppressed (or perceived oppressed) people or groups will continue to believe that terrorism is the only solution to their problems. (1) (2) (3)
Prior to the 1960s, acts of terrorism were viewed as an internal policing issue rather than a matter of foreign policy. Around the late 1970s, policy began to shift its focus towards a few aspects of counterterrorism such as: the sabotage of aircraft, hostages, violence onboard an aircraft, and, hijacking of an aircraft; and, it predominately remained aligned with domestic response sys...
The word terrorism was first used during the French Revolution from the reign of terror inflicted by the French from 1784-1804 ("International Affairs"). It was used to describe the violent acts perpetrated on the French that inflicted terror on the various peoples and instilled fear within them. However, at the time it had a more positive connotation than the term that instills fear today. During the French Revolution this was because it referred to state-sponsored terrorism in order to show the need of state instead of anarchy, sometimes promoted by other groups (Hoffman 2). Therefore, even though terrorism has taken a new nature, terrorism can refer to official governments or guerrilla groups operating outside national governments ("International Affairs"). In order to encompass terrorism’s various sectors and explain it to the public, in both positive and negative aspects, many analysts have tried to put it into a few words. Terrorism is a method used by tightly of loosely organized groups operation within states or international territories that are systematic in using deliberate acts of violence or threats in order to instill...