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An essay on "Terrorism
What motivates terrorists
Terrorism in the past and present
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My first secondary source is the book, “Blood and Rage: A Cultural History of Terrorism” written by Michael Burleigh. In his book, he investigates the nature of terrorism, with its origins in the West to the current global acts of terrorism. Burleigh examines the roots of terrorism in the last 150 years such as the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Russian Nihilists, Red Brigades, Black International, Tamil Tigers and Al Qaeda. He also explores the political impact of those who cause violence and those who are affected by it. He shows that the groups are not only religiously motivated but are also motivated by ideological and separatist motives. He further shows how contrary to popular belief, terrorist are big fans of technology and much of their agitation is driven by the acts of Western Governments themselves. He towards the end of his book shows the positive side of his book and gives recommendations on how terrorism can be defeated. In the paper, Economic Conditions and the Quality of Suicide terrorism , the authors study the relationship between economic conditions with the characteristics of terrorists and the targets they attack. The poor economic conditions coupled with high unemployment in regions have enabled terrorist organizations to recruit individuals who are more educated, mature and experienced for their suicide attacks. This gives the terrorist organizations the ability to attack more important targets which are located closer to their district of residence. Nevertheless, he also shows that there is no correlation between the qualities of terror attacks and bad economic conditions but rather affect groups that provide excludable public goods by increasing their ability to commit terror attacks during difficul... ... middle of paper ... ...Historical outcomes. Even though, the schools are slightly different, I see these three schools of approaching history as intertwined. Contrary to the Annales school of thought, who conclude the historical outcomes on class, my research will disapprove that it is not the social setup but rather the economic and diplomatic scenarios that lead to the backdrop of terrorism and its causes. With Annals, I also will use the methods of Bolch, who in his book, “The Historians Craft” , tells how it is outmost necessary to compare sources amongst each other to ensure their accuracy of events. This is because historians can have biased feelings about a particular topic or field of study, and by comparing a series of publications from different authors on the same fields; we can bring about the real picture of any historical topic, in this case, the real history of terrorism.
“INSTITUTE FOR HISTORICAL REVIEW.” Propaganda and Disinformation: How the CIA Manufactures History. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014.
In today’s society the word “terrorism” has gone global. We see this term on television, in magazines and even from other people speaking of it. In their essay “Controlling Irrational Fears After 9/11”, published in 2002, Clark R. Chapman and Alan W. Harris argue that the reaction of the American officials, people and the media after the attacks of 9/11 was completely irrational due to the simple fact of fear. Chapman and Harris jump right into dismembering the irrational argument, often experienced with relationships and our personal analysis. They express how this argument came about from the terrorist being able to succeed in “achieving one major goal, which was spreading fear” among the American people (Chapman & Harris, para.1). The supporters of the irrational reaction argument state that because “Americans unwittingly cooperated with the terrorist in achieving the major goal”, the result was a widespread of disrupted lives of the Americans and if this reaction had been more rational then there would have been “less disruption in the lives of our citizens” (Chapman & Harris, para. 1).
In “Terrorism and Morality,” Haig Khatchadourian argues that terrorism is always wrong. Within this argument, Khatchadourian says that all forms of terrorism are wrong because the outcome deprives those terrorized of their basic humanity. To this end, Khatchadourian says that even forms of terrorism that are designed to bring about a moral good are wrong because of the methods used to achieve that good. Before Khatchadourian spells out why terrorism is wrong, he defines what terrorism is, what causes terrorism, and what people believe terrorism to mean. With a working definition in place, Khatchadourian examines terrorism’s role in a just war and shows that terrorism is never just, even during war. With the assertion that terrorism, even during wartime is unjust, Khatchadourian analyzes the variations of innocence and non-innocence surrounding the victims of a terrorist attack. The analysis of innocence and non-innocence is accomplished through review of the principal of discrimination and the principal of proportion and how each relates to terrorism. From these philosophical and ethical standpoints, Khatchadourian finds that terrorism is unjust and wrong because of the way it groups and punishes the innocent with the guilty, not allowing the victim to properly respond to the charges against them. Finally, Khatchadourian looks at how terrorism is always wrong because of the way it denies a person their basic human rights. In examination of person’s human rights, Khatchadourian finds that terrorism specifically “violates its targets’ right to be treated as moral persons,” as it inflicts pain, suffering and death to those who are not deserving (298).
In Robert Pape’s Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism he investigates the three hundred and fifteen suicide terrorist attacks that have occurred from its beginning in 1980 up until 2003. By examining these attacks he explains the three logics behind suicide terrorism, the strategic, the social, and the individual logic. Pape uses Dying to Win as a tool to educate the public on suicide terrorism. He hopes people will begin to understand that it is not irrational, but requires reason and strategy. He brings to light that suicide terrorism is not directly correlated with Islamic fundamentalism, but rather political objectives, trying to put to rest many preconceived notions. By understanding the logic behind suicide terrorism people can work together to prevent it from happening in the future. After reading this book it is clear that suicide terrorism is not random, but does demand some thought in order for it to work.
In Dying To Win, Robert A. Pape challenges the views about why suicide terrorists do what they do and to whom. Pape is trying to convey that "suicide terrorism is rising around the world" (Pape pg. 6). Since many terrorist attacks have been perpetrated by Muslim terrorist motivated by religious beliefs, it makes people think that Islamic fundamentalism is the central cause. The connection between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism is incorrect, and encourage foreign countries to harm many Muslims people that are harmless. The author has assembled a database that accounts “every suicide bombing and attack around the globe from 1980 through 2003” (Pape pg. 7). There were 315 of terrorist suicide attacks at all.
The topic of my paper is types of terrorism. There are several types of terrorism for which to choose for my paper, state, dissident, religious, left-wing v. right-wing, and international. In this paper I have chosen state terrorism, religious terrorism, and international terrorism as the types of terrorism that I am going to discuss. I will discuss what they are in my own words and give examples of two different groups for each type that represent that type of terrorism. Then I will compare and contrast the three types of terrorism that I chose.
Reich, W. (1998). Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind. Washington, D.C.: The Woodrow Wilson center Press.
Pape, Robert A. "The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism." American Political Science Review 97.3 (2003): n. pag. American Political Science Association. Aug. 2003. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. .
Terrorism has successfully been able to flourish due to the three main types of terrorism (Revolutionary, Religious and Separatist/Anti-colonist). By means of a bigger purpose, these various reasons for terrorism have created a bigger sense of fear for the public. Knowing what is happing, how it can be explained is a good way of assessing the issue of terrorism. It forms a coping organism for the government in regarding to creating prevention legislation. But unlike organized crime, terrorism has been proven to be difficult to control due to the foreign powers controlling it. It is a serious issue in America, and the World that America is a part
“Terrorism involves the use of violence by an organization other than a national government to cause intimidation or fear among a target audience;” at least, this is how Pape (2003) defines terrorism in his article “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism” (343). The goal of this article by Pape is to discuss suicide terrorism and how it “follows a strategic logic, one specifically designed to coerce modern liberal democracies to make significant territorial concessions” (343). Similar to Pape, Bloom (2004) and Horowitz (2010) also delve into the exponential increase of suicide terrorism and why it occurs. Although Pape, Bloom, and Horowitz concur that suicide terrorism is increasing, they disagree why it is so prominent. While the arguments presented from each of these researchers is powerful and certainly plausible, suicide terrorism is in fact not irrational, but strategic and is most often caused by state occupation and, when organized, aimed specifically at democracies.
...ign Policy Crises and the Resort to Terrorism: A Time-Series Analysis of Conflict Linkages. Journal of Conflict Resolution, Volume 40 No. 2, 320-321.
Terrorism is an issue that is happening all over the world. Terrorism is an unlawful use of violence likely against civilians. There are over 45 terrorist groups outside the United States of America and 1/10 terrorist have some sort of a mental illness. The reasons why some people might join terrorist groups is because of economic or religious reasons but you can also be forced to join. 11% of terrorists have spent time in prison.These are the sights I have used for my research www.theatlantic.com
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.
The mind of a terrorist is a very unique and mysterious thing. There are many things that can create different aspects inside a terrorist oganization. With a set of constant new recruits and persons that are willing to commit sucidie terrorism the terror organizations can be extrememly effective in achieving their goals for their organizations. Recruits can be reached through many forms of communications and once into a group that is radicalized they can become suicide terrorist in order to fulfill their own needs.
So people can come up with better idea to solve problems related to terrorism. The evidence from previous studies suggests that the relationship between poverty and terrorism is less significant than we expected. In some cases, people with more net worth and higher educational level are even more likely to join terrorism than poor people. Political stability, political discrimination and oppressive political repression actually play more important roles when it comes to facilitating people’s inclination towards terrorism. This finding is consistent with current situation. For example, Based on data collected by Chinese National Security Department, many religious schools in Xinjiang are funded by wealthy Uighurs and students in there are taught to become religious fanatics since they are kids. One possible explanation for the result is that terrorism actually can be seen as a kind of political violence and people who have money, power and high educational level can only put their efforts and income in politics to pursue their personal goals. That is to say, the direct strategy of decreasing poverty cannot be seen as a proper or efficient way to limit