Summary of a book chapter - Assignment Example

Summary Chapter 4 Summary Chapter 4 The of Chapter 4 is “Criminal or Crusaders?” and in this chapter the describes different kinds of terrorists and the terrorists that are operational in the 21st century. The author divides terrorists into three types including the criminals who operate in order to gain personal benefits and are ready to negotiate and they fear death (Combs, 2012, p.55). The second types are crusaders who operate due to a higher religious cause and do not negotiate and have no fear of death.

The third types are regarded as crazy who terrorize others for personal gains but their motives are hard to identify and this makes it difficult to negotiate with them and they even fear death. The chapter focuses on the value system of terrorists and states that terrorists believe that they are fighting against enemy who lack traits and characteristics of human beings. Terrorist even believe that they are elite members of the society and are victims and they chose terrorism as an involuntary response (Combs, 2012, p.56). They even believe that the crimes they commit such as murdering innocent people is a moral act.

They even believe that if their victims are closely associated with the enemy then they are even enemies. There are certain common characteristics that all terrorists share. These characteristics include high dedication towards the cause and all of them indulge in a brave act since they face the threat of being harmed (Combs, 2012, p.65). All terrorists lack emotions of regret as well as shame and that is why they kill people. They are very intelligent as they have to collect and analyze information and are involved in sophisticated activities such as living and flying in first class hotels and airlines.

They are highly educated as they are able to communicate in various languages such as English language. Individuals become terrorists because they believe that they are the victims and are fighting evil. Joining terrorist groups even provide individuals with a sense of belongingness (Combs, 2012, p.68). They believe that indulging in acts of terrorism is a way to attain revenge against those who have done wrong to people they are associated with. Terrorists in the past were motivated by the aim of attaining social liberty, but now their aim has become quite political.

Terrorists in the 21st century are quite away from reality and are quite irrational and that is why they prefer being recognized as prisoners of war (Combs, 2012, p.71). A major reason that drives terrorist activities in the 21st century is that they want their religion to be considered as the dominant and correct one. Most of the terrorists belong to the age group of youths and they have attained higher level education such as college education that was attained by 60% of the members of Al-Qaeda.

They do not join terrorist groups for the pursuit of economic status as most of them belong to families of middle or higher economic status groups. Terrorist groups are highly dominated by the male gender, while some females even hold top positions. A major issue is that in the 21st century violence has been depicted as a respectable act and this promotes the adoption of violence by society members (Combs, 2012, p.75). Another issue is that globalization has mostly benefited the Western society and that is why most of the terrorism spurs from the Eastern societies.

ReferencesCombs, C. C. (2012). Terrorism in the twenty-first century. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.