How Terrorism Is Typically Understood - Essay Example

Essay on Terrorism Name Instructor’s Name Course Number Date Introduction Terrorism has ended up a standout amongst the most hazardous types of universal violations (Gould and Klor, 2010). Terrorists attack the regular citizen populace to make fear or general badgering in the public arena. They fall back on bombing, killing, capturing and expansive scale obliteration of property. Countless regular citizens have been executed in terrorist attacks. Terrorism is the most awful danger of today. The principle rationale of worldwide terrorism is to debilitate a nation politically, socially, financially and officially (Gould and Klor, 2010). In spite of the fact that much exertion is in advancement to take out terrorism from society however it can't be found unless some international laws of equity are concocted. As a savvy man said: "At whatever point and wherever, there is treachery or in justice, terrorism can't be destroyed." In a bid to understand what terrorism actually is, there has been intensive research on what are the causes of terrorism (Bird et al., 2008). As a matter of fact, a number of scholars have researched on causes of terrorism. This essay therefore focuses on what terrorism is, who are the targets in terrorism, who are the major perpetrators, whether terrorism in the West is different from terrorism elsewhere in the world and wether Australian government should fear this monster How terrorism is typically understood Terrorism is a tactic which is old. It is as old as the world itself. Infact, terrorism is said to have existed even before the invention of the world (Hobbs, 2008). Within the word terrorism is the word Terror, which originated from a French word, Terrere, meaning frighten or tremble. Inspite of terror being a product of the government of French, in today’s world, terrorism means killing humans by non-governmental actors who are politically instigated, for a variety of reasons, mainly as a statement which is political (Abrahms, 2012). This form of interpretation originated from radicals in Russia as early as 1870s. As a matter of fact, the People’s retribution founder, Sergey Nechayev, described himself as a terrorist.However, in as much as the act of terrorism has been there for over 2000 years, there has not been any form of universal definition of what exactly terrorism is. The globally accepted definition of terrorism is that terrorism is the extreme use of acts of violence to instil fear for various reasons ranging from political reasons, religious reasons, to reasons which are ideological in nature (Hoffman, 2013). The main intention of terror acts is to harm civilians’ inorder to achieve or obtain the greatest form of publicity for a particular group or even individual. Murder, Property demolition, or assault is far much different from terrorism. The main difference is that terrorism impact affects more that the immediate targeted victims. Additionally, because of its objective, terrorism tends to be different and distinct from any other form of regular crime. Acts of terrorism are Mala prohibita meaning that they are acts which, out of legislation, are made illegal. Additionally, Terrorist acts are also Mala in se acts, meaning that they are wrong acts. Terrorism according to international relations In International Relations field, terrorism has turned out to be among the majorly contested definitions. Researchers and scholars have debated and continue to debate about what terrorism really is and what the main causes of the act are. More often than not, many people make use of the term terrorism, being an indication that they know what terrorism is, but don’t have an understanding on what the detailed definition of terrorism actually is (Hoffman, 2013). International terrorism refers to activities which involve acts which are violent in nature and which pose danger to human life and which occur outside the territorial boundaries of a nation. Domestic terrorism on the other hand, refers to activities or acts which are violent, posing great danger to human life, and which occur within the territorial boundaries of a nation (Speckhard, 2015). The act of terrorism is a form of strategy used by, according to the state, illegitimate groups to oppose and develop resistance to the state by causing a disruption on the normal day to day life of the citizens of a state and generally causing fear. Additionally, terrorism is known to be a technique used by illegitimate groups to provoke a political form of response as a recognition form. Terrorism acts demoralizes citizen of a particular state. Where terrorism occurs and by whom According to The Global Terrorism Index (GTI), 2014 edition, there has been over 61% increment in terrorism attacks. The index ranks over 162 countries based on terrorist activities together with analysis of other economic and social factors. Additionally, the index considers over 99.7% of the global population. According to the 2014 GTI report, close to 32,685 individuals were murdered in terrorist attacks in the year 2014 of which 80% of those deaths occurred or happened in in only five countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Of the 162 reviewed countries, Iraq holds the disgraceful top spot with roughly 2,492 terrorist attacks in 2014, executing 6362 individuals. Therefore, according to the report, most terror acts occur in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria and Nigeria (Dr and Liang, 2015). There are a number of terrorist groups which are mostly responsible for most terrorist acts and activities. The most common four, according the GTI report, are Taliban, ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram. In Pakistan, there was a huge fall in the number of deaths from terrorist attacks, down by 25% in the year 2013- 2014, which can be ascribed to the breaking of Tehrik-i-Taliban. Be that as it may, more individuals than any other time in recent memory are being killed in Nigeria by Boko Haram terror acts. The number of people who have been killed as a result terrorist attacks since 2005 is much lower as compared to the number of people who are killed by Boko Haram in Nigeria, in a year (Dr and Liang, 2015). Why there is an increase of terrorist acts The reasons as to why there have been an increased number of terrorists activities are so complex and range from religious reasons, social factors and Psychological factors (Abrahms, 2012). However, Islam is the leading ideology regarding the growth of terror. The root cause of terrorism has been known to be radicalized Isla-mists. Terrorism has also been in the rise in the recent past as a result of oppression. Terrorism group can view the ruling government as oppressive therefore fighting to lower down the level of oppression from their opponents. Grievances which are historical in nature are another cause of increased rise of terrorism acts in the recent past. Terrorists are known to react, opposing governments which are responsible for historical injustices (Abrahms, 2012). Meaning of war on terrorism War on terrorism started after September 11, 2001 attacks, when Bush and his administration made a declaration on war on terror. War on terrorism involved military operations, new implementation of security laws, moves to combat terrorism financing and so on (Bird et al., 2008). There was a call by Washington requesting other states to join them, asserting that it is either other states unite with Washington to fight terrorism, or they join hands with the terrorists. Fight on terrorism involves governments coming together, joining forces. This can be done mostly by adopting and implementing new legislations and beefing up intelligence. In as much as uniting together as states to fight terrorism is the best move in combating terrorism, critics to this move argue that war on terrorism is just but an ideology of repression and fear and focuses on promoting more forms of violence instead of reducing terror acts and beefing up security. Governments should try as much as possible to solve acts of terrorism by cooperating with other nations globally and respecting human rights. Is terrorism a clash between East and West or between civilisations? In the recent patterns of terrorism, clash on civilization has actually emerged. According to Huntington, the act of terrorism is a conflict between different civilizations, and more particularly, the clash between West and East civilization (Bilgrami, 2012). Terrorism is more of a clash in civilization between the East and the West, and not the West and the East fighting. However, there is a prediction of more acts of terrorism aimed at the West. Since the end of the cold war, a number of conflicts between forms of civilizations fighting to influence a number of world orders have erupted therefore posing great danger for peace and stability (Bilgrami, 2012). Is terrorism in the west different from terrorism elsewhere? Terrorism is terrorism irrespective of where it happens. However, what brings a distinction between terrorism in the West and elsewhere in the world is the level of deaths and fatalities registered (Bird et al., 2008). On average, over the last fifteen years, the Western countries have registered only 4.4% of terrorism attacks and 2.7% of deaths. However, terrorist attacks in the west are regarded as being more deadly. The four major attacks including attack in the US on September 11, train bombing in Madrid, the massacre in Norway and bombings in London account for close to 90% of 2.7% deaths (Dr and Liang, 2015). Should Australia fear terrorist attacks? If so, why, if not, why not? Australia like any other country should be frightened of the act of terrorism that has been so rampant in the recent past. Therefore, Australia should fear terrorism attacks but should also struggle to fight the acts of terrorism by cooperating with other nations globally, because acts of terrorism have got no boundary. Conclusion Terrorism is proofing to be a menace and a disaster in the modern world. In as much as it started long time ago, in the recent past, acts of terrorism have increased. In as much as it is difficult to eliminate terrorism and declare a win on terror, to combat this form of crime, governments should come together, unite and formulate laws which will at last eliminate terrorism. Governments should therefore focus on causes of terror and dedicate resources to fighting acts of terrorism. Bibliography Abrahms, M., 2012. The political effectiveness of terrorism revisited. Comparative Political Studies 45, 366–393. Bilgrami, A., 2012. Islam and the west: Conflict, democracy, identity. Philosophy & Social Criticism 38, 477–483. Bird, G., Blomberg, S.B., Hess, G.D., 2008. International terrorism: Causes, consequences and cures. The World Economy 31, 255–274. Dr, —, Liang, C.S., 2015. MEASURING AND UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF TERRORISM. Gould, E.D., Klor, E.F., 2010. Does terrorism work? The Quarterly Journal of Economics 125, 1459–1510. Hobbs, H.H., 2008. A review of: “international studies: An Interdisciplinary approach to global issues.” Journal of Political Science Education 4, 370–371. Hoffman, B., 2013. Al Qaeda’s uncertain future. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 36, 635–653 Speckhard, A., 2015. Alex P. Schmid (Ed.). The Routledge handbook of terrorism research. Terrorism and Political Violence 27, 781–782 Read More