Terrorism report - Book Report/Review Example

Two conclusions the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) Report reached were terrorism incidents occur under political unrest or in middle to lower income countries. Terrorism incidents occur less frequently in countries with stable governments. Democracies rank high, but countries like North Korea, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia terrorism is low. Russia is the only country in the top ten that is middle to higher income. Seven of the ten countries are middle to lower class. The first conclusion of political unrest did not surprise me.

Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries, Somalia, and others that do not have solid governments would have more terrorist events. The reason is law and order can be chaotic in a country that does not have solid leadership. I was surprised about the income of the country. I assumed that lower income countries would have more terrorist attacks. I was most startled by Israel’s ranking. After hearing news reports all of my life about terrorism in Israel, it was a shock to learn that terrorism in Israel is actually decreasing.

I was also surprised at the low ranking of Oman, Congo, and Sierra Leone. Oman is in the Middle East, whereas the Congo and Sierra Leone is in Africa. These regions around these countries are where terrorism acts occur. It goes to prove that not all Middle Eastern or African countries are prone to terrorism. Terrorism acts reported on the news are of Muslim extremists. However, in Iraq, the highest ranked country of terroristic acts, have different factions of Muslims fighting against each other.

India, another country ranked in the top ten, are Hindu. Terroristic acts are not always motivated by religion. Chechnya wants independence, Palestinians want land, and so forth. Government rule seems to have more to do with terroristic acts than religion does.