The Phenomenon Of Terrorism - Research Paper Example

? Terrorism Terrorism is vast and widespread in many countries today. This is mainly caused by the political limitations among governments. The research paper focuses on giving the causes, effects and solutions of terrorism. The key cause identified is inequality in the society. When individuals feel that there is some of unfairness in the government, they tend to use terrorism acts in order to reduce the deprivation level. Effects of terrorism given in the paper include disruption of both the economic and political operations of the country. On the other hand, the solutions suggested include reduction of inequality among the people and advancing the security levels. Introduction Terrorism majorly refers to use of violence or threats to obtain something from a person, a country, or a particular group of people (Scherer, 2005). The issue of terrorism is mainly rampant in the political and religious arena. Terrorism has been widespread due to disagreements and conflicts between different countries. States also engage in terrorism in order to obtain wealth from wealthy nations. Terrorists normally kidnap or even kill their captives. Most of the captives are normally the highly ranked individuals in the society. For instance, in the year 1988, there was a terrorism act in the United States, which mainly involved a large number of peacetime fatalities. In the year 1993, United States also suffered the world Trade Center bombing which injured over a thousand people. Therefore, terrorism mainly arises from political issues among countries, or disagreements among important persons in a country (Richardson, 2006). A large number of factors that might be present in a country cause terrorism. This statement rules out the argument that terrorism is mainly present in economically unstable countries. Although a country might be in possession of very efficient and effective ammunition, it might still incur terrorism due to attacks from other countries. In addition, terrorism also has a large number of negative effects on the countries involved. This is because; the political peace of the countries tends to be disrupted. On the other hand, the economy is also affected gravely because; individuals are not able to actively engage in production due to fear of making losses from the terrorism (Scherer, 2005). Body Causes of terrorism Ethnicity and separation are two factors that significantly contribute to terrorism in different countries. Individuals from nations that are not united tend to cause trouble to other nations as a way of finding the key cause of disagreements to their own nations (Bjorgo, 2005). Separation among different nations can also be explained by political and religious differences. This also brings in the issue of racism in a country. When a country has some form of inequality, it will definitely have many terrorism cases because people will not be united. For instance, in the year 1990, racism in the United States caused terrorism cases to increase because, each group wanted to defend itself from being attacked by the other. Separation in the community can also be explained from a different point of view where there is a group of persons in the society that are dissatisfied (Crenshaw, 1981). Some individuals in the community may feel that they are not being given equal rights as other individuals. Thus, they might engage in terrorism acts in order to have such rights too. Therefore, inequality in the society can fuel terrorism. This is because; inequality and unfairness causes feelings of depression among people. Consequently, it causes individuals to act out of frustration and anger (Al-Thagafi & Army War College (U.S.), 2008). Terrorism can also be caused by the lack of or unequal opportunities for political participation (Crenshaw, 1981). When political opportunities are only available to a certain group of people in the society, then other individuals will use terrorism acts to obtain political power. This is a case where by politicians who obtain power in the wrong manner end up being killed in terrorism. When individuals are not in support of the governance of a country, they tend to engage in terrorism acts in order to eliminate the individuals in leadership. This can also be referred to as anti-democracy. When there are a large number of weaknesses in a democratic government, terrorism is bound to increase. This is because; democracy involves a lot of openness, which makes terrorists to be in possession of information that they can use to plan terrorism attacks. Effects of Terrorism Terrorism is normally directed at disrupting and disorganizing government procedures in a country. It weakens and damages the operations of leadership in a country (Houle, 2005). This is because; it weakens political and administrative forces in a country. Therefore, terrorism demoralizes government operations and control in a country. For instance, in the year 1919, a terrorist attack against the British intelligence by Michael Collins caused a lot of disruption and loss of control in the Britain government (King & National Foreign Assessment Center (U.S.), United States, 1979). In addition, terrorism causes critical unrest and disagreements among the public and politicians. This is because, when a country is faced with terrorism attacks, the citizens tend to think that the government is not effective in provision of security. Therefore, a country facing terrorism is likely to face more disagreements among the people (Davis, Rand Corporation, & National Institute of Justice (U.S.), 2010). Terrorism also causes poor economic performance in a country, and failure to achieve the set economic goals. This is because; it causes destruction of property, and disruption of economic activities. For instance, the bombing of the World Trade Center in the year 1993 caused the United States to fall back in its economy (United States, 2009). This is because; the bombing had caused most of the economic activities to stop. Therefore, the GDP of the country is also likely to fall. This is because; politicians have to divert their attention to other issues such as security and governance. In addition, terrorism also causes governments to be reluctant to join world trade markets. This is because; the country fears that its merchants might be attacked while conducting the trade operations (Richardson, 2006). Solutions to terrorism Although many countries have tried to solve terrorism to no avail, terrorism can be reduced through a number of factors. For instance, equality in a country should be increased in order to ensure that the number of dissatisfied persons in a country is reduced. When people in a country feel that they are being treated fairly, then they will not cause terrorism acts. Therefore, the more equality in a country, the more the peaceful will be the citizens (Jenkins, Godges & Dobbins, 2011). In the case of political dissatisfaction, individuals should be accorded equal political opportunities. This way, every person will be capable of participating in the politics of the country. Therefore, people will not use terrorism to obtain political power in a country. In addition, countries will also have effective leaders since; leaders will not fight to obtain power in the wrong manner. Countries should also ensure that they are well governed with high security levels in order to ensure that terrorists from outside countries will not attack them (Jenkins, Godges & Dobbins, 2011). This is because; with a tight security level in the country, every part will be well governed such that; the possibility of attacks will be minimal. Security persons employed in a country should also be well qualified and experienced in order to defend the country effectively. In addition, highly qualified persons will also be able to ascertain possibilities of terrorism attacks. This is because; most security forces have poor intelligence units and thus, they are ambushed by terrorist attacks in the last minute. The intelligence level in a country should be well organized such that; plans by enemies are well studied. The level of secrecy in the political governance of a country should also be well manned. This is because; terrorist attacks normally occur due to leakage of important information to outside forces. Terrorists use inside information about a country to plan the way in which they will attack. Therefore, if information of a country is not leaked from the country, the possibility of terrorism attacks will be highly reduced (Sauter & Carafano, 2005). Formulation and implementation of effective rules in a country will also reduce terrorism in a country. A country should ensure that it has rules that determine immigrants who get into the country. This is because; some of the immigrants to a country are normally terrorists. Therefore, persons entering a country should be well scrutinized to ensure that terrorists do not enter the country without being noticed. For instance, since the visa laws in United States were tightened, very few people could obtain a passport and visa to the United States. Therefore, this made it hard for terrorists to enter the country (Sauter & Carafano, 2005). Conclusion In conclusion, it is clear that terrorism in countries mainly arises due to political crises. In addition, terrorism is very harmful to the political, economic and social environment of a country. Therefore, countries should find a way in which they can eliminate terrorism from their operations. This is because; terrorism will limit the growth and development in a country. In addition, the level of peace among the people will also reduce when the level of terrorism among the people increases. Therefore, terrorism can be reduced by controlling inequality in the country. Bibliography Al-Thagafi, A., & Army War College (U.S.) (2008). Causes and possible solutions to the Middle East terrorism. Carlisle Barracks, Pa: U.S. Army War College. Bjorgo, T. (2005). Root causes of terrorism: Myths, reality and ways forward. London: Routledge. Crenshaw, M. (1981). The Causes of Terrorism. Comparative Politics, 13(4), 379-399. Davis, L. M., Rand Corporation, & National Institute of Justice (U.S.) (2010). Long-term effects of law enforcement's post-9/11 focus on counterterrorism and homeland security. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corp. Houle, M. (2005). Terrorism. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. Jenkins, B. M., Godges, J., & Dobbins, J. (2011). The long shadow of 9/11: America's response to terrorism. Santa Monica, CA: RAND. King, J. K., & National Foreign Assessment Center (U.S.), United States (1979). International political effects of the spread of nuclear weapons. Washington: National Foreign Assessment Center, Central Intelligence Agency. Richardson, L. (2006). The roots of terrorism. New York: Routledge. Sauter, M., & Carafano, J. J. (2005). Homeland security: A complete guide to understanding, preventing, and surviving terrorism. New York: McGraw-Hill. Scherer, L. S. (2005). Terrorism. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. United States (2009). Federal Prison Industries: Examining the effects of section 827 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 : hearing before the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Tenth Congress, second session, May 6, 2008. Washington: U.S. G.P.O. Read More