International Politics - Research Paper Example

International Politics: The Future of Terrorism, New Trends and Developments and Registration Number The of the Field of Study Name of the Supervisor November 22, 2014 Abstract According to Tom Quiggin, an editor with the Global Brief, terrorism is an integral part in international politics. Since time immemorial different groups mainly the ones that are opposed to a given rule or the government that is in power use terror activities as a way of discrediting the government and show how it has failed. In the recent times, terrorism has been used as a tool of revenge against the oppression done to a given community, religion or race. The same way it is difficult to distinguish terrorism from politics it’s equally hard to distinguish it from religion. Religious intolerance has been quoted as one of the major factors facilitating the growth of terrorism in the twentieth and twenty first century. Indridi Indridason, a professor of political science, University of Oxford explains that terrorism has a great impact on domestic politics as well as international politics. Using terror groups to accomplish some mischievous mandates has been a common practice in many countries since the French revolution. Understanding how the terror groups work and the strategies they use in inflicting fear and intimidating citizens is important in learning the trends that terrorism has adopted and how sophisticated and uncontrollable it is of late. Keywords: Terror groups, Foreign Policies, Politically Motivated Violence. Introduction This research was done to understand the working of the terror groups and the methods they use to accomplish their political ambitions and interests. As stated earlier many terror groups constitutes of individuals who are against or resisting a given rule. To prove that the given government is failing to work for the people, they engage in activities such as killing civilians to show the failure in offering security to the society. In some cases an individual who did not participate in the planning or the execution of the terror activities uses the activities to benefit his quest to lead the people. For instance in 2001, there were twin attacks in New York and Washington DC which resulted in the loss of huge numbers of innocent citizens. In the elections that followed, Bloomberg used the issue to promise people security and address the issue of terrorism thereby earning himself the position of the mayor. George Bush in the elections that followed also embarked on the issue of terrorism as one of his key agendas in his manifesto. Since the people were totally scared and a repeat of such an attack was not anything anyone would like dreaming of, anyone offering a solution could earn cheap votes. Terrorism has evolved greatly to be what it is today. In the 19th century it was easy to perform terror activities since it was easy to travel and get to the destination without being identified. The instruments used to detect explosives and other firearms that are employed in terror activities were not invented and so it was totally hard to control it. In the period that followed, terror activities were conducted by use of spies who had a great impact in the activities. Today, the attacks are mainly done using aircrafts to increase the damage caused also because it is easy to access the target locations by the use of aircrafts (Harwood, n.d). These changing trends have made it hard to control the terror activities and address the problem as a whole. Terror Groups World War I and World War II saw the colonial powers losing their grip on many of their colonies as the countries achieved independence and they started to run their own affairs without depending on their colonial masters. However, in many of the countries, these colonial powers had vested interests in the countries and though they left the countries, they ensured that the leadership was taken by neo-colonialists who were easy to manipulate and endorse the mandate of the colonialists. This led to the formation of anti-government groups who felt that the people who were in power were not leading in the right way and other issues such as division and distribution of national resources ought to have been done in a different way apart from that one that was being applied. Therefore, in the years that followed the struggle for independence the terror groups were mainly formed by minority groups who felt that they could not employ the right channels to table their grievances (Global focus, n.d). The drawing of state boundaries such as the one that happened with the Kurds who were distributed among Iraq, Iran and Turkey despite having been promised a state by the colonialists. Such minor groups can decide that since they cannot raise a leader democratically, they can employ terror strategies to impose their rules. In the drawing of the state boundaries the western colonial powers paid no attention to religious demographics which has emerged to be a great problem in the 20th and 21st century. Religious intolerance has been seen in many regions and the killings going on in Nigerian where the terror group-the Boko Haram which is constituted of Muslim radicals has been using terror strategies to discredit the government of the current president Goodluck Jonathan. Such actions are seen where the minority groups feel that they are not well represented in the ruling government. The developing countries have had a great problem distributing the available resources and balancing between different ethnic and religious groups. In countries like Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq such problems have led to the formation of terror groups from the groups who feel that their enemies are taking more than their share of the national resources. America has found itself in the wrong side of the terrorists for trying to side with the anti-terror groups and retain sanity where it has been lost. This happened in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was ousted from power and also in Afghanistan. The recent actions in Egypt and Libya also placed the United States in an awkward position and a ready target for the terror groups. Terrorism Today As indicated earlier in the work, terrorism has evolved greatly to be what it is today. In the earlier days, the only things one had problems acquiring were identification documents which could still get forged and one gets ferried to the target location. In the current days, identification documents include biometric parameters such as fingerprints and in some cases the iris may be used to prove ones identity. In some regions where terrorism is still prevalent such as in Somalia, a country in East Africa, the terrorists still have the chance of living there without having to identify themselves since they have overpowered the past regimes since the fall of the country in the early 1990s. The developments in identification have helped in curbing the use of counterfeit documents to access various locations in the world (Stewart, 2012). In 1992, there was a rare case when Ahmed Ajaj known to be the lead bomb engineer with the Al Qaeda terror group was put in police custody having been found trying to get through the immigration department at John F. Kennedy International Airport which showed that there was an advancement in verifying fake documents in such airports. The major problem that has been encountered lately is the use of clean skin operatives who are individuals who have the valid travel documents who are used to execute terror activities. Some of them carry explosives well hidden in their clothes or some can even swallow them. Manipulation of pilots and forcing the aircrafts to crash on given buildings is another development executed by clean skin operatives (Stewart, 2012). Evolution in the use of explosives in terror attacks started in around the 17th century when a plot to destroy the British Parliament became unsuccessful. In 1867, another great invention was made in the development of the dynamite. Dynamites were used by different groups to execute train robberies and this acted as the source of income for the terrorists. The 20th century and the 21st century saw the greatest developments in the industry with the development of explosives that could be used to cause mass destruction some of which could be delivered without the need of a human personnel. The inventions in the industry have been both advantageous and disadvantageous to both sides i.e. the terror and anti-terror organs. This is because the developments occur concurrently. The terror groups receive heavy funding from different concealed sources which helps them in the execution of their activities. The heads of the terror groups are also highly educated and experienced (Stewart, 2012). A good example is Osama bin Laden who was the head of Al Qaeda until his death. He had worked in the United States for a long time and so he had great understanding of the region and the formation of the security organs in the country (Hoffman, 1990). This is what he was using to hit back at them. According to Harwood, the computer era came to totally bring a revolution in terrorism. The ability of locating terrorists using the computer technology resulted in a decrease in terror activities and the hiding of many leaders of the terror groups. The sending of their information was also hindered a great deal as they could not use the available avenues for the fear of being located. This did not deter their activities as they have improvised new ways of sending their messages and communicating without being located (ITAC, 2006). The major trend that has been seen is a drop in terror attacks in the West due to the tight security measures that have been put in place. The Western powers have invested billions of dollars to curb terrorism and bring the largest terror group Al Qaeda to its knees. They have made great developments in this and the result has been that the terror groups are now focusing on doing the attacks in their local regions without focusing on the international arena. Africa has been hit significantly by terrorism with countries such as Nigeria and Somalia having been the most hit. Suicide bombers are bombing hotels and bus parks daily leading to the deaths of many people. On top of this in the Eastern Indian Ocean Coast the terror groups have been hijacking ships and then demanding for ransom to release them. This has been curbed and the fall of terrorism is not far from being over. The major terror group in this region is the Al Shabaab an allied group to the Al Qaeda. Adaptive Capabilities of the Terror Groups The terror groups have been able to maneuver in the changing times and still remain a great threat to international security. Their use of new technologies and the adaptation of the emerging ones have been their main adaptive feature to avoid their elimination. The terrorists rarely admit defeat. After being dismantled they recollect themselves and strike back. Lack of standard laws to govern terrorism has been a major boost to the activity of the terrorists. Recommendations Terrorism is a global problem that needs the effort of all stake holders affected to address. Over the years, it has been hard to distinguish terrorism and religious radicalism which has made innocent people to be victimized. More resources needs to be pumped into the terror affected regions and outsmart the terrorists both in numbers and ammunition. The damage they cause cannot be equated to the resources that can be used to totally suppress them and halt their activities. It is equally important to understand the formation of terror groups and their functioning to be able to address the problem comprehensively. Conclusion Curbing terrorism has been one of the greatest challenges in 21st century. This has been complicated by the new trends and the developments in technology that are popping up with each new day. However, with the resources that have been put in position to address the issue there has been a notable decrease in the number of terror attacks from 2001 to 2011 when the last comprehensive analysis was done. According to the study there were 40 terror attacks in 2001 and the number had decreased to 9 in 2011 which was a significant decrease (Rivinus, 2013). The terror groups are however resilient and they are still executing their mandates in the countries where the governments cannot control them such as Nigeria and Somalia. According to Bott (2009), they recruit and radicalize young youth whom they use in their operations. Cited Works Bott, Catherine et al. Recruitment and Radicalization of School Aged Youth by International Terrorist Groups, Homeland Security Institute, 2009. Available at. http://cleanitproject.eu/files/95.211.138.23/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2009- recruitment-and-radicalization.pdf> Global focus. International Terrorism: Cause, Effect, and the Search for Solutions. n.d. Available at.< http://www.globalfocus.org/GF-Terrorism.htm> Harwood, Mathew. Trends in Terrorism Targets, International Homeland Security. 2014. Available at. Hoffman, Bruce. Recent Trends and Future Prospects of Terrorism in the United States. 1990. Available at. ITAC. Trends in terrorism Series: A Framework for Understanding Terrorist Use of the Internet. 2006. Available at. Rivinus, Jessica, S. Trends in Terrorism in the U.S.: New Report Analyzes Terrorist Attack Data 1970-2011. National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and responses to Terrorism. 2013. Available at. Stewart, Scott. Evolution and Trends in terrorism Tradecraft. Star for Global Intelligence. 2012. Available at. Terrorism Research. Future trends in Terrorism. Available at. Read More