Chinas Conflicts To Achieve Democracy - Essay Example

China’s conflicts to achieve democracy Introduction: Conflict has become increasingly common in the world today and the phenomenal success of the terrorist attack of 9/11 appears to have set a precedent for the emergence of a new and disturbing trend – the threat posed to the world through terrorist attacks. The problem of dealing with terrorist attacks and arriving at a resolution to the problem is a complex one, because terrorists operate in isolated, individual “cells” where there is no network or chain of command; rather individual groups of terrorists work together, so that it is difficult to assert any measures of effective control over them.

The challenge: The unprecedented terrorist attack on 9/11 in the United States was followed four years later by successful terrorist attacks in London, on July 7, 2005 and an attempted attack on July 21, 2005 (Landman, 2007:84-85). The attack of 9/11 was an unprecedented attack, wherein the scale of damages was so high that it resulted in thousands of deaths and the twin towers of the World Trade Centre came crashing down. It has also generated a spate of successive terrorist attacks that were smaller in scale but nevertheless posed the danger of loss of life to thousands of innocent civilians.

Globalization has also made it easier for militants and rebels across the globe to gain access to weapons and the Internet and means of technology anonymously, and at low cost, which ha sonly worsened the scale of attacks. The Solution: It has been argued that Britain is a democracy and liberal democracies are more susceptible to such attacks because of their open nature (Enders and Sandler, 2005:25-27). Consequently, in the face of such a grave threat to the country and to provide protection from potential terrorist attacks in the future, some restrictions on civil liberties may be justified (Eyerman, 1998).

Enders and Sandler have provided a formal model illustrating the terrorism damage which may counterbalance the restriction on civil liberties (Enders and Sandler, 2005:34). Campbell and Connolly argue that a revised framework of the law, which allows a greater degree of power to law enforcement agencies, will be able to achieve anti terrorist benefits (Campbell and Connelly,2006). There are various legal provisions addressing terrorism which have been instituted across the globe in order to try and deal with the threat posed by terrorism, under these legal provisions, measures have been instituted to identify terrorists, to crack down on individuals who might be suspected of terrorism and limit or restrict access to weapons of terror.

At the same time, members of the police all over the world are being provided with additional training in dealing with terror attacks like terror attacks using gas and similar. These measures have been somewhat successful, so it may be necessary to continue these measures more effectively for the long term. The role of the media: The media can play a significant role in alleviating the problems associated with terrorism, by promoting the desired message to members of the public. For instance, newspapers have a large scale access to customers and most of the public attitudes towards different issues is formed as a result of the coverage received through the media (Guttman, 1954).

The availability of the tools of technology via the Internet also provides a means to reach masses all over the world instantly and inexpensively to flash news, warnings and information. The Internet contributes to the increase in terrorist incidents because it allows terrorists to propagate their message cheaply over the electronic medium to thousands of people across the globe. But it also enables anti terrorist measures to be implemented more effectively, because it enhances communication and provides a medium for Government, police and other authorities to communicate directly with members of the public without much waste of time, which could come in very useful in the case of an imminent attack.

Thus, the media could be used to address the threat of terrorism by providing as effective means of fast and reliable communication to large masses of people across the world. References: Campbell, C and Connolly, I, 2006. “Making war on terror”, 69, Modern Law Review, 935, 2006. Enders and T. Sandler, 2005. “The political Economy of Terrorism”, Cambridge University Press Eyerman, J, 1998. “Terrorism and Democratic states”, 24, International Interactions, p 151-170 T. Landman, T, 2007.

“The United Kingdom: The Continuity of Terror and Counterterro” Gaia Books, p 84 -85.