Terrorism and Political Violence - Article Example

Terrorism and Political Violence Name Institution Date Terrorism and Political Violence Defining Terrorism Terrorism may be described as substantial threat to both democratic freedoms and rights of individual. Terrorism is considered as an act that threatens human life as terrorists will stop at nothing to create disorder and destroy lives in the society. The definition of terrorism is relative and varies from circumstances and situations (Cooper, 2001). The September 11 attacks on both the world trade centre and Pentagon should be considered a terrorist attack. It was considered as the worst siege of terrorism in the American history. The attack paralysed security, businesses and normal operations in America. The world trade centre and the Pentagon were regarded as a densely populated area as most businesses were conducted there. Hence the September 11 attack is considered as a terrorist attack as it posed as a threat to democratic and rights of an individual. The attack further led to loss of thousands of innocent lives and destruction of property. In addition to the attack being regarded as terrorist attack the terrorist group led by Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility of the attack (Mahan & Griset. 2008). Terrorism is also described as a form of political violence that is employed for the purpose of settling or achieving political goal. In relation to the above definition the use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the World War II is considered an act of terrorism. The atomic bombs were used on Japan to make the Japanese surrender. The nuclear weapons used on the two Japanese cities wiped out about 90% of the cities population and its effects are being felt up to date. The use of nuclear weapons is therefore considered as a terrorism act as lives and property were lost for achievement of political gain. It is further argued that even Japan would have surrender without the use of nuclear weapons. The Holocaust involved the systematic, bureaucratic, state sponsored persecution and murder of millions Jews by the Nazi regime. In this case the holocaust is considered as a form of terrorism for the fact there were loss of millions of lives for political gain (Crenshaw, 1998). Definitional problems According to Taylor there are various types of definition of Terrorism in the society. He further defined terrorism according to three perspectives that involves legitimate, ethical and behavioural approaches. In regards to the legitimate definition of terrorism Taylor argues that terrorism is defined in terms of law. The definition of terrorism in a legitimate approach varies considerably across states or even different jurisdictions within a similar country. Hence terrorism is well-defined by lawmakers and the implicating political associations. Taylor further defined terrorism in relation to the underlying moral standards in the society. For this reason terrorism is determined on whether certain acts are morally reasonable or not. Therefore some particular terrorism acts may be considered illegal but seen as being morally justified. Terrorism definition is therefore based on varied perspectives. In conclusion Taylor defined terrorism in a behavioural perspective that emphasis is placed on the acts. Therefore in this case whenever the behavioural perspective is engaged in the definition of terrorism a similar conclusion is usually arrived at regardless of either, political, religious or ideological standpoints (Mahan & Griset. 2008). The third category of the definition of terrorism based on behavioural perspective is regarded as a better definition when thinking about terrorism. This is due to the fact that the behavioural perspective defined terrorism in terms of acts. This category defines terrorism in terms of acts in such a way that regardless of an individual viewpoint the conclusion is usually similar as opposed to the other categories whereby the conclusion is usually relative to the individual’s viewpoint in defining terrorism (Crenshaw, 1998). Reference Mahan, S. and P. Griset. 2008. Terrorism in Perspective. 2nd Edition. Sage Publications: California. Crenshaw, M. 1998. The Logic of Terrorism: Terrorist Behaviour as a Product of Strategic Choice. In Mahan, S. and P. Griset. 2008. 24-33. Terrorism in Perspective. Sage Publications: California. Cooper, H. 2001. Terrorism: The Problem of Definition Revisited. In Mahan, S. and P. Griset. 2008. 15-23. Terrorism in Perspective. Sage Publications: California Historical Waves of Modern Terrorism The current wave of terrorism that is also referred to the forth wave of terrorism is stated as Islamic fundamentalist terrorism. It is believed to have begun with the 1979 Iranian revolution that followed the generation of the Islamic state in the Middle East. Furthermore the conquest of the Soviet army in Afghanistan and the breakdown of the Soviet world sow the believe in the Islamic fundamentalists that the superpower had been overpowered. It is therefore in this setting that Osama bin Laden and al-Qa’ida developed. These groups had a sole objective of overthrowing Arab governments that were not being governed by Islamic religious decrees and pursue to substitute these governments with Islamic establishments. In the process animosity was formed against the Western governments predominantly the Unites States. The purpose of the Islamic fundamentalist was therefore to punish the West that represented evil as opposed to the previous forms of terror that emphasized on transformations in society. Suicide bombing that involves the risk of one’s life to attain a particular goal was also introduced in the fourth wave of terrorism. The emergence of religion as a separate validation for contemporary terrorism was experienced in the fourth wave as opposed to the previous waves whereby religion in most cases coincided with the struggle for national liberation. Religion today forms the central goal for achieving terrorism undertakings. However this is far from implying that it is only the Islamic faith that exploits terrorism in a bid to attain religious objectives. The fourth wave of terrorism also in attempt to achieve mass causalities engages in indiscriminative targeting (Mahan & Griset 2008). New Age Terrorism It is evident that terrorism activities have undergone a wide range of transformation. The changes have resulted from new forms of technologies and changes in both ideological and belief systems. In this sense September 11 was the start of a new age of terrorism due to the technology advancement with the use of airliners in the terror attack. In addition the September 11 terror attack was done indiscriminately for the purpose of achieving mass causalities. This is evident for the fact that there was thousands loss of lives in the terror attack. The target is also selected in relation to their representation with the case of World Trade Centre and Pentagon. The victims of the attack are also chosen randomly as the victims are regarded to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The random choices further instil a lot of fear and threat to the population. The new age terrorism also views the society in its totality as being corrupt as opposed to the ruling class in the society. It is as a result of this notion that the entire Western world is regarded as being evil and corrupt. The idea of indiscriminate mass causality terrorism was developed for the fact of punishing the entire society as it is considered as being evil and corrupt. This was applied in the September 11 attacks where innocent lives were lost as a result of terrorism acts. The new forms of terrorism come with changes in technology and the fear that the attack instils on the population as evident in the September 11 terrorism attack. Furthermore the entire American society was targeted as it was regarded as being evil and therefore need to be punished through the terror attack that would ensure that there was mass loss of lives and property. Reference Martin, G. 2003. Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives, and Issues. Sage Publications: California. Mahan, S. and P. Griset. (2008). Terrorism in Perspective. 2ndEdition. Sage Publications: California. Media Tactic used by Terrorists The media has given terrorism great concerns in terms of reporting. In return media reports in regards to terrorism are considered as a subtle tactic of terrorism. The media forms an institution that is generally designed with the sole purpose of informing citizens of a free and democratic world of upcoming events globally. These media reports enable individuals within the society to actively participate in social, economic and political decisions affecting their daily lives on how their society should be governed in relation to democratic principles. Terrorists on the other hand take advantage of the situation and due to the terrorist activities gather a unlimited media responsiveness. In the process the media may end up back up on the aims and objectives of terrorists by disseminating their message and conveying terrorist’s political protests into the public limelight. In some instances the media may be used to spread propaganda that forms central component of terrorism (Josephi, 2004). Furthermore be developing reports on terrorist incident the media may involuntarily instil fear of terrorism across the world which is what terrorist sought to achieve. Terrorism often uses the factor of terrorist’s activities in a bid to instil a lot of fear among the population in the society. In relation to the above explanation of how terrorists engage the media for their own benefit it is important to the government of the day to censor the media especially in emergency situations whereby the public need to be informed of a particular occurrence. The government should not censor the entire media reports but only those reports that can be considered as being used by terrorists to their advantage. This is due to the facts that during extreme emergency situation terrorists often use the media as a stage to air their grievances. Measures should be put into place to ensure that what the media reports does not benefit the terrorists or used as a platform to air their grievances and instil fear in the society (Bunker, 2005). Technology and Terrorism With the advent of new technologies terrorists have utilized these technologies with the aim of making their attacks more efficient. In the contemporary world innovations as the use of internet technology has transformed terrorist’s potentials to great lengths. The use of internet has further made terrorism activities expand in terms of its scope and easily carried out. The internet as a form of decentred linkage system is generally utilized efficiently as a communication device. Through the use of internet disparate points can be linked globally almost promptly and the passage of information between two different points is usually very quick. Information in form of manuals. Attack plans or coded messages often used by terrorists can be conveyed through the use of internet as a form of technology (Mahan and Griset 2008). Cyberspace is in most times cheaper in terms of accessibility and provides a higher level of anonymity for individuals carrying out such activities. Terrorists in most cases take advantage of internet chat places that can be accessed through public internet spaces due to the level of anonymity. Furthermore the internet can be used efficiently as a stage that terrorists can use as a form of launching digital terrorist outbreak. This type of terrorist attack can be in form of an attack that can cause major destructions to the infrastructure for instance economic, communication and transport systems. This would in turn exhibit a significant effect on the population thus leading to violence. In this case the technological innovations coupled with the advantages of internet provide an excellent example for ways through which terrorists attain advantages in the mode of their operations. Through the use of internet in an attack, terrorists would be developing susceptibilities in the society in which they aim while using the dependence of the society in the process of targeting computers and microelectronic communications (Mahan and Griset 2008). References Bunker, R. 2005. Introduction and Overview: Why Response Networks? In Bunker, R. 2005. Xx-1. Networks, Terrorism and Global Insurgency. Routledge: Oxon. Mahan, S. and P. Griset. (2008). Terrorism in Perspective. 2ndEdition. Sage Publications: California. Josephi, B. 2004. Media Terrorism or Culture of Peace: Reporting September 11. In Venkatraman, S. 2004. 34-53. Media in a Terrorised World: Reflections in the Wake of 911. Eastern Universities Press: Singapore. Control Orders and Preventive Detention Individual’s freedom within the society is intended to be restricted through the use of a control order. A control order restricts an individual in terms of their activities, movement and their associations. In other instances individuals may be required to wear some tracking devices that will help in monitoring their movements and associations or further report to the police on a regular basis. The existence of such orders that curtail an individual freedom can be associated with home detention or parole and yet the individual has neither been charged nor convicted. Furthermore for such orders to be implemented an individual must be perceived or suspected to engage in terrorists activities and therefore such an order imposed to prevent a terrorist act. In this case a control order may be faced by the above challenges in its implementation. The laws that support the existence of a control order in a bid to control terrorists activities has received a lot of criticisms due to the fact that a control order curtails the basic freedom of an individual that the constitution provides for. The control order curtails the basic rights of freedom of movement, speech and association. Furthermore no due process of the law is followed in the process of restricting individual freedom and rights. In addition there is no evidence of individuals participating in terrorism acts for the control order to be implemented. In this case innocent individual’s basic freedom is restricted by the control order. In my opinion such control orders are not necessary in a war or terror situation due to the above discussed reasons pertaining to an individual’s basic freedom (Mahan and Griset 2008). Expanding the Definition of Terrorism In my opinion radical environmental groups should be regarded as terrorist groups due to their acts and cause or fear to the entire population. The radical environmental groups for instance Earth Liberation Front has proven to cause fear and intimidate human population to the extent of use of violence means to articulate their grievances. Environmental groups are formed with a sole aim of protecting the ecology against destruction. The code of ethics that govern these environmental groups stipulates that they are not to injure or create harm against individuals or the wider population. In these sense their activities can be termed as eco terrorism in its own perspective. In this sense the activities of the radical environmentalist causes the population to rebel against certain policies that are termed as a threat to the ecological balance. Therefore as much as they as they advocate for environmental conservation they intimidate the wider population while labelling those who do not protect the environment as evil and destructive to the environment at large. Such resistance to the policies that are deemed as not co friendly are challenged by radical environmentalist while pursuing change in terms of ecology creates fear and discontent in the population at large. In relation to radical environmentalists the definition of terrorism is relative in its definition as some radical environmentalists instil fear to the population in the process of advocating for ecology conservation through their acts and the means of articulating their grievances (Vanderheiden, 2005). Reference Mahan, S. and P. Griset. (2008). Terrorism in Perspective. 2ndEdition. Sage Publications: California. Vanderheiden, S. 2005. Eco-Terrorism or Justified Resistance? Radical Environmentalism and the ‘War onTerror’. In Mahan, S. and P. Griset. 2008. 204-218. Terrorism in Perspective. Sage Publications: California. International Counterterrorism The war against terrorism for its effectiveness to be achieved should not be fought only according to domestic standards but should be extended to international sphere. Therefore there is need to create initiatives that will make terrorism an international concern for its success to be achieved. More emphasis should be placed on international counterterrorism for long lasting effects to be realized. In this context Australia and America should not be the only countries fighting the war against terror but cooperation of other nations plays a central role for the war to be won. Efforts to counteract terrorism universally are done through various methods such as diplomacy, negotiation, military intervention and multilateral cooperation that involve cooperation between different governments with the use of agents such as the United Nations (UN). Generally two major military interventions have been staged internationally; Iraq and Afghanistan. In my opinion the use of military interventions to counter terrorists activities is likely to be productive due to the fact that both national and international security are considered to be effectively achieved through the use of armies that are vested with the responsibilities of protecting states against threats posed by terrorists. The police, military and foreign intelligence institutions traditionally were designed with the aim of preventing threats and therefore can effectively handle terror threat. Traditional institutions such as the UN pose not to have the necessary capacity in preventing terrorism while addressing the threats that terrorism pose. There the only effective way of counteracting terrorism activities is through the military who possess the require skills and knowledge in the fight against terrorism (Mahan & Griset 2008). Victory on the War on Terror It is argued that the war on terror cannot be simply be won in the traditional sense of an enemy’s surrender, the capture of the enemy territory, or the exhaustion of an enemy’s military definition due to varied definitions of terrorism. Furthermore the existence of inconsistent network forms of organizations is challenging to counter. Success in the war against terrorism is therefore not trusted on terms such as adversary and conquest to determine the success on the war against terror. Hence the enemy in a form of a network will be unlikely to pronounce surrender and in this sense the capture of a territory will not mark the end of war in totality. Therefore the main fact in the war against terrorism is that victory will mean the management of terrorism and the cooperation of various states in the fight against terrorism for effective war to be waged against terrorism. An effective management of the war against terrorism will only be achieved through the cooperation of worldwide states as opposed to the traditional notion of the enemy surrender as the enemy has no option of surrender (Arquilla & Ronfeldt 2005). References Arquilla, J. and D. Ronfeldt. (2005). Netwar Revisited: The fight for the Future Continues. In Bunker, R. 2005. 8-19. Networks, Terrorism and Global Insurgency.Routledge: Oxon. Mahan, S. and P. Griset. (2008). Terrorism in Perspective. 2ndEdition. Sage Publications: California. Read More