Terrorism Causes and Motivations and Recommendations - Coursework Example

Terrorism: Causes, Motivations and Recommendations A Review of the Literature College Terrorism: Causes, Motivations and Recommendations Introduction In the past two days, Floola suffered suicide bombing, leading to the death hundreds of people. The attack could be associated with the cordial relationship of Floola with the United States of America, religious extremism and wayward individual beliefs. Floola, a tiny country in southern East Asia enjoys a stable and largely peaceful government. Floola is predominantly Muslim, with a peaceful coexistence of other religions (Horgan, 2009, p. 81). Terrorist entails any plan to raise unnecessary fears and exert economic social and economic control. Being a global issue, the understanding of the main motivators and causes of the attack is critical and necessary as it can help in offering an effective solution to the problem. Therefore, the attack in Floola can be squarely associated with existing cordial relationship of Floola with United States of America as well as wayward individual beliefs and religious extremism. Moreover, adequate understanding of individual, groups/ national issues as well as international stages can aid in reducing the ever increasing terrorism impacts. Terrorism: Causes and Motivations In the analysis of terrorist attacks in Floola, it is complex to draw a line between the causes, motivations, and reasons behind these attacks. The four facets of terrorism are intertwined and it may be hard to distinguish. The motivations and causes of terrorist attacks in Floola can be studied in three main stages, international, national or group level as well as individual level (Yaqub, 2005, p. 67). Individual Causes Referring to the theory of frustration-aggression, terrorist aggressions are driven by the existing discrepancies between human demands and fulfillment of the demands. In most cases, terrorist groups address their unfulfilled demands through such activities as physical and psychological violence. The attack in Floola may be influenced by a need to fulfill unmet needs and for identity purposes. Conventionally, terrorists are absolutely loyal to their sponsoring networks and willing to commit crimes of any nature to protect their religion, language, native homeland, and group membership. Mostly, families affiliated to terrorist networks are held hostage to affirm their commitment to the group. Therefore, the attack in Floola can as well be associated with an attempt to protect the Muslim religion in the country. Additionally, terrorist group leaders are often driven by extremist political ambitions. A good number of terrorists or terrorism sponsors have made prosperous transition from terrorist group leaders to political leaders. These leaders are well educated and have prosperous families and intra-global investments networks. As a result, these leaders may have used their political powers, flourishing business connections and intelligence to motivate terrorist attack in Floola. National or Group Level Terrorism Specified groups, national institutions and social systems play a critical role in provoking terrorist activities. Frustrations caused by increasing basic need deprivations at individual level can lead to creation of criminal organizations (Shchedrovitsky, 2005, p. 89). The emergence of modern terrorist attacks can historically be likened to the emergence of liberal states. This is due to the fact that, most of the anarchist terrorists are mostly associated with “Propaganda of the Deed”. Terrorism in Floola can be taken as advocacy activities for propagating anarchist message to the general public by creating terror on the people and the government to create a socio-political insecurity in the country. Religious beliefs also play an exceptionally essential role in the promotion, motivation, legitimization and increasing the intensity of criminal activities in the world. In the case of Floola, religious beliefs may have contributed and legitimized the attack through imposition of religious ideologies, ritualistic scriptures and manipulated theology to the terrorist groups. Religious terrorist groups are commonly referred to as fundamentalists. Religious fundamentalists are often driven by the belief that religion requires them to act violently and cause a disruption of stable political systems to fulfill certain religious undertakings. International Level The existing interconnectivity in the global system can be a catalyzing factor in the execution of global terrorism since technology allows terrorists to access faraway places like Floola. Terrorist groups receive support from powerful global organizations to achieve specific political, social, and economic goals. Additionally, the transnational terrorist organizations do not get resources or official support from any nation. Rather most of their resources and support are acquired from membership resources or from international support groups or forced taxation from their areas of operation. Additionally, capitalism and socialism have also contributed to the increased acts of terrorism as against the United States of America and its allies against the war on terror (Cronin, 2004, p. 37). The United States of America is loathed by fundamentalists for propagating capitalist ideologies as opposed to socialist ideologies that are embraced by most terrorist groups. Moreover, the superpower status of the United States of America has attracted more enemies and resentment than admiration. Policies and Recommendation As demonstrated in the Floola incident, modern terrorist groups are more structured, well equipped and more professional. These networks of death are ready and committed to pursuing more operational risks including forfeiting their own live as in case of Floola bombings. The most effective mechanism to counter the tactics of the modern terrorist groups is to dismantle their disposal points through sabotage, psychological disturbance, use of technology and mass media to campaign against all forms of extremism (Townsend, 2005, p. 47) The Role of the Mass Media Terrorists often measure the success of their operations through the casualties incurred and the level of attention the various attacks attract from the media (Coffin, 2007, p. 97). Since terrorism in Floola is a violent means aimed at destabilizing the psychological stability of the citizens, the mass media should treat the news of the attack with contempt to reduce the spread of the intended terror on the public. To reduce the impact of terrorists’ attack in Floola, the mass media should reduce the coverage of terrorist ideologies and propaganda in a manner that satisfies the terrorists’ ego while terrifying the public. Instead, the mass media should use their popularity to condemn the terrorists’ attacks and ideologies. Technology The current technological advancements have enabled terrorist groups to be exceptionally destructive and precise in their attacks. The terrorists in Floola used explosives to stage massive attacks on targets that would otherwise be impossible to attack by simple suicide bombers. Influential institutions and countries should discourage the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction such as radiological agents’ as well chemical and biological weapon since most of these weapons can advance terrorist activities on a larger and more destructive proportion. Psychology and Drugs Terrorist groups in Floola used psychological entities to support their objectives and achievements. Terrorist groups also get most of their resources from illegal drug businesses. As such, the international security agencies should come up with strict policies to diminish markets for deadly and addictive drugs. Moreover, psychiatric treatments intended to facilitate terrorist and autocratic objectives should be condemned by executive organizations and health professionals. Sabotage Terrorist groups employ sabotage tricks such as destruction of loading areas, railroads, airports, and communication networks to destabilize economic activities. To achieve success in offsetting terrorist activities in stable countries like Floola, all players must come up with effective strategies to minimize criminal, economic, social and political sabotage. Conclusion To understand and address the terrorist attack in Floola, the country and global entities ought to understand the reasons behind the attacks as well as the most effective policy to counter future reputation. A strictly offensive approach to terrorist groups is vital and paramount. The war on terrorism can also be won through strategies that will win the wits and perceptions of the terrorist groups. This can be attained through collective rectification of historical injustices that propel people to join the terrorist networks in the first place. References Coffin, B. (2007). Terrorism in 2005. Journals of Risk Management 52(1) 34-39. Cronin, A. (2004). Sources of contemporary terrorism: Attacking terrorism: Elements of a grand strategy. Washington, D.C: Georgetown University Press. Horgan, J. (2009). The psychology of terrorism, London: Routledge. Shchedrovitsky, G.P. (1995). The principles and the general scheme of the methodological organization of system-structural research and development, in G.P. Shchedrovitsky, Selected works, School of Cultural Politics, Moscow Townsend, R. (2005). Poverty, inequality, and terrorism, in Threat Anticipation: Social Science Methods and Models, 2005. The Joint Threat Anticipation Center Workshop, April 7-9, The University of Chicago. Yaqub, S. (2005) Comments to Robert Pape’s ‘The Chicago project on suicide terrorism’’, in Threat Anticipation: Social Science Methods and Models, 2005. The Joint Threat Anticipation Center Workshop, April 7-9, The University of Chicago,. Read More