Terrorism - Essay Example

Terrorism: Is it a Threat to World Stability and Peace? Terrorism remains one of the greatest threats to global stability and world peace. Terroristacts threaten governments, weaken economies and effectively destabilize societies. Terrorism thus has important ramifications for the nation-state as well as for the international system. Increasingly, modern terrorist groups and networks have global aims with international reach. This essay will define the term terrorist, discuss the phenomenon of the international terrorist network and show the impact terrorism has on society. What is a terrorist and how does one define terrorism? The age old adage that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” (Bergesen & Lizardo 39) remains true and the term terrorist has been notoriously difficult to define. Despite these challenges, a definition of terrorism is integral and must be defined to provide a theoretical basis to this essay. According to the world’s foremost expert on the suicide terror phenomenon Dr. Mia Bloom, terrorism can be defined as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetuated against noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience (Bloom 3). We can confidently say then that a terrorist is someone who engages in the act described above. Bloom’s definition is comprehensive enough to guide our essay and complement our analysis of the terrorist phenomenon. Political Effects of Terror Terrorism – and the threat of terror - can have political, social, and economic ramifications. Politically, terror can sow fear, destabilize governments and provoke various forms of retaliatory measures. States of all stripes – including modern liberal democracies – have responded to terrorist threats through the curtailment of civil liberties (United States post 9/11), the imposition of martial law (Canada during the FLQ crisis of 1970) and the wholesale destruction of communities (Iraq’s genocide of the Kurds in Halabja, 1988). Full-scale retaliatory measures, such as that which was practiced at Halabja using chemical weapons (between 3,000 and 5,000 people were killed one March afternoon), often indiscriminately target, kill and maim entire populations. In addition to eliciting violent and often disturbing political responses, terror can also have important repercussions for the economic well-being of a country (Haarf 64; Crelinsten 89; Nitsch & Schumacher 423-433). Economic Effects of Terror In a fascinating article entitled “Measuring the Effects of the September 11 Attack on New York City”, it was estimated that the direct cost of this particular attack stood at between $33 billion and $36 billion to the city of New York (Orr, Bram & Rappaport 55). In addition to the direct costs associated with terrorism, terror, and the threat of further terrorism, can also harm important domestic markets. The tourism trade, which is an important sector of many modern economies, suffers as a result of terrorism – real or perceived. In their analysis of Greece, Israel, and Turkey, Drakos and Kutan found a direct correlation between terrorist acts and a drop in tourism dollars for each of these three Mediterranean economies. In fact, they estimate Israel’s tourism dollar loss to be the most pronounced and in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per annum as a direct result of terror between 1991 and 2000, a period in which Palestinians revolted in what is now known as the First Intifada (621-641). In Israel the 21st century ushered in birth of the Second Intifada, a period characterized by extreme violence between both Palestinians and Israelis. This period in particular was witness to widespread use of the tactic of suicide bombing by key protagonists on the Palestinian side including armed groups associated with the Fatah movement, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas. The use of suicide bombing as a tactic of terror was particularly harmful to the Israeli sense of security and it also coincided with an Israeli economic downturn. In fact, key economic indicators such as GDP growth, unemployment and direct foreign investment showed signs of decline during most of the early period of the Intifada. In addition to slowed economic growth, an increase in unemployment and a retraction of direct foreign investment, the Israeli government, during this period, increased its defense spending significantly, thus adding to the already swelling Israeli pubic debt. In Israel, between 2000 and 2004, there was a direct correlation between a heightened level of terrorism, perceived threat, and a decrease in the productivity of the Israeli economy (Morag, 33-42). Al-Qaeda and the Global Terrorist Terrorists today are no longer hindered by national boundaries. Al-Qaeda provides perhaps the best and the most frequently sited example of the “new” global terrorist. Terrorism is now transnational with the Al-Qaeda network spawning both adherents and imitators from Jakarta to Kabul and from London to Vancouver. The Al-Qaeda network has reportedly been responsible for a myriad of attacks beginning with Yemen in 1992 and continuing today as part of the Iraqi insurgency. The Al-Qaeda network, headed by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, has mastered the use of modern technology, including the internet as well as the Middle Eastern television network Al-Jazeera, to gain adherents to their global jihad. While their demands vary – from Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories to the overthrow of the conservative monarchy in Saudi Arabia – Al-Qaeda has engaged in terror in countries as diverse as Indonesia and Britain, the United States and Tanzania, as well as the United Kingdom and Moracco, just to name a few. Its reach truly is global. In fact, this particularly insidious network of jihadists represents the most pronounced threat to global peace and international security in modern times (Burke, 18-26 & BBC 2007). Kurdish Terror: The PKK As an ethnic minority without a state to call its own, the Kurdish people span four countries of the Middle East and substantial minority Kurdish populations can be found around the world. Established in the 1970s by Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK was created as a militant Kurdish organization founded on Marxist-Leninist principles and actively engaged in the violence to obtain their goals. The most important goal for the PKK was the creation of an independent socialist state in the Kurdish regions of the Middle East – this Kurdish state was said to encompass Turkey, where it was headquartered, Iran, Iraq and Syria. As a militant political organization which engaged in violence to achieve its aims of an autonomous Turkish state, the PKK often indiscriminately targeted both military personnel and civilians. This Marxist-Leninist group began its insurgency in the mountains of Turkey and officially launched its guerilla struggle against the Turkish government in 1984. Due to the violence between the PKK and the Turkish government, thousands of Kurdish villages were destroyed, hundreds of thousands of Kurds have been displaced and more than 37,000 people were killed in the fighting. Suicide terror has been one tactic among many for the Kurds of the PKK. Distaste for extreme violence, coupled with the fact that the Kurds were largely the victims of PKK excess or Turkish retaliatory measures, led to a decrease in Kurdish support for this militant organization. The final blow to the PKK came in 1999 when its leader, Abdullah Ocalan was captured on the run in Kenya. He has since renounced terrorism and the use of violence to promote Kurdish nationalism. The PKK became an expert in the perpetuation of premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-state actors, both Kurds and Turks, and thus fits the bill provided by Dr. Bloom with respect her definition of a terrorist organization (BBC 2008). Concluding Remarks Terrorism can have dramatic social, economic and political consequences. Terrorists today are unencumbered by geographic boundaries and are able, through the use and abuse of modern technology, to sow damage and fear on a global scale. The terrorist of today is transnational and Al-Qaeda today provides perhaps the best example of a global terrorist network. Terrorism is also inherently destabilizing and wreaks havoc both politically and economically. It remains one of the most sustained and important threats to global security and world peace. Works Cited Bergesen, Albert J. and Omar Lizardo. “International Terrorism and the World-System.” Sociological Theory 22:1 (Mar., 2004): 38-52. Bloom, M. (2005). Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror. New York: Columbia University Press. Bram, Jason, Orr, James and Rapaport, Carol, "Measuring the Effects of the September 11 Attack on New York City." Economic Policy Review 8:2: 44-69. British Broadcasting Corporation (2007). “Investigating Al-Qaeda”. Retrieved June 17, 2009 from BBC online Burke, Jason. “Al Qaeda.” Foreign Policy 142 (May - June 2004): 18-26. Crelinsten, Ronald D. “The Internal Dynamics of the FLQ during the October Crisis of 1970.” Journal of Strategic Studies 10:4 (1983): 59-89. Drakos, Konstantinos and Ali M. Kutan. “Regional Effects of Terrorism on Tourism in Three Mediterranean Countries.” The Journal of Conflict Resolution 47:5 (Oct., 2003): 621-641. Harff, Barbara. “No Lessons Learned from the Holocaust? Assessing Risks of Genocide and Political Mass Murder since 1955.” American Political Science Review 97 (2003): 57-73. Huddy, Leonie, Stanley Feldman, Theresa Capelos & Colin Provost. “The Consequences of Terrorism: Disentangling the Effects of Personal and National Threat.” Political Psychology 23:3 (2002): 485-509. Morag, Nadav. “The Economic and Social Effects of Intensive Terrorism: Israel 2000-2004” The Middle East Review of International Affairs 10:3 (September 2006): 33-42. Nitsch, Volker and Dieter Schumacher. “The Economic Consequences of Terror.” European Journal of Political Economy 20: 2 (June 2004): 423-433. Read More