International Terrorism - Essay Example

Introduction: The modern times have seen a new concept in the form of international terrorism. The concept of international terrorism emerged as a methodology where the ideas aimed at promoting and preaching through forceful means. There are number of factors based on which the international terrorism found their grounds towards spread and expansion. The internal state of affairs of a given nation is one of the core reasons that have been investigated to evaluate the cause. The internal unrest has been seen to serve as the breeding ground towards fostering the menace of global terrorism which later on spreads its wings and venom to the countries in the neighborhood and eventually taking the whole region into its fire. This paper looks into the correlation between the internal state of unrest in a given country and the possibilities of international terrorism as a response and breeding concept. Thesis statement: In the modern times the internal unrest within the country creates a vacuum which in turn is filled by the non state actors. These non state actors take the assistance of the violent groups who through their vested and global agendas further spread their agendas. The events that unfolded in New York in 2001 gave a new outlook to the concept of global warfare and conflict phenomena. It gave grounds to the concepts where individuals who carried out the attacks took refuge in a third country and gave rise to the concept of terrorists’ safe heavens. As a result Afghanistan became a safe heaven and the peaceful world resorted to its efforts of striking against them and making the world a more secure place in the context of mutual co existence. A failed state in the terms of global politics and international relations pertains to one that is incapable of catering for the needs of its people. This absence comes along in the form of absence of democracy, absence of basic human rights, use of power to enforce the ideas and doctrines and further other social negligence which provides a foundation base for extremist and radical mindset to prevail within the region. There are large number of cases of countries where democracy is absent and long despotic and tyrants are ruling which in turn is breeding the element of animosity. The likes of Syria, parts of Africa and largely the Middle East are few of the key examples with this regard. Based on the absence of democracy, the presence of radical mindset and reactionary politics are a direct gift of this malady contributing to the regional as well as global turbulence in the form of new concept of global terrorism. In the contemporary world, we see cases of internal disputes, internal weaknesses that give rise to unrest both on internal grounds as well as external grounds. There are number of instances before us. For example, the Arab region and Middle East in prime is a core example of unrest and turbulence in the modern day world. The core reason to it is not just the fact that it is internal uprising, rather a mix of various other elements. Out of many reasons and internal decays, one of the core reasons highlighted by the global community are the absence of democracy. The absence of a globally approved and recognized pillar of democracy leads to negligence of many basic fundamental rights. (F. Gregory (Gaus, 2005) In his article has expressed the same point quoting the American President George W. Bush and his claims with regard to the need of democracy in the Middle East. This concept and mindset prevails upon the thought that democracy enables fighting and protecting against the safe heavens for the militant, radical and extremist mindsets which culminate in the form of global terrorism. The Middle East is among the countries in the world where the basic human rights are at the lowest with regard to the common citizens. This is seen highly critical and contributing towards the menace of radicalism by the present American government setup and the statements of John Kerry reflect upon the same mindset stressing for introducing more social, economic and political reforms in the Middle East which would allow for a more neutralized and less radical mindset to prevail (Watson, et al., 2013). The case of Afghanistan: Afghanistan has long been a center of attention towards global politics on account of internal unrest. At first, due to the Soviet invasion, and later on the 1990s regime that posed threats to the global community. The alleged perpetrators of the September 2001 had their hideouts in the mountainous regions of that country. While United States of America felt threatened by it and as a result engaged in an offensive aiming to drive out the radical element that was not just a direct threat to the internal stability and internal mutual co existence, rather the global peace as well. Hence this is one of the prime examples of how the internal unrest and potential failed state of affairs within a given state gives rise to global menace. The case of Iraq: Iraq is another case study in this regard. It all started off when the American invasion into Iraq led to the deposing of the then military dictator Saddam Hussein. The ousted of the military dictator led to the creation of vacuum based on the grounds that Iraq itself was kept distant and totally aloof from democracy, basic human rights and various other fundamental rights that are chartered by United Nations as well as the Western world owing to the basic rights that must be granted to the common citizens. It was towards 2004 when Al- Qaeda slowly started emerging in Iraq. This was on the account of fact that the then Prime Minster Al- Maliki was barely influential or effective in ensuring the writ of state enforcement in Iraq. As a result of this, the insurgent activities found an easier spot that would enable them expanding themselves beyond the borders of Iraq and troubling its neighbors as well. It was the absence of infrastructure and a virtual outlook of Civil War in Iraq that led to the possibility of formation of the most brutal outlook of the terrorist group in the form of Daish or I.S.I.S. Such elements not only exploit the internal fault lines, but also invite forces from outside which in turn lead to an overall situation of proxy warfare and the overall region turns into a fire station. The Middle East at present is depicting such an outlook with regard to its political instability (Halliday, 2013). Al-Qaeda firmly established its roots in Afghanistan and provided assistance to the people who were engaged in their offensives against the allied forces (Bergen & Tiedemann, 2011). The direct repercussion and manner in which this internal unrest unfolded reflected upon the stability and instability in the region as well. Pakistan for example, being a directly border sharing country had to suffer the fire of global war on terror when the radical elements spread out their wings and venom in Pakistan’s tribal areas and slowly started attacking the settled areas. This was largely due to the fact that Afghanistan’s government led by the then President Hamid Karzai was merely limited in its influence to parts of Kabul (Rubin, 2013). This gave the rest of the militia and Al- Qaeda to operate and reside freely in the parts of Afghanistan and engage in its operations and offensives against Pakistan, as a result a direct example of how the internal unrest and domestically failed state leads to the breeding ground towards the radical elements and external terrorist activities. Arab spring as a harbinger of internal unrest: Arab spring is a popular concept in the context of international relations and global dynamics. This came about in the form of toppling of the status quo and the ruling elite in the various parts of the Middle East. The due reason which led to the initiation of Arab spring was the fact that the region was void of any form of democracy, true representation, the media were totally controlled, political spectrum were restricted to a single party state and human rights violations were on peak. The subsequent result fell upon the Middle East countries in the form of Arab Spring. A spring that was promised to bring about prosperity and peace has turned into the most blood filled affair in the recent history of Middle East. While the Arab spring resulted in the ousted of the pre existing ruling elites, it in the same manner led to creation of a vacuum. The blood bath is accompanied by the non state actors that have gained the edge and advantage from the vacuum (Bunker, 2015). These non state actors now pose a threat not only to the internal dynamics of those particular countries, rather the external ambiance of Middle East as a whole. This is largely evident in the form of Libya and Kaddafi’s fall (Lynch, 2013), Tunisia, Yemen and various other nations that tasted the fate of Arab Spring. The case of Syria and international terrorism: Syria is also among the countries that tasted the air of Arab Spring. It has displayed one of the most horrifying faces of the war and its damages. It has come about in the form of a civil war. The civil war is due to the fact that the internal strife has broken out. This accompanied by the Al- Qaeda separated faction of I.S.I.S (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). Syria at present depicts the most horrifying face on account of the radical element. That element in turn poses threat not only to Syria and its existence, but also its neighbors. For example I.S.I.S has spread its wings towards parts of Turkish borders and aimed at infiltrating into the region and parts of Turkey. Hence it is another case of internal unrest that has given rise to the external troubles and that too in the most adverse manner where the neighbors are faced with the direct heat of the overall affair(Stakelbeck, 2015). This all unfolded because Syria was a single party state where a single family was in rule for over the last four decades. The power was being transferred from father to son and there was an absolute disregard to the basic human rights. This was to come out in form of the internal unrest. The internal unrest aided by the global dynamics of terrorists based activities further pushed the country into a scenario where it has already lost over one hundred thousand citizens and the economic costs of the war have soured over two hundred billion dollars on a safe account. The outcome of the war is still far from over and it is leading to the region becoming further hostile and dangerous towards the peaceful existence and survival. The case of Yemen: Yemen is the latest causality in the overall outlook of global unrest that is largely concentrated in the Middle East. While the government has been ousted by the Houti rebels and there is virtually no writ of state and the militant groups have taken over. There is a large likelihood of the non state actors showing up and taking the reins and making up for another point on concern. These fears can be reflected upon by the fears of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that shares its borders with Yemen and it believes that a potential complete collapse of infrastructure in Yemen would lead to the possible vacuum creation which in turn would allow the non state actors and international radical mindsets such as those of Al-Qaeda and I.S.I.S (Kiley, 2015). The root causes of internal unrest: The global community along with the citizens of the region that are inflicted with the menace of terror must look into the root causes that have led to such decay. These root causes can be overcome through raising voices for their basic human rights in a timely manner. Stress upon educational needs, basic health care, freedom to speech and freedom of expression, protection of the religious places, preventing the states from becoming police states and ensuring that a transparent system of democracy prevails within the country. If all these variables are ensured within the given country, they would allow for an internal state of peace and in turn would prevent the international terrorist activities from finding a place that is itself less vulnerable to the appeals, activities and actions of such radical mindsets. Apart from this, the radical mindsets within the various countries must also be overcome. The case of Israel and Palestine is another account of how the radical mindset is prevailing on one side and preventing the political thought from working. The likes of Hamas in this case must be checked against their actions, manifesto and mandates and should be held back from hampering any political progresses that are made by the political representatives of Palestine in the form of Al- Fatah group. Bottom line: Through the observation and understanding of the contemporary internal political unrest and social depravity, it can be clearly evaluated that the internal unrest and loopholes gives rise to the concepts such as the international terrorism and menace which challenges the very existence of the global community and its peaceful mutual co-existence. This can be stretched in the form of the cases of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria, Kenya and many more countries in the contemporary times. Nationalistic spirit must be protected (Mayall & Jackson-Preece, 2011)). This does lead to serious questions. The first and more basic is the addressing of the core issues which lead to the internal unrest. There are number of reasons based on which the internal unrest prevails. The first is that of political depravity. The sense of depravity that prevails in the form of the long despotic rules gives rise to the sense of alienation among the rival groups. Another basic element and ingredient of necessity is that of the social empowerment against the social depravity that is largely prevalent among the common individuals. From gradual transformation to radical transformation: While number of cases have been seen where the radical changes in the regime have led to the potential rise of the insurgent activities and lack of writ of state and lack of control. The global community must learn from the past precedence that have prevailed over last few years. This can be done so through number of steps. The first is the fact that the global community must ensure for negotiating the methods through gradual change and through political means. The use of force in bid to oust a given tyrant must be used as the last option. With the given last option in use, the alternate setups and alternate ruling machinery must be equipped to such a level that prevents the fall of government and fall of state machinery into the hands of the outlaws. Plenty of lessons can be learnt from what went wrong in Iraq and Afghanistan. This can be undone through a policy of reconstruction where the stakeholders’ franchises are expanded and more representation is granted to the due representatives with regard to their social and political representation. Conclusion: It can be clearly stated that the internal unrest is the best recipe for the global menace of terrorism in the modern day. It can be overcome through the steps that are aforementioned. Also the global community has got its role cut out that will enable them overcoming the turbulence that shows up in one form or the other all in the farce representation of protecting the locals and local land from outside forces. There are still number of countries that are considerably distant from the true democracy (Ahmed & Forst, 2005). The cases of Middle East and few other countries including those in African continent need to be pulled along the lines which will reduce the agent of radicalization. In this course of struggle, the United Nations, along with the various other super powers have got their role cut out and they need to revamp the structural deficiencies. This can be done so through more active and collaborative partnership and participation between the different countries which will enable fostering the mindset that is directed towards self awareness, demanding the basic rights and ingraining the basic concept of human rights along with the democratic norms, principles and ideologies. References: Ahmed, A. S. & Forst, B., 2005. After Terror: Promoting Dialogue Among Civilizations. s.l.:Wiley Bergen, P. & Tiedemann, K., 2011. The World Almanac of Islamism: 2011. s.l.:Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Bunker, R. J., 2015. 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