Terrorism in The Modern World - Essay Example

crime, religion, media, war, politics etc. This paper attempts to analyze the similarity and differences between the approaches of these articles towards the understanding of modern day terrorism. The first similarity between the two articles lies in the fact that both Stohl and Schmid talk about the relationship between politics and terrorism. According to Stohl, government is not always against non-governmental terrorism and sometimes it encourages such terrorist actions if it finds them to be of any assistance (Stohl, 2008, pp. 6-7). On the other hand, Schmid points out that usually terrorism accompanies political conflicts.

It is sometimes a part of and sometimes the sole instrument of political plans. A relationship between terrorism and politics becomes apparent going by the increased incidence of terrorism with increasing political tension, example, during election times (Schmid, 2004, pp.199-200). Another similarity between the two articles is in their views about the relationship between media and terrorism. Schmid says that in order to understand terrorism, only the “violence” aspect of the act is not enough, attention should also be given to the “propaganda” aspect of it. . In other words, by spilling the blood of the innocent victims, terrorists gain the much desired entry in the news system.

This is their way of communicating and reminding the world about their existence, demands and future goals. Terrorism is to terrify people. It increases if it keeps getting noticed. If there be no witnesses to the acts of terrorism, they will soon become pointless and will cease to exist. (Schmid, 2004, pp.205-209) In Stohl’s article, Stohl too agrees that by giving coverage to the terrorist acts, the much sought after voice is being given to the terrorists. Schmid says and Stohl agrees that terrorist activities should be treated as a crime and terrorists as a criminals.

Schmid draws a connection between war and terror by citing examples from the Second World War when Nazis used to torture the war prisoners in order to create an atmosphere of terror among the enemy camps. But war, even though it involves crime is generally upheld as a heroic act whereas terrorism is an attack on humanity. An act of terrorism is for selfish reasons. A terrorist cannot be compared with a soldier as a soldier never willingly hurts an innocent/civilian i.e. a terrorist does not obey the warfare rules.

In order to deal with these terror acts, Schmid suggests the use of existing international laws and the Geneva conventions. (Schmid, 2004, pp.202-204) Stohl and Schmid both talk about the meaning, connections and myths related to terrorism. Their approaches are mostly similar and the analysis presented above tries to give a clearer picture of terrorism in the modern world. References 1) Stohl, M. (2008), Old Myths, new fantasies and the enduring realities of terrorism. Critical Studies on Terrorism journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 5-16,