Can the International Community Do Anything about Global Terrorism - Research Paper Example

Title: Can the international community do anything about global terrorism? Paper subject: criminology and sociology Introduction Global terrorism began with the attacks on the United States of America. And these events fundamentally provided an opportunity to the international community as a whole to shape a new world order (Grenfell and James 2009). The international community agreed with the American notion and it marked the beginning of the ‘war on terror’. State terrorism is normally carried out by states either by supporting the terrorist outfits and using its own military power against any other sovereign nation. Dissident terrorism is carried out by non-state actors against existing governments and political institutions. And terrorism has been linked to genocide (Altheide 2009).Terrorist groups try to subvert and highjack peaceful environment with their violence. The religious fundamentalists exploit religious scriptures and religions for their personal or political objectives and this becomes a manifestation of religious terrorism. Extortion, kidnapping and murders are the hallmark of criminal terrorism. And, the events of 9/11 denote the manifestation of international terrorism. The ‘war on terror’ is underway and many regimes have been toppled in the absence of international definition of terrorism. The absence of international terrorism definition creates legal issues while trying terrorists internationally. The war on terror is being fought for the last ten years and the events of terrorism have not been stopped yet. This clearly highlights the shortcomings in the strategies and methods pursued by the international community against terrorism. In the subsequent parts of this paper, types of terrorism have been accounted for. Subsequent to that, causes of terrorism have also made part of this paper. Before conclusion, a critical evaluation of counter-terrorism strategies has been provided. State Terrorism State terrorism is terrorist acts committed by one state against another state (Aust 2010). State terrorism is conducted by the states by numerous ways including importing or exporting terrorism or directly or indirectly supporting the terrorist organizations. However, it is a misfortune that state terrorism has not been codified in international law a manifestation of illegal act (Blakeley 2009). The international legal efforts are so deplorable that the states exporting terrorism are not being discouraged for such activity instead they are getting advantage due to the absence of such codification. Dissident Terrorism Anti dissident terrorism was defined as terrorism against existing governments and political institutions for the purpose of destabilizing the existing environment as a precondition to building up a new society (Martin 2010). The dissidents find it reasonable to use terror for achieving their goals by making it difficult for government to ensure peaceful environment in state. Religious Terrorism Religious terrorists are those fundamentalist elements who use coercion and violence to further what they perceive as commanded purposes or divinely ordained (Sylas 2007). The acts of Al-Qaeda and Hamas are the clear manifestations of religious terrorism. These terrorist groups use religions and religious knowledge to further their extremist ideas and actions. They wage Jihad, in their terms, against the non-believers and other political enemies. Criminal Terrorism Criminal terrorism has been defined as the systematic use of terror for ends of material gain (Hanle 2006). The primary manifestations of criminal terrorism include extortion, kidnapping, murders and gangland assassinations. Criminal terrorism is wide spread as it is mostly associated with personal gains and is less attached with societal, political and religious objectives. This makes it a part of every society. International Terrorism Murphy (1985) defines international terrorism as set of activities such as wanton killing, atrocities, hijacking, extortion, hostage taking or torture threatened to be committed or committed whether in wartime or peacetime for political objectives given that an international element is involved. The events of 9/11 represent the hallmark of international terrorism carried out by the Al-Qaeda associates on the land of the United States of America. Causes of Terrorism Extremism has become the major cause of global terrorism. Extremism has been defined as radical in opinion particularly in political matters (Martin 2010). Extremist individuals and groups consider that non-violent means are ineffective and they would not be able to secure their strange aims by using non-violent means. They consider that they would not be able to obtain their goals without taking violent means. In order to achieve their objectives, they consider violence as the best and suitable way to achieve their desired goals. They use weapons and suicide bombings as the most effective methods to eliminate their enemies. By using the source of extremism, a religious mindset is using the source of extremism to import and export global terrorism in different parts of the world; the events of terrorism begin from the United States of America to United Kingdom, from Spain and to Indonesia as well. In these events, terrorist groups nurture and armed extremist young minds and they agreed to kill innocent unarmed civilians in these countries. Economic inequality adds fuel to the fire of terrorism (Lia 2005). Lia (2005) contends that a number of studies highlight that inequality and poverty strongly predispose society for violent conflicts and civil wars, especially if inequality patters are horizontal i.e. the presence of economic inequality among culturally defined groups. This provides that terrorist groups play with the economic situations of such groups and try to use them and achieve their inhumane objectives. The sense of alienation and deprivation also stimulates such vulnerable groups of society to fight for their rights and they find no other way but to use violence as a source of strength to achieve their rights. There is no doubt that in various countries poverty and economic inequality is wide spread and people do not have many choices left for their survival when they face the onslaught of abject poverty. Nationalism also contributes to terrorism. In this regard, Bjorgo (2005) states that ethnic nationalism often inculcates traditions of violence which may indeed operate as cultural and societal facilitators for terrorism. This clearly highlights that terrorism cannot be only a cause for anything but it can receive support from other factors which directly or indirectly enable terrorist groups to use social or economic excuses for their nefarious activities. Moreover, myths, legends, customs or habits that sanctions the use of violent behaviour and violent actions against political adversaries such as, for instance, a given government or a rival out-group, so as to make those means appear politically and morally justifiable. Moreover, Williams (1994) concludes that when ethnic minority is subjugated and is not given its basic economic opportunities, political rights, cultural expressions and voice, such ethnic minorities begin to feel a sense of alienation and unfairness. Subsequent to that, they find themselves to be trapped and that condition leaves no other option for them expect to take up arms and launch attacks against opposite side. The absence of democracy also causes terrorism. Democracy accommodates all groups within a state. It extends all groups a chance to present them so that they can be heard and can be listened in a democratic way. For this objective, at least in theory, there cannot be a disgruntled group. The democratic institutions enable even a militant group to give up arms and come into mainstream politics and become a violent-free responsible member of the society. Unfortunately, in numerous states, particularly in the Middle East, democracy is absent and non-democratic leaders are ruling over the masses having no actual voting rights. The people, who are living in the Middle East, do not have any say or representation in governance or government structures. The absence of their say breeds the seeds of hatred against their own leaders and many become prey to terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and others. These terrorist groups exploit the anger of these people and convince them to adopt the violent means to get their fundamental rights. For example, recently, we observed the revolution dismantled the government of Husseni Mubarak in Egypt where thousands of ordinary people decided to ouster the government and subsequently succeed in doing so. Ineffective Remedies for Global Terrorism Unfortunately, international community has miserably failed to practically control terrorism and terrorist groups. The biggest shortcoming is the absence of internationally and unanimously agreed terrorism definition. Till this point of time, America and its allies have been at war with Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups in different parts of world. Soon after the events of 9/11, America launched ‘war on terror’ against Al-Qaeda. There is no doubt that war became a necessity at that time but without having an international definition of terrorism or what constitutes terrorism, attempts to protect the world have become useless. Furthermore, if there is no definition of terrorism, it would be highly impractical to pursue legal matters against the terrorist and terrorist groups. Although America and some other European countries may have individually developed terrorism definition, but they cannot be quoted or used in international courts as their main source is provided by the United Nations’ Charter and other international organizations. The war on terror has failed to achieve its intended objectives. Soon after the events of 9/11, America by taking on board the international community launched military strikes on Afghanistan. Within a few months, they ended the Taliban-led government. And subsequently, the Bush Administration claimed that the world has become a safer place after toppling the extremist regime of the Taliban. The important thing is that even after 10 years in Afghanistan, peace is absent and violence is widespread. While writing this report, the BBC reported that Taliban has attacked on the Green Zone in Kabul, the Capital city of Afghanistan (Sawray 2012). Moreover, the report also mentioned that attacks were also carried out on the military forces in other regions of Afghanistan. This is an alarming situation. Currently, the Afghanistan is hosting the NATO forces and American troops who are considered to be the most sophisticated militaries in the world, and they are unable to clear out Afghanistan from a bunch of extremists since the commencement of war in 2001! This clearly authenticates that the international community has failed to control the menace of terrorism. The use of the pre-emption doctrine has not brought the expected results. The doctrine of pre-emption has been defined as anticipatory self-defence or striking enemy before the enemy launches attack (Arinello 2005). Pre-emption has been taken to mean that states are deprived of their power to act at all in a given area (Schutze 2009 ).When a sovereign nation contemplates that enemy may attack on the nation or is planning to, in order to prevent that attack, the sovereign nation attacks in a self-defence to eliminate the attack threat. This pre-emption doctrine was employed to attack on Iraq. Even unclear scientist Hans Bliex categorically said that he and his team did not found any clue pertaining to nuclear of biological weapons. But his version was disregarded and America itself concluded that the Saddam regime must be eliminated and should be brought down. Surprisingly, America, the sole super power of the world, completely disregarded the UN mandate by not obtaining approval from the United Nations’ Security Council; the Council Members were not taken into confidence and America toppled the Saddam regime. America has failed to recognise that the best antidote to terrorism is to support human dignity (Burman 2007 ).Experts are convinced that the unilateral action has augmented militancy and terrorism in numerous parts of the world. When a problem is not legally or appropriately handled, there would be no way to deter its repercussions. The Iraq invasion is clearly manifesting this problem. The European Union and the United Nations have developed and introduced the preventive measures as counter-terrorism strategies (The Council of European Union 2005). The basic objectives are to ensure the global peace and security and to develop and build up better safe world. In addition to that, these steps would further the cause of democracy, good governance, dialogue and root out the menace of fundamentalism and radicalization. The European Union has emphasized to attain the following objectives: Enhancing cooperation with the third world countries ( particularly in South-East Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East and facilitate them with assistance; Preventing new recruits to terrorism; Protecting potential targets; Inspecting and investigating and pursuing existing members of terrorist networks globally; Upgrading and extending capability to respond and handle the consequences of terrorist attacks; Respecting human values and human rights. ‘Prevent’, ‘protect’, ‘pursue’ and ‘respond’ are the four pillars to combat terrorism. And these pillars have been developed by the European Union. By properly implementing these strategic counter-terrorism measures the above mentioned objectives would be entertained. The ‘prevent’ pillar is developed to combat the causes of terrorism and its methods employed by the terrorist groups. The main objective of this pillar is to highlight those methods, tactics, propaganda, and instruments which are employed by the terrorist groups to attract, recruit and propagate radicalization across the world. The biggest source of attracting and involving young minds are the presence of conflicts in the world that are being exploited by the terrorist groups to gain sympathy and recognition of their dirty ideology. The preventative steps include: Developing common approaches to highlight and identify problem behaviour; Developing inter-cultural dialogue; Inspecting incitement and recruitment in the key environments such as prison and worship places; Routinely searching and sharing analysis and experiences on such issues. The ‘protect’ pillar comprises of security measures. It requires the relevant authorities to tighten border security and transport and cross border infrastructures to minimize the targets vulnerability and to limit the subsequent attack impacts. The EU needs to put more emphasis on the closer and effective cooperation and coordination among the member states for ensuring the entertainment of the objectives of this pillar. The ‘pursue’ pillar is developed to hunt down terrorists across the borders along with ensuring the sanctity of the international law. The EU provides that terrorist must be stopped to access to explosives, ammunitions and arms. The ‘respond’ pillar addresses the issue of managing damage after terrorist attack. In this regard, the EU has provided the following recommendations: Exchanging operational and policy information (in case of a cross-border incident); Providing financial and non-financial assistance to EU citizens in third countries; Protecting civil and military assets via EU crisis management operations; Extending compensation and solidarity to victims and their families at national and European level. Conclusion There is no doubt that extremism, nationalism and kingdoms have become a main source for the global terrorism. The international community has used force to address terrorism and eliminate terrorist groups. War on terror, toppling of Saddam regime and Egypt Government are some of the manifestations to control the menace of terrorism. However, the absence of internationally recognized terrorism definition has been the biggest shortcoming in the entire strategy to tackle terrorism. The impact of such shortcoming directly influences the legal aspects of the current strategies. Even the use of pre-emption doctrine has failed to control the problem. Till this point of time, the events of terrorism are not decreasing but are constantly increasing throughout the world. The most powerful armies of the world have not been able to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan for the last ten years. The international community may use the framework recommended by the EU. However, that framework is also filled with the legal shortcomings. References Altheide, DL 2009, Terror Post 9/11 and the Media, Peter Lang Publishing, New York Arinello, M 2005, National Security Strategy of Preemption, viewed 15 April, 2012 < http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA431862/>. 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