International Terrorism Has Benefited From Globalization

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International Terrorism has benefited from globalization.

Discuss this statement and give your opinion as to whether you

find it to be true or false. Give examples to substantiate your

argument.

Mr. Rawal

Contemporary European Politics

Mete Erdurcan

ES4e-2B

10042520


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Contemporary European Politics Page 2

Introduction

Some claim that Jesus was one of the worlds oldest terrorists, since the Roman Empire had a great

problem dealing with this young Jew that shook the foundation of the Roman Empire. In a rush tosolve the Christianity problem, once and for all, the Roman Emperor decided to have the young

Prophet crucified. Little did the emperor know that it would turn out to become a movement that

would increasingly become more and more openly practiced over the years, which would threaten the

existence of the Roman Empire. Eventually Emperor Theodosius I had no other choice then to

proclaim Christianity the official state belief, which resulted in the state Church of the Roman Empire,

and with that, the prompt spread of Christianity. In this essay, a closer look will be taken at

international terrorism, and how globalization affected its operations.


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What does terrorism mean?

As can be seen from this example, the definition of terrorism is rather blurry and open for

interpretation. Historically, the word terrorism derives from different periods in history. Its oldestform dates back to the Mesopotamian Empire in the 23

rdcentury BC, with the term Terrere (Latin:

To-terrify). In this period of time, using fear, or terror, was seen as a natural thing for the governing

order in society. Furthermore, the term terrorism described state violence against citizens during the

French revolution (18thcentury). Lastly, when we take a look at the past half-century, terrorism has

come to mean the use of violenceby small groups to achieve political change. A more broad

definition is given by Kiras; terrorism is defined here as the use of violence by sub-state groups to

inspire fear, by attacking civilians and/or symbolic targets, for purposes such as drawing widespread

attention to a grievance, provoking a severe response, or wearing down their opponents moral

resolve, to effect political change.(Kiras, 2011).The last phase has become most associated with the

politically unstable Middle-East region and Islamic countries. Looking back at the example in the

introduction, the description by Kiras, ironically, most suits the acts of the Roman Empire against

Jesus and his followers.


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Who are these terrorists?

Over the course of the last 60 years multiple groups have dominated the stage, and these can be

categorized by their motivation: left-wing, right-wing, separatist and religious terrorists. The left-wingmovement was connected to the Communist era, while the right-wing got triggered by Fascism (for

example Franco in Spain), the separatist following the era of decolonization and finally the religious

terrorists dominating todays stage the most prominent being Al-Qaida and the Taliban. The existence

of the latter (groups) is very well-known, considering that there have been groups, which were active

for a longer time. We can take the example of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in

Chiapas, Mexico. This group was one of the first to see the use of the newborn child of globalization:

the internet. Unfortunately for the EZLN, the internet wasnt as well-known as it is now, and only few

people had access to this medium. The EZLN only achieved partial success and retreated back to the

region, in which their base of operations was situated. The success of the Al-Qaida, in this matter, to

spread its word quickly and effectively, can be attributed to modern day globalization. Terrorist

groups, or individuals inclined to have extremist ideas, have a far better opportunity to realize their

goals through the new technologies globalization has brought them.


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IRA, as Irish-Americans (often born in America, and only brought up with stories of the Old

Country) supported the struggle back in the Old Country. Another interesting example of

recruitment is one that is seen as one of the greatest threats in the Western countries; the immigrant,

specifically the ones that have an Islamic background. These youngsters might have problems

adapting to the new society and feel alienated and left out. This has proven to be possibly dangerous,

as statistics show that the highest criminality rate (in the Netherlands) amongst the Dutch from

Moroccan descent, are amongst the ones with the highest education. The most plausible explanation is

that when these youngsters search for rapprochement with the native Dutch, they get rejected on the

account of being too different. These young adults can come into a difficult emotional state, which is

just the right sentiment that organizations like the Taliban or Al-Qaida use to set the recruitment

process into effect. With the arrival of internet, these youngsters often dont even have to be

approached personally and can find more then can intake. The next important factor for the survival of

terrorist organizations is to rightfully coordinate their steps for maximum effect. The globalization,

and with that the improvement of technology, generally favor the enemy of the terrorist groups, and

therefore have to be careful with their resources, because the adversary will quite possibly have the

more advanced technology to track the actions of the terrorist groups. During the attacks of 9/11, the

terrorists used simple disposable mobile phones with pre-paid phone cards to get clearance to proceed

with the operation. This was done simultaneous to achieve the desired outcome. A third factor is to

secure the continuation of the organization. This is not only done through extensive recruitment, but

also by keeping the recruits alive and kicking, and foremost, out of jail. As some of the recruits have

their expertise on the area of computing and ICT, the governments have employ people with similar

skills as well. In current time, it is estimated that there are more than 5.000 active militant Islamic

discussion forums. To battle these web terrorists, governments sometimes have to take actions,

which are controversial with the civil rights/liberties. It often comes down to the question how much

the citizens are willing to give for the sake of their safety. A fourth element is the capacity to be

flexible with manpower and technology; globalization has made many aspects of life much easier.

This allows terrorists to move more freely as well, as a suitcase with a laptop and a ticket paid with

cash are hardly anything to be noticed. The right person in the right place could inflict a great deal ofdamage, which was also seen with the events of 9/11. The terrorists that were flying the planes had

taken most of their pilot training in the United States, only months prior to the attacks. This freedom of

movement also makes it hard to trace the operations that are being run; this could include a shipment

of bombs, set to detonate when it arrives at the port. Furthermore, the psychological element is also

important, as the fear of a terrorist, which doesnt seem to stand out of the crowd and can be anywhere

at any time also has effect on the moral of the citizens. The Final factor is lethality; terrorist

organizations often dont have the access to a great arsenal of weapons, and more often have little or

no knowledge as how to use them. The fear of most Western countries attributes to the possibility for

the terrorists to come into the possession of chemical or nuclear weapons. Though the access to these


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resources is slim and very tightly controlled, the possibility for any terrorist organization to come into

possession of such weapons is dangerous; this is for a similar reason, which kept the Cold War from

becoming a nuclear war: the fear of having an equal amount of destruction inflicted to their own

country. However, this changes when it concerns terrorist organizations, which often dont have any

ties to any state. This also partly explains the cautiousness of countries when it comes to the

knowledge on ways to produce nuclear weapons, an issue Iran and North-Korea have to deal with as a

part of their geo-political agenda.


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Conclusion

The aim of this report was to discuss the statement International Terrorism has benefited from

globalization and whether this appears to be true or false.The meaning of terrorism was defined, as

we took a closer look at the historical meaning, and the progression of it to our current time as well.

As we can clearly state that there is an evolution in the way terrorism act and in that way also the

measures taken against them by national governments. Furthermore, a closer look was taken at the

identity of several terrorist groups, as to define how they identified themselves to their goals. Thirdly,

the motivation of the terrorists was defined, as how an individual gets attracted to these organizations

and also be willing to put a great deal of things at risk to commit terrorist attacks on the adversaries.

Finally, terrorism was associated with globalization, as it affected terrorists and how they operate a

great deal. The goal is the same: with the use of violence try to push change in the political agenda of a

certain country or area. However, with globalization the borders have blurred and we are left only with

the question of whose actions are rightfully to be justified. One of the examples given before, the

Israeli-Palestinian conflict, could be argued that the Palestinians are being oppressed and not being

given any opportunity to become a self-governing state with a balanced economic system. However,

one could also state that the Arab countries that surround the Israelis, which also possess 99,9% of the

crude oil reserves, are not allowing the Israelis to be a self-governing state that has to have such a high

level of security measures to secure the existence of the Israeli people. As can be seen from these

examples, in this conflict many ethnical, historical and economic factors play an important role.Which point of view anyone will take in this conflict depends on their own values and norms, however

one thing can be said with certainty: the moment an incident happens in the Middle-East, it appears on

our screens to be interpreted by different media channels. The support for the Palestinians has been at

an all-time high point, as journalists show the pictures of the horror done by the Israeli state. In this

matter we could easily state that the terrorist groups that are active in the area, achieve their goals with

great efficiency as support and empathy never seems to lack for the Palestinians. This also makes

recruitment a great deal easier for organizations like Hamas to pronounce Jihad and call upon Muslims

all over the world to come help them in this time of need. The great comfort that globalization also has

brought us primarily results in technology. Technologies allow the transfer of goods, services, and

information almost anywhere quickly and efficiently. In the case of information, the transfer of can be

secure and is nearly instantaneous. Whether it is to recruit, coordinate or actually commit a terrorist

attack, technological advancement has made it a lot easier for terrorist groups to operate. Therefore, I

agree with this statement, as can be seen from the arguments shown throughout this report.

PEACE OUT


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International Terrorism Has Benefited From Globalization

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