Essay on "Terrorism Represents the Organized Use"

Essay 6 pages (1727 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Terrorism represents the organized use of terror with the purpose of intimidating particular groups. Its complex nature makes it difficult for the act to be defined by the international community and a series of actions can thus be catalogued as being terrorist in character. The masses are typically accustomed to perceiving terrorism as being related to religious extremists wanting to put across their thinking by performing extreme acts. While an insurgency is primarily focused with a political movement wanting to achieve its goals by adopting diverse strategies, terrorism is actually one of the strategies that insurgents adopt with the purpose of expressing themselves.

The contemporary society experiences great problems dealing with the issue of terrorism primarily because of its failure to provide a strict definition of the act. In contrast to terrorism, crime can be immediately identified and provided with an accurate response. Terrorism is practically a personified crime - one that is intended to achieve a goal as a result of its horrific nature.

b. It is difficult to analyze the actual purpose of terrorism, as the concept has experienced significant change over the years and it has come to bring confusion into the minds of most people thinking about it. Conventional terrorism is generally accepted as having been meant as a strategy to achieve a political end. Terrorists in the past practically performed terrorist acts with the purpose of having their enemies acknowledge the critical condition they were in and to cooperate in order to avoid having to experience even more suffering.

Many terrorists in recent years have steered away from performing conventional terrorism and they perceive their jobs as implying that they simply need to instill terror in their adversaries. Terrorism has practically come to be an end in itself as terrorists focus on causing destruction without actually expecting their adversaries to employ obliging attitudes as a consequence. New methods of terrorism are thus directed at causing as much destruction as possible, as doing so apparently represents victory for terrorists.

Even with the fact that terrorism in the present appears to be primarily focused on destruction, the reality is that individuals who perform it are actually motivated by political issues and by the fact that society put across a hostile attitude toward them.

c. There are great deals of wealthy individuals who resort to performing terrorist acts. These people are motivated by political factors or by the fact that society has, at some point, acted in disagreement with principles they highly respected. However, one of the principal reasons for the existence of terrorism is poverty, as individuals who are in a desperate condition and realize that help is never going to come have no solution but to employ hostile attitudes toward those in power.

The fact that wealth is misdistributed both in the U.S. And around the world has influenced a great deal of individuals to believe that it is essential for them to engage in terrorist acts in order to make a change. In addition to this, some have even resorted to simply destroying in order to raise public awareness concerning the critical condition of many poor individuals from around the world.

a. Terrorism is often difficult to categorize because many individuals or groups have a tendency to label their enemies as terrorists without actually having solid reasons to do so. This practically means that it would be wrong to attempt to provide a definition of terrorism. Asymmetric warfare is an excellent example concerning how terrorism can often become a label meant to manipulate public opinion. Many individuals throughout recent years have been inclined to relate to people opposing a system as being terrorists.

The dominant side in a controversial conflict is likely to express interest in wanting to get the public's attention by promoting false values. The contemporary Syrian situation is self explanatory when regarding links between asymmetric warfare and terrorism. While numerous rebels have rose against president Bashar al-Assad, the president and the authorities in general emphasize that the revolution actually needs to be perceived as a terrorist attempt to remove righteous individuals from controlling the country. "Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the United Nations-Arab League envoy on Sunday that countries must stop supporting, arming and providing protection to terrorists -- the government's term for rebels" (CNN Wire Staff).

Al-Assad's attitude toward the rebels makes it possible for someone to understand the degree to which asymmetric warfare can involve a dominant group attempting to influence public opinion and a discriminated community wanting to rebel against their oppressors. While most would not catalogue the Syrian rebellion as being terrorists, Al-Assad condemns their actions as terrorist and attempts to influence the general public in thinking that the rebel community needs to be treated accordingly. While many acts performed by the Syrian rebellion are controversial, it would be difficult to determine if they are actually terrorists or not.

b. While globalization is generally perceived as being evidence that society has experienced progress, the process has also brought on new and intriguing problems. "Globalization is essentially a measure of the ease with which, labor, ideas, capital, technology and profits can move across borders with minimal governmental interference" (Khan). While economy and politics are regarded as two of the most important concepts that have been made possible as a result of globalization, the process has recently started to be seen as facilitating strategies for terrorism to become more effective. It is actually surprising to see how a process that is generally considered to have brought great liberal reform around the world can also be considered responsible for harboring terrorism.

In order to impose measures that would hinder terrorism, the international authorities need to slow the process of globalization and capital flow on an international level. Moreover, a series of countries have started to reconsider their agenda concerning attitudes toward immigrants, thus meaning that globalization is likely to recede in some areas. Many countries practically return to policies they supported several decades ago as they struggle to prevent their countries from providing terrorists with the resources they need (Khan).

In order to gain a more complex understanding of the connection between terrorism and globalization, one would practically have to think about how globalization is responsible for providing resources that terrorists need in order to develop global networks. Global terrorism is presently one of the biggest threats to the idea of globalization, especially considering that terrorism appears to evolve alongside of globalization in spite of the fact that more and more deterrent strategies are employed.

a. The fact that terrorism is very difficult to define also contributes to making it problematic for people to understand terrorists and reasons why they come to perform terrorist acts. Some are born in communities that consider terrorism to be a form of cultural value and thus grow up thinking that it is essential for them to concentrate on trying to punish groups they believe to be associated with their oppressors.

While the majority of individuals in society think about terrorists as being ruthless killers who have no actual interest in the well-being of humanity, there are numerous individuals supporting terrorism in spite of the fact that they are not involved in terrorist organizations. Being bombarded with information concerning how a particular community has repeatedly harmed another makes it easier for a person to support ruthless acts against the former. Many individuals who interact frequently with terrorists are educated with regard to reasons why terrorists act and are expected to eventually agree that it would be only normal for them to support terrorism. It is actually probable that these individuals no longer see horrible acts as being terrorism. Instead, they think of them as being logical actions meant to assist them as they struggle to impose their points-of-view.

In the case of Syria rebel terrorists are certainly perceived as freedom fighters. Furthermore, it is likely that not only their Syrian supporters look at them as being freedom fighters, as most of the world is likely to express support regarding their actions. This is also reflected by the fact that many Western powers provide them with resources that can help them beat the system.

b. In many cases ethno-nationalist terrorists are unwilling to accept treaties generally accepted as being valid. As a consequence, they resort to performing terrorist acts in order to impose their political views and in order to have their enemies acknowledge their power. Colonial and neo-colonial powers failed to understand the complexity of attempting to rule over a peoples that were determined to act against anyone who would try to persecute them. A series of violent campaigns started during the twentieth century reflected positively on terrorist groups as many of these communities managed to stand against their oppressors and to impose their power in the territory (Lefebvre 1).

c. While men are typically attracted by terrorism as a result of thinking about the power and the glory that are associated with such practices, matters are different when considering women. Even with the fact… READ MORE

How to Reference "Terrorism Represents the Organized Use" Essay in a Bibliography

Related Essays:

Terrorism (4 Different Topics, 3 Pages Each) Term Paper

Terrorism (4 Different Topics, 3 Pages Each)

Describe the major trends in terrorism in recent years.

Fundamentalism in general has been on the rise in recent years, for example, between… read more

Term Paper 12 pages (4022 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Terrorism / Extremism / Radicalization

---

Defining Terrorism Term Paper

Terrorism

Encyclopedias and dictionaries define terrorism in the easy to understand language but in reality it is a concept that is hard to grasp. In the last two decades terrorism… read more

Term Paper 15 pages (4573 words) Sources: 30 Topic: Terrorism / Extremism / Radicalization

---

Terrorism in Japan Thesis

Japan Terrorism

Aum Shinrikyo: A Cult of Terror

Throughout its history, Japan's proclivity toward highly centralized forms of government has prompted no small amount of social resistance. As an imperial… read more

Thesis 8 pages (3277 words) Sources: 3 Style: MLA Topic: Terrorism / Extremism / Radicalization

---

Domestic U.S. Soft Targets the Identification and Vulnerabilities Term Paper

Terrorism and Domestic "Soft Targets" in the United States

One of the central factors influencing the determination and identification of terrorist "soft targets' in the United States, is the perceived… read more

Term Paper 10 pages (3109 words) Sources: 10 Style: APA Topic: Terrorism / Extremism / Radicalization

---

Relationship Between Terrorism Organized Crime Term Paper

Terrorism has become the bane of our time and terrorists have undermined the confidence and the security of people all over the world. Particularly, the aftermath of September 11 has… read more

Term Paper 5 pages (1681 words) Sources: 2 Style: MLA Topic: Terrorism / Extremism / Radicalization

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>