Essay Sample on Terrorism: A Global Challenge in the 21st Century

Introduction

Terrorism is one of the problems facing the contemporary world. It involves the use of violence by subnational groups or individuals to achieve their political, social, and economic objectives. Since terrorists meet their interests through intimidation, the effects of this aspect go beyond the direct impacts to the immediate victims. However, there are multiple definitions of terrorism and hence implies that the world is not in consensus on its scope. Two aspects explain the difficulty of arriving at a standard definition of terrorism. First, no international agreement clarifies whether terrorism extends beyond the conventional extremist actions against civilians. Secondly, it does not criminalize the 'good people' that cause loss of life but instead exclusively focus on violent radical groups and individuals.

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The existing international agreements do not state whether the scope of terrorism covers other forms of violence against civilians. Thus, this aspect has led to multiple interpretations of the concept in different perspectives. The activities of the government forces such as the military, for instance, involves the use of violence but do not fall under terrorism. This indiscrimination in categorizing attacks, therefore, causes differences in the definition of the term. The second factor is about the criminalization of groups and individuals depending on their courses. In this perspective, the outcome of violent extremist activities has the same effects as that of groups advancing specific ideologies through mechanisms such as separatism, irredentism, and the war for national independence and guerrilla warfare (Wojciechowski, 2009).

While the scope of terrorism differs from one country to another, some of the definitions have weaknesses in their perspective. The debate surrounding the definition of terrorism revolves around who, why, what, by whom, and whom. Jessica Stern, for instance, defines it as "an act or threat of violence against non-combatants, intending to intimidate or otherwise influence an audience or audiences." (As cited in Schinkel, 2009, p. 181). In this description, merely mentioning that terrorism is a threat of violence is not sufficient. The definition does not state whether some people are injured or killed in the course of extremist actions. The use of the world 'non-combatant' is also ambiguous since it is not clear whether destroying infrastructure such as water systems would be part of terrorism.

Leftist and Rightist Extremist Movements

A significant proportion of terrorist attacks have their basis on the ideologies of the rightist and leftists movements. While it is difficult to use this political theory to categorize terrorism, it is no doubt that it plays critical roles in the understanding of the ideologies underlying violent extremist actors in the present-day world. The two groups have both differences and similarities and hence have a role in shaping attitudes towards terrorism.

The rightist extremists believe in economic freedom, equity and value of their traditions. Survival for the fittest is a critical ideology that guides this group of people. Hence, they think that they have the freedom to advance their traditional ideologies that they perceive crucial for their groups. Also, they have a perspective that the government should not regulate businesses in their communities since they have powers to control their possessions. However, the belief that rightist extremists should take care of themselves besides their freedom to succeed over equality motivates them to join extremist groups to advance their interests.

The leftist extremist movements, in contrast, is an idealist group of people that believe in equality and support groups or individuals that are willing to help themselves. Unlike the rightist extremists that seems traditional, this group is progressive and future-oriented. The leftists' extremists have positive attitudes towards taxation, wealth distribution, and other national aspects. While the rightists prioritize their success over equality, the leftist extremists value equality over the freedom to fail. Hence, radical terrorism occurs where the movement has an ideology to introduce socialism after overthrowing the capitalist system.

Regarding similarities, both groups believe in radical political movements to initiate changes. Accordingly, the reliance upon force in their political engagements leads to a violation of civil liberties in the course of advancing democratic ideals. The second similarity is that the two opposing ends base their ideologies on issues of personal belief, political philosophy, and public policy. Their contrasting views are on questions about equality, sexual freedom, family values, and religion. The right-wing extremists consist of neo-confederates, anti-Muslim attackers, sovereign citizens, white nationalists, and non-socialist secessionists (Flows, 2017). The characteristics of their underground network entail fighting for the rights of their religion, races, and groups. The right-wing extremists, on the other hand, are anti-white racists, socialists, communists, animal rights activists, and LGBT extremists. The core features of its underground network are fighting for equality, rights of the vulnerable groups, anti-racism, and socialism.

Terrorism Within the Contexts of Technology

The threats of contemporary terrorism have dramatically changed in the wake of globalization. The effectiveness of terrorism has significantly improved with the introduction of sophisticated communication technologies, the internet and broadcast media. As such, there is no doubt that these factors are opportunities for violent extremist actors to advance their interests. The internet, in particular, facilitates communication and consequently coordination of terror activities globally. Terrorists, in this case, have formed a worldwide network that can effectively communicate when planning their extremist activities. Therefore, the broadcast media, internet, and other technologies have improved the effectiveness of terrorism by making violent extremist groups more resilient and connected than decades ago. These aspects have transformed the capabilities of terror groups to plan, organize, coordinate and execute violence.

Terrorists have exploited communication channels to facilitate the coordination of their activities. The exploitation of the cyberspace suggests that terrorists are utilizing communication channels to execute their agendas. However, the impacts of terrorism on the audience has increased with the exploitation of the communication channels. Cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure is an example of the changes and increased consequences of terrorism on the public. Communication outlets have changed the nature of impacts beyond physical injuries to psychological effects. For instance, terror organizations send messages to target individuals through the internet in their attempt to recruit more members. They also hire hackers to access unauthorized information that is critical for the coordination of their operations.

International Community in Combating Terrorism

The international community has critical roles to play in counter-terrorism collectively. Technological changes, in particular, necessitates the international community to strategize on the elimination of emerging threats of terrorism besides addressing the new threats. The global community can collectively respond to the issue in four ways. The first approach is to resolve conditions conducive for the spread of extremist violence. For instance, the states can prevent religious radicalization that encourages people to join terror organizations globally. Secondly, the international community can enact mechanisms that prevent and combat violent extremist movements across the globe through legislation. This aspect implies that the United Nations and its member states can agree on controlling the flow of resources, which may be available to facilitate terrorism. Thirdly, the international community can combine efforts to strengthen and build the capacity of individual states to combat the problem at a national level. Finally, the states can collectively promote global human rights and the rule of law. This element enables individuals and group movements to communicate their concerns using appropriate mechanisms instead of joining violent extremist groups.

References

Flows, C. (2017, August 21). Which Ideology Has Inspired the Most Murders in Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Soil? Retrieved 13 May 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2017/08/21/which-ideology-has-inspired-the-most-murders-in-terrorist-attacks-on-u-s-soil/#664445c51e74/url/

Schinkel, W. (2009). On the concept of terrorism. Contemporary Political Theory, 8(2), 176-198. DOI: 10.1057/cpt.2008.37

Wojciechowski, S. (2009). Why is it so Difficult to Define Terrorism? Polish Political Science. YB, 38, 58. Retrieved 13 May 2019, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234128960/url/