Political Impact of 9/11 Attack - Essay Sample

Introduction

One of the events that shaped the politics of The United States and the international political scene was the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 (the event is famously known as the 9/11 attack). Directed towards the world trade center complex, in the United States of America. This attack caused hundreds of deaths and billions in infrastructure and property damage. This prompted the shape and direction politics took in the United States following the aftermath and the state of politics today in the United States and all over the world.

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Politics is considered the use of social power where leaders seek power from a group of people. The United States government is formed from the exercise of democracy. Democracy is where the people are given the power to choose their leaders. Leaders then mobilize the electorate through politics, by presenting their ideologies to the electorate, ideas are usually based on a wide range including security, economic empowerment, and health policies.

Terrorism is the use of violence for intimidation. Directing violence towards civilians to influence a perceived enemy into submission. (Jongman, 2017). Rather than the use of legal means to voice demands, a group of individuals uses force and violence for recognition. The violence is directed towards civilians affiliated directly or indirectly to the perceived enemy. This in their view is expected to claim recognition and hostage mentality. Terrorism can also be considered as well organized and systematically planned crime by an organization to cause fear in society. (Sanyal, 2018)

The people of the United States were shocked by the events of 9/11; political unity came in to support the leading faction during that period, compared to the years before and after. Affective politics was the influential power during that period, being politics based on emotions. The solidarity of Americans towards those affected by the attack. This however declined in the years that followed. (Hall, & Ross, 2015). Some factions also emerged with different opinions on how terrorism was being addressed by the then government.

Divisions between citizens of the United States were evident when they realized that some people intended to cause harm to them. The divisions were mainly racially motivated; some people argued that all of the people who immigrated and lived in the US illegally of South Asian descent were to be treated as criminals while others thought this was because of strict immigration rules hence they should be given an opportunity to legalize their stay (Golash-Boza, 2015). This lead to a difference in political opinion with the citizenry of the United States post the 9/11 attack.

Internationally, political formations that emerged during the period sought to present a united front of several countries against terrorism. More strict laws were formulated to tame the formation of groups that were viewed as terrorists. Political and economic sanctions were implemented against countries that were unable to control the formation of the said groups, one of the countries that were affected by such laws was Afghanistan which was invaded to stop the terrorist groups al-Qaida and the Taliban who were thought to be responsible for the 9/11 attack (Silberstein, 2004)

Globalization after the 9/11 attack has also influenced political identification and attachment caused by constant interactions with factions that have different ideologies. This has led to political and cultural integration but also creating visible differences and tensions (Croucher, 2018). Individuals with different ideas and cultures are systematically excluded if they express their stand on continued practice of their cultures. This has motivated the insurgence of activists that seek to have their opinions heard and general recognition of their ideologies; social support and political motivations drive this action.

Democracy and civil liberties were negatively impacted by post 9/11. Governments are often suspected of being justifying their increased breach of civil rights of their citizenry. This is also has caused division between individuals who support these to have their safety assured and those who don't support a breach of their civil rights. Some detentions by the governments have been faulted for being unjustified; this has widely caused an undermined public confidence.

Despite the attacks of 9/11 being generally eye-opening to the world, political unity is still far from being achieved in the United States and other countries. The differences in ideologies and views are big so long as it has a positive impact on the citizenry of the country. Differences in ideology are allowed across political factions; the differences in the ideas are what sells the political factions to the citizenry for them to be affiliated with a faction that suits their needs accurately. The fact that some political factions are generally radical and have different intentions compared to others has also been addressed in most countries, and laws are protecting against these factions have been formulated. Protection should also be considered for minor political groups that base their policies on protecting certain cultures.

The events of 9/11 had both positive and negative impacts on the political environment of the United States and the world. Formations and strengthening of the international political scene can be viewed as the most significant impact of the 9/11 attack. This attack however also led restrictions and seclusion of a few who sought to have their views expressed through radical methods like mass action. Furthermore, discrimination and backlash against Arabs, Muslims, Sikh and South-Asian Americans were also evident throughout the US. This has however declined over the years after the realization that terrorism is orchestrated by individuals who owe allegiance only to their individual views and not to those of a citizenry or race.

References

Croucher, S. (2018). Globalization and belonging: The politics of identity in a changing world. Rowman & Littlefield.

Golash-Boza, T. M. (2015). Immigration nation: Raids, detentions, and deportations in post-9/11 America. Routledge.

Hall, T. H., & Ross, A. A. (2015). Affective politics after 9/11. International Organization, 69(4), 847-879.

Jongman, A. J. (2017). Political terrorism: A new guide to actors, authors, concepts, data bases, theories, and literature. Routledge.

Sanyal, S. (2018). Sociological and Psychological impact of Terrorism. Book on Terrorism The Many Dimensions, published by Lenin Media Delhi, Forthcoming.

Silberstein, S. (2004). War of words: Language, politics and 9/11. Routledge.