Research Paper Example on Terrorism

Introduction

According to the Global Terrorism Index of 2016, "The five countries with the highest impact from terrorism as measured by the GTI are Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria. These five countries accounted for 72 per cent of all deaths from terrorism in 2015."(Global Terrorism Index. 2016, 9).

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When you really think about it, the countries mentioned seem to have some outside influence that was the conception of violence in the first place. The dictionary defines terrorism as the unprecedented and illegal use of violence and forms of intimidation against members of the public with political pursuits in mind. The following paper discusses the position of states as terrorism actors; it defines the term intricately in order to understand the full influence of the position. The paper also covers the definition and examples of state sponsored terrorism. It shows the effects of the phenomenon in both the long term and the short term, with a focus on the United States involvement in Chile. On the same note, the two schools of terrorism are discussed in order to fully understand Operation Condor and support the notion that states can without a doubt be terrorist actors. Complete definition and discussion of the terms will help to understand in detail, the evidence provided since the 1970's when Operation Condor was conducted on the southern cone of Latin America. As mentioned earlier, the most emphasis will be paid to Operation Condor in reference to Chile. In essence, therefore, the aim of the paper is to show state sponsored terrorism's existence and to examine the adverse effects of the political strategy on both parties.

Terrorism as an act of intimidation is usually expected to happen between factions that are against a particular state. In these terms, terrorism can be observed as an act to suppress some political powers with an intention to pursue a different political agenda. In other cases, terrorism is expected to mainly cause harm. Interestingly, the Global Terrorism index puts it that there are about 275 known terrorist groups. Of the 275 half have been known to cause no harm or death. (Global Terrorism Index. 2016, 9). The finding proves that each act of terror is fueled by an agenda. This brings us to the notion of terrorist actors. Taken literally, terrorism actors can be defined as those individuals who play a part in the act of causing terror. In essence, terrorist actors can be seen as an essential part in the progression of terrorism. The documents declassified from the Criminal Investigation Agency shows that the United States had a significant part to act in the terrorism operations in Chile. A number of scholars have also looked to explore the comprehensive overview of terrorist actors in third world countries. Consequently, terrorist actors are most likely to be nations that have more influence than the states they support. Most political researchers also study the chronological order that led to the terrorist actors' involvement. The most observed reasons for involvement seem to be to combat communism in the supported state. In a way, the support given is observed to be meant to remove a strong negative political influence (Cavallaro, J., Brewer, S. 2008, 233). In the case of Chile, it was Pinochet who was used to carry out the acts of terror which again led to the nation being led by a dictator.

According to Hendrix and Young, state capacity has a large influence on political violence (2014, 322). The authors put it that the political structure adopted by a state can influence the rebellion and political violence tendencies. In essence, terrorist actors exist in states where the structure is weak and volatile. Another author also puts it that terrorism is a result of weak states (Crenshaw, P.1941, 387). These points show that terrorist actors exist in situations where the states supported have inflexible political structures and less bureaucracy. Therefore, the 'actors' sole purpose is to play a supporting role in the influence of the political structure change in the nation. Pinochet's support by the American government led to the overthrow of the 1975 government. In essence, the United States commemoration of September 11th goes hand in hand with Chile's commemoration of the first day of the coup led by Pinochet. The Pinochet regime led to his arrest and a later advancement into human rights and political studies into the roles of the dictatorship regimes of Chile and Argentina as well as a better political structure for Chile as the remnant country. The studies are the reason the United States as a state terrorism sponsor is on the spotlight as an undoubted terrorist actor in Operation Condor to be discussed in detail later. In conclusion to the detailed description of the term 'terrorist actor' it is clear that the existence of a political actor is influenced by two main things. One is a political agenda different from the one in power. That is, there needs to be a party willing to push for political change. The second essential ingredient for the existence of terrorist actors is an inflexible political structure. A political structure with significant weakness is prone to both acts of terror and the support of political actors.

State sponsored terrorism can be simply defined as the support of violent tendencies by non-state actors engaged in acts of intimidation and terror (Conrad, J. 2011, 524). A most interesting fact about the term is that it is not afforded any examples due to its pejorative nature. However, the phenomenon of a state providing a different state with support is observable and hence extractable. Most scholars argue that the acts of terror experienced in nations are a result of tension. However, the fact that some more powerful forces influence the acts of terror is not opposed as well (Collins, 2014, p. 180). In essence, Conrad examines the correlation between a country's relationship with other countries and the amount of transnational terrorist and intimidation cases experienced by that particular nation (Conrad, 2011, p.526). The author simply argues that when the probability of war between to states is high, there will be a very high chance of the countries sponsoring terror attacks to each other and in turn waging a full scale war against one another. The point shows that state sponsored terrorism can be viewed from two perspectives. One is the perspective of a country wanting power against another country and hence using a different state as a weapon of terror. Second, is the perspective of a state sponsoring another in order to gain influence in the country or any important resources (Zanchetta, B. 2016, 185). The present discussion concentrates on the second phenomena in order to show the influence of the United States on the acts of terror committed in Chile by Pinochet. The next discussion follows the definition and description of the two schools of terrorism studies in order to analyze Operation Condor.

The two schools of terrorism studies used today are the conventional/traditional/ orthodox study of terrorism and the critical study of terrorism. The two schools have emerged as a result of individuals wanting to understand the implications, causes and effects of terrorism in the society. The studies are also viewed as good way to know how to mitigate acts of terror. In essence therefore, the orthodox study of terrorism is observed to look at the mainstream social science phenomena. The conventional studies try to understand independent social constructs in order to gain an objective view of the terrorism phenomena (Heath-Kelly, C. 2008, 230). It does not consider any time, position or social influences of the acts. The orthodox study considers that occurring phenomena are independent from each other. On the other hand, the critical approach tries to examine that every cause has an effect. It investigates the relationships between different social constructs in order to understand the object. Essentially, the critical study follows the approach that object and the subject follow each other in an intricate dynamic link (Cox, R. 1981, 135). In this sense, it considers both the actors and the contexts of the actions themselves. It is clear that the critical approach is the more humanistic approach since it considers the many parameters available in order for an act of terror to occur. In essence, the critical terrorism studies consider the social, cultural, economic, political and legal processes leading to the acts of terror. The critical approach maintains that there are different ways of seeing things that lead to seeing terrorism as a social fact rather than a brute one(Cox, R. 1981, 139). The two studies are discussed next based on United States influence on Chile and Operation Condor.

According to the conventional study approach on terrorism, the effect of the United States of America as a 'terrorist' actor can be considered. The traditional approach takes this consideration due to its focus on the problem solving side of things. It looks to solve the probable conflict between parties involved (Stump, J., Ditix, P. 2011, 200). It is a study that aims to look at the causes of violence in cases that as well try to explain and justify the causes of terrorism. It investigates the subjective understanding of the violence in terms of the instigator and the ones affected by the acts of intimidation and terror. Essentially, most scholars put it that the orthodox studies cover and international relations point of view. In the case of Operation Condor as an example, the orthodox studies would put the international relations perspective and investigate the need for America aiding Pinochet's coup. In essence, the monopoly of the study looks at the state government counter terrorism and anti-terrorism practices. Orthodox studies try to understand the act of terrorism itself (Gunning, J. 2007, 362). The root causes are not important in the traditional view of terrorism since it tries to look for problem solving perspectives while ignoring the illegitimate two way approach of viewing the act of terrorism. In order to fully understand the orthodox studies on terrorism it can be observed that the traditional study look at the United States of America as the liberal power of the North influencing the illiberal states of the southern cone. In order to serve foreign policy objectives the liberal nations use terrorism as a repressive tool. The phenomenon is known as state terrorism. The major difference of the orthodox approach and the critical terrorism approach is that the orthodox approach ignores state terrorism. In this sense, the critical approach mitigates the weaknesses that the conventional approach presents.

According to Cox, the critical study on terrorism does not take institutions and social power political relations for granted; instead it focuses on their role and origins in the evolution of the acts of terror, it analyses the actions which the orthodox studies accept as parameters (Cox, R. 1989, 139). Some authors have put it that the tendency of the orthodox studies to reject the term state terrorism puts some Northern powers in a position to claim liberal positions while leading to the suppression of some southern Latin states. In essence, the critical approach give more scrutiny to the term terrorism by asserting that critical approaches need to be employed to challenge institutions and approaches (Jarvis, L. 2009, 20). In essence, it is able to examine the foreign powers such as the United States acting on Chile and other southern cone Latin American countries. The critical approach in examining foreign policies of powerful states is import...