Terrorism: Causes and Effects
On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four airliners and crashed them into different spots in the United States, resulting in nearly 3,000 deaths (9/11 Commemorations and Memorials). This tragedy had triggered a continuous battle held by governments, especially the United States, against terrorist groups. Ever since, terrorism, the act or threat of violence causing serious damage for political aims (TERRORISM), commenced to attract global attention strongly. The causes as well as impacts of these actions are various and complex.
The Twin Towers were crashed into by two airliners in the September 11 attack.
The reasons behind terrorism vary according to living conditions, ethnicity, nationality and religion. The root cause of many attacks is poor governance. Governments’ corruption over a long period leads to injustice, economical and political instability, in which violence emerges as a solution. Through the existence of violence in societies as a part of the culture, the idea of using violence and consequently, terrorism, to end the chaos is implemented in some individuals’ mind. This idea is supported by Robert L. Feldman from U.S. Foreign Military Studies Office, who wrote: “In the wake of these failing societies, first verbal dissent and then physical dissent, as expressed by acts of violence, can be found” (Feldman, 2009).
Differentiation in treatment between races and religious group is noted by the European research project ‘Transnational Terrorism, Security and the Rule of Law’ as another major cause of terrorism (Concepts of Terrorism, 2008). Specifically, this is the negative development of nationalism, racism, and religious separation, where terrorism is a tool to grab global attention. Most terrorists at first live in societies with strong beliefs in a religion or with nationalism. However, their nations are over-influenced by or have conflicts with other nations and cultures. Rejecting this, the love of some individuals becomes hatred and terrorism forms. As an example, Al Qaeda, a notorious terrorist group, wants to eliminate non-Muslim factors on Muslim lands.
Number of incidents caused by each terrorist group ideology from Institute for Economics and Peace
Terrorism’s consequences are in a variety of forms. Directly, lives are lost and infrastructure is damaged. In 2011 alone, there were 4,564 terrorist attacks, causing 7,473 fatalities and wounding many more, excluding government-backed actions like aerial bombing (Apps, 2012). There are also indirect impacts. First, the victim will face psychological disorientations. In specific, most will face acute stress disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder (Greig, 2006).
ABSTRACT: Terrorists were very active long before September 11. This essay reviews the 1988 downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland and the March 1995 gas attack in the Tokyo subway. The results of these terrorist acts, who carried them out, how they were carried out, and what can be done in the future to prevent such incidents from happening again are all investigated.
Terrorism – This is a word that many people are terrified of. When a terrorist attack occurs, people’s daily routines are shattered. Things change instantaneously the moment the bomb goes of. When we think about a terrorist attack that really impacted the world, we immediately think about 9/11. On that day many people were hurt directly and indirectly. People were disorientated and scared. The moment there is change, the world panics. Unfortunately, 9/11 was not the only day where people panicked. On 1988, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 occurred. This terrorist attack was not as massive as 9/11; but, it did leave scares especially to the Syracuse University community.
On the morning of September 11/2001, 19 terrorist working for the Al Qaeda terrorist organization hijacked four commercial planes. They attempted to fly them into multiple U.S targets. One of the planes, American Airlines, flight 11, crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:50 a.m. Another plane, United Airlines, flight 175, crashed into the south tower at 9:04 a.m. These tragedies took the lives of nearly 3000 people and affected the lives of millions.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were horrific and traumatic events that affected not only the United States but had global ramifications as well. The events of that day produced immediate and long term effects on numerous aspects of society. The human tragedy in the loss of human life was immeasurable. The societal effects of 9/11 continue to be present even today as the war against terror continues. It is difficult to measure the societal impacts, but the economic cost of the attacks, have been and continue to be measured.
Historical Significance: The September 11th, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, orchestrated by Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden, were the events that launched the U.S. War on Terrorism. Al-Qaeda’s attack on the United States was carried out by members of radicalized Islamic groups, whose objective was to spread jihad against the secular influence of the West. This tragic event provided the historical b...
In the article “Terrorized by War on Terror” by Zbigniew Brzezinski, is about the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two the World Trade Center in New York City. The crash caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse causing the whole city to fill up with smoke and ash. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane cr...
Sedgwick, M. (2004). Al-Qaeda and the nature of religious terrorism. Terrorism and Policical Violence, 16(4), 795-814.
The topic of my paper is types of terrorism. There are several types of terrorism for which to choose for my paper, state, dissident, religious, left-wing v. right-wing, and international. In this paper I have chosen state terrorism, religious terrorism, and international terrorism as the types of terrorism that I am going to discuss. I will discuss what they are in my own words and give examples of two different groups for each type that represent that type of terrorism. Then I will compare and contrast the three types of terrorism that I chose.
Michael Walzer is an esteemed retired professor from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Walzer has written many books, essays, and articles. His essay, Excusing Terror, is one that best relates to the current events happening around the world. In this essay, Walzer talks about different reasons that people would want to resort to terrorism. In this essay I will argue Walzers view on Terrorism is correct in that terrorism is wrong because it is akin to murder, it is random in who it targets, and no one has immunity. I will also offer an objection to Walzer’s theory and explain why it is not a valid one.
Terrorism has been around for centuries and religion-based violence has been around just as long. (Hoffman, 2). The violence was never referred to as terrorism though. Only up to the nineteenth century has religion been able to justify terrorism (Hoffman, 2). Since then, religious terrorism became motivated and inspired by the ideological view (Hoffman, 3). Therefore, it has turned against the main focus of religion and more towards the views of the extremist and what is happening politically (Winchester, 4).
“Terrorism involves the use of violence by an organization other than a national government to cause intimidation or fear among a target audience;” at least, this is how Pape (2003) defines terrorism in his article “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism” (343). The goal of this article by Pape is to discuss suicide terrorism and how it “follows a strategic logic, one specifically designed to coerce modern liberal democracies to make significant territorial concessions” (343). Similar to Pape, Bloom (2004) and Horowitz (2010) also delve into the exponential increase of suicide terrorism and why it occurs. Although Pape, Bloom, and Horowitz concur that suicide terrorism is increasing, they disagree why it is so prominent. While the arguments presented from each of these researchers is powerful and certainly plausible, suicide terrorism is in fact not irrational, but strategic and is most often caused by state occupation and, when organized, aimed specifically at democracies.
The threat of global terrorism continues to rise with the total number of deaths reaching 32,685 in 2015, which is an 80 percent increase from 2014 (Global Index). With this said, terrorism remains a growing, and violent phenomenon that has dominated global debates. However, ‘terrorism’ remains a highly contested term; there is no global agreement on exactly what constitutes a terror act. An even more contested concept is whether to broaden the scope of terrorism to include non-state and state actors.
The word terrorism was first used during the French Revolution from the reign of terror inflicted by the French from 1784-1804 ("International Affairs"). It was used to describe the violent acts perpetrated on the French that inflicted terror on the various peoples and instilled fear within them. However, at the time it had a more positive connotation than the term that instills fear today. During the French Revolution this was because it referred to state-sponsored terrorism in order to show the need of state instead of anarchy, sometimes promoted by other groups (Hoffman 2). Therefore, even though terrorism has taken a new nature, terrorism can refer to official governments or guerrilla groups operating outside national governments ("International Affairs"). In order to encompass terrorism’s various sectors and explain it to the public, in both positive and negative aspects, many analysts have tried to put it into a few words. Terrorism is a method used by tightly of loosely organized groups operation within states or international territories that are systematic in using deliberate acts of violence or threats in order to instill...
Terrorism has many forms, and many definitions. “Elements from the American definitional model define terrorism as a premeditated and unlawful act in which groups or agents of some principal engage in a threatened or actual use o...
Terrorism is one of the most extensively discussed issues of our time and at the same time it is also one of the least understood. The term itself “terrorism” means many different things to different people, cultures, and races. As a result, trying to define or classify terrorism with one universal definition is nearly impossible. The definition of terrorism used in this research is a reflection of much of the Western and American way of defining it. The definition of terrorism is,