Introduction:
Counter terrorism in Southeast Asia is a slow and demanding process. Since 2010 the state of terrorism in Mindanao (The Philippines), southern Thailand and Indonesia have progressed at very different paces. The differences exhibited in these states can be attributed to the ability of the governments to handle terrorism during the investigation and prosecution stages. This raises issues with corruption, mismanagement, evolving methods and more volatile groups developing when others fail. Actions by these states through uniting international resources and cooperation to combat money laundering are attempting to reduce the money available to terrorist organisations but due to the domestic and low cost nature of smaller improvised explosive devices difficulties arise with detection. These states all reflect the shifting nature of terrorism towards domestically involved groups targeting governmental figures rather then dramatic attacks. This may be due to an increase in counterterrorism strategies and protocols but as each state is distinct in its terror threat, different mechanisms must be used to specifically target groups within states. Active measures have been taken in these states to combat the spread of terrorism. The targeting of financial sources, criminal arrests and successful detection and prevention of plots but extremist groups have assisted in the general reduction of terrorism but the changing methods and groups make terrorism a consistent concern for both the present and future of these states.
Due to the indefinable nature of terrorism from an international perspective, the purpose of this essay, to examine and compare recent terrorism in Southeast Asia, will adhere to the definitions existing within...
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The Thai government lacks the ability to successfully monitor financial transactions to non-government organisations such as charities . The state continues to be blacklisted with regards to financial transactions for failure to pass recommended legislation against money laundering and terrorist funding . This is contrasted to the Philippines and Indonesia who are actively taking steps to reduce money laundering within their states.
Like in other states, the media is being used by Thai government agencies and a small group of international Non-government organisations targeting ethnic Malay-Muslims youths in fight against radicalization and violent extremism . Overall Southern Thailand must be distinguished as a state suffering from insurgencies that use terror tactics rather then terrorist organisations promoting their ideologies.
In the modern society, the enmity between various criminal gangs and the security agencies have also been on the rise and this is expected to continue escalating in the future. Some of these groups include criminals and terrorists. Terrorists, for instance, focus on ensuring that
Drug trafficking and terrorism are illegal clandestine activities with strong national security and law enforcement threat components and operational similarities. Terrorists like drug traffickers, need weapons and engage in violence to achieve goals. Terrorists, like drug traffickers, are often involved in hiding and laundering sources of funds. Both terrorists and drug traffickers operate transnationally, and often get logistical and operational support from local ethnic satellite communities. Both groups often rely on the criminal community for support: they may need smuggled weapons, forged documents and safe houses to operate effectively. Finally, both groups need a steady cash flow to operate. In the case of terrorists, where state sources of funding are rapidly diminishing, drug trafficking is an attractive funding option. Increasingly, terrorist organizations are looking to criminal activity and specifically the drug trade as a source of funding. The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces, a guerilla force) in Colombia are but one of many cases in point.
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.
Violence marks much of human history. Within the sociopolitical sphere, violence has continually served as a tool used by various actors to influence and/or to control territory, people, institutions and other resources of society. The twentieth century witnessed an evolution of political violence in form and in scope. Continuing into the twenty-first, advances in technology and social organization dramatically increase the potential destructiveness of violent tools. Western colonialism left a world filled with many heterogeneous nation-states. In virtually all these countries nationalist ideologies have combined with ethnic, religious, and/or class conflicts resulting in secessionist movements or other kinds of demands. Such conflicts present opportunities for various actors in struggles for wealth, power, and prestige on both national and local levels. This is particularly evident in Indonesia, a region of the world that has experienced many forms of political violence. The state mass killings of 1965-66 mark the most dramatic of such events within this region. My goal is to understand the killings within a framework of collec...
“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 concept of terrorism is exceedingly difficult to define. Author Gerald Seymour first said in his book Harry’s Game that, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”. Each individual may view terrorism in a different light. Because of this, there is currently no universal definition of terrorism. However, in recent years, it has become increasingly more important to form a definition of terrorism, especially while working in the media.
The Horn of Africa is one of the most important hubs for maritime traffic in the world today. Raw goods, including oil, that are departing the nations of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East must pass through this area in route to Europe and the West. Three-fourths of the Earth is covered in water and roughly eighty percent of global economic goods are transported via commercial maritime shippers. The volume of maritime trade is highly congested in this region. Ships must pass through either the Gulf of Aden and ultimately to the Mediterranean or proceed south from the Arabian Sea towards the southern trip of Africa via the Indian Ocean. Piracy in the region has increasing dramatically in the last decade, largely because Somalia and Yemen can be considered failed states. The lack of government involvement in suppressing pirate activities has indirectly allowed them to flourish. The sheer size of the area, roughly two and a half billion square miles, goes predominantly unpatrolled. The scope of the problem piracy poses pales in comparison to the size of the ocean in which they successfully operate.
Currently, International system is focusing on issues related with maritime security. Maritime security coxncern with threats that prevail in the maritime domain (Klein 2011; Kraska and Pedrozo 2013; Roach 2004; Vrey 2010, 2013). These threats include interstate-dispute, terrorism, piracy, drugs trafficking, people and illicit foods, arms proliferation, illegal fishing, environmental crimes, as well as accidents and disaster which happen in maritime domain. Thus, generally, maritime security can be defined as the absence of those threats. Meanwhile, there is an argument that inter-states dispute should be categorized as national security instead of maritime security. Thus, there is another definition of maritime security which define maritime security as good or stable order at sea (Till 2004; Vrey 2010; Kraska and Pedrozo 2013: 1). The definition of maritime security from one to another is different as the scope of maritime security is broad and each actor has different point of view on the issue. There is no universal legal definition about maritime security. The United Nation itself only
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...
The last few decades the world has itself facing multiple terrorist threats, and terrorist attacks. Although there are other concerns that need to be factored in when traveling abroad for business, terrorism, and its many façades, warrants special attention. Rittichainuwat and Chakraborty (2009) performed research to see what many people perceive as a risk when traveling. The research focused on Thailand more so than other locations, is still plausible that information found can be applied to any location. According to Rittichainuwat and Chakraborty (2009), “terrorism prefers to use of premeditated violence, or threat of violence by organized groups against civilians or unarmed military personnel, in order to attain political, religious, or ideological goals.” It was found that regardless of low travel costs, an overwhelming majority of the respondents in this study “would not overlook personal safety,” which included both frequent and first-time travelers (Rittichainuwat & Chakraborty, 2009). Dr. Rittichainuwat is an Associate Professor at Siam University, Thailand. He has written one book in over twenty-five professional journal articles and presentations. Also, in 2004, Dr. Rittichainuwat won the Award for Best Paper, at the Second APacCHRIE Conference and The Sixth Biennial Conference on Tourism in Asia. His associate, Dr. Chakraborty received his PhD from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. In 2003 Dr. Chakraborty became an associate professor of...
Terrorist organizations have been committing atrocities against innocent civilians throughout the world for hundreds of years. Terrorism has evolved in many different forms and from various motivations such as religious protest movements, political revolts, and social uprisings. Regardless of the motives for terror, the problem is the financing of terrorism and terrorist organizations themselves. Recent global terrorist attacks using high technology and extensive networks have shown that money is essential to provide the means behind all terrorist activities. Individual terrorists plan terrorist operations and require resources to live, prepare, and implement their plans. The use of money laundering and financial support schemes are the root of the cause. If money laundering were curtailed or even eliminated, and financial supporters of terrorism were identified terrorism would decrease dramatically. To achieve these goals would take monumental efforts. The United States, United Nations and all sovereign nations would need to take cooperative action that has never been accomplished. Terrorism, its' history, concepts, reasoning, methods, and financial roots are object of this research.
Many groups of people use money laundering today, and many ways exist to launder money. Money laundering has become more sophisticated over the years. It is much different then when Al Capone laundered his bootleg profits. The United States is doing what they can to combat this illegal activity but without the help of others it is an impossible task. Many countries have teamed up with the Unites States to help. The only way to truly combat it is to persuade the other countries to develop anti-laundering standards. Along with developing these standards, banks need to train their staff on how to catch different transactions and policies to catch money laundering. Because laundering is so easy in these less developed countries laundering will continue, and while this illegal activity continues the activity itself will continue to destroy the economy in which it exists.
With the known death toll of Myanmar Muslims and other minority groups increasing and the Myanmar government publicly admitting to “misplacing” huge numbers of people who fall into the religious minority, suspicions that the Myanmar government is assisting in this religious genocide have justifiably arisen. Globally known extreme religious group Isis is renowned for their religious intolerance.