Imperialism And Terrorism

Terrorism is defined as an act of violence that is committed by an organization or a single person in order to be heard. Terrorist acts are usually based on a couple factors such as, historical grievances, foreign policy decision, poverty, and religion. Terrorism is not a new act amongst the world but something that has been around since the beginning. To understand a criminal you must think like a criminal, and understand why they committed a crime or a violent act, then you can prevent and conquer.

“Terrorism's particularly heinous but highly attractive means to achieve political objectives or even radically restructure political foundations is manifest within societies in all reaches of the world. While the practical application of terrorist methodologies comes across as a relatively straightforward craft, the conceptual and ideological understanding, and subsequent evaluation of its socio-political influence, implementation, and psychological impacts present difficult questions, and in some cases conceivably insurmountable obstacles” (Romaniuk 2014, para

Al-Qaeda is an Arabic term that means “the base” and arguably one of the most dangerous Islamic terrorist organisation in the world.. It was formed by Saudi millionaire Osama Bin Laden in the late 1980’s to resist the Soviet Union, which occurred from 1979 to 1989.The Al-Qaeda group is a large and very complex network which involves many countries and radical Sunni Muslim Organization. Afghanistan became ungoverned for 7 years soon after the Soviet Union withdrew during which the country experienced constant fighting among different groups just within their jurisdiction. This resulted into poverty and many children being orphaned. Most of the Orphans were educated in Islamic schools resulting to the growth of radical students and followers of what became to be known as Al-Qaeda.

Terrorism is an act that threatens or carries out violence with the intention to disrupt, kill or coerce against a body or nation in order to impose will. This means that a lot of groups use this method to get what they want. The groups use a variety of methods, groups such as:

Extremism is often the consequence of forced cultural adaptation and oppression. The China Boxer Rebellion is one such example of extremism. While 9/11 may appear to be an isolated incident led by Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda fanatics, it is far from being unique. The rise of Stalin, the creation of The Shining Path and the Boxer Rebellion of China to 9/11 all share a commonality; It is that when people are disenfranchised, they are more prone to radical ideologies.

The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan set off political and humanitarian crisies, although not immediately. With the September 11 2001 attacks, the U.S retaliated by attacking Afghanistan with the goal of ousting the Taliban leaders. The war of Iraq not only caused the deaths of many of civilians, but also massive displacement of millions of people. According to UNHCR, there are 1.9 million internally displaced people in the country and 2 million refugees escaped to neighboring countries, especially Syria and Jordan. (Global Policy). With millions of people flooding into the country of Syria, and Jordan, this lead to strife in both locations. There was a lack of resources and space to take care of the numbers of innocents fleeing a war. With several million people fleeing into poverty, the radical groups prey upon the feeling of discontent, and transform this into anger towards the west, effectively demonising the “enemy”. Consequently, as their anger grows, these people become increasingly sympathetic towards violent extremism, perhaps even eventually resorting to violence themselves (Scholar Commons). Radicalist groups enjoy preying upon the weakness of people. Weaknesses like poverty, hunger, and displacement from their home countries, make them susceptible to indoctrination. "In early Islam, it was an absolute tenet that the prophet was not to be worshipped. The

Factors like social grievances, economic woes and other similarities, give rise to violent extremist groups. Areas with lawlessness and desperation cause people to argue and bring terror (Does Terrorism,178). Extremist groups are often welcomed in such places because they may offer more of basic securities than the state itself. On the other hand, terrorism could be a weapon of the strong, not for the weak. Stronger states are able to disguise it as a legitimate violence

What do we think of when you hear the word terrorism around the globe? The answer that many people may give to this question is that it has to deal with killing of innocent people, the handling of guns, and destroying homes. Some may even ask the question, who is responsible for such actions. The answer that many give to this question would be that it is an act by the Muslims. The German leader, Adolf Hitler, massacred millions of innocent Jewish people just so he could prove what his power was to the Jewish people. The action of terrorism does not necessarily come from the Muslims. Rather, the actions stem from a decision of an individual with a corrupted mind which leads them into thinking that these actions of terrorizing and killing innocent people is an acceptable thing to do.

Empires have had a large effect on the history of terrorism, especially throughout the age of discovery. Due to empires colonising different parts of the world, and often they could be far away from the homeland, many different trading ports and routes were set up and trading introduced a new form of terrorism. Pirates would prey on traders buy robbing them of their goods throughout their journeys, and as such inspired fear amongst traders as there was virtually impossible to prevent the possibility of encountering a pirate whilst travelling. Pirates weren’t the only form of terrorism that was assisted by empires. Often rulers didn’t treat the people of colonised lands humanly, and in a number of cases the people would rebel and attempt to

What exactly is terrorism? “Terrorism is commonly defined as violent acts (or the threat of violent acts) intended to create fear (terror), perpetrated for a religious, political, or ideological goal, and which deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants, civilians.” The intent of terrorist groups differ vastly depending on the situation they are in and the message they want to send. Terrorists use violence for many things including: to produce widespread fear, obtain recognition for their cause through the media, to weaken the government, to free prisoners, to satisfy vengeance, and to influence government decisions. Ideology and motivation also influence the objectives of terrorist groups, particularly regarding the casualty rate. Secular terrorist groups

There are many situations that can lead to the use of terrorism. Terrorism can occur in both poor as well as wealthy countries, and in both democracies and states under different kinds of dictatorship. However, terrorism is most likely to occur in countries that are characterized by poverty and oppression. People in poor countries might feel like they are subjected to an unfair distribution of the world’s wealth. Poverty is claimed to be an underlying part of all the causes of terrorism.

Terrorism is globally becoming a household word as there is no nation that is completely absolved from its effect. Globalization has significantly influenced the spate of terrorism as the event in one part of the globe has direct or an indirect effect on others. This explains why Horne (2002) in Rourke (2008) observes that war, terrorism and other forms of transnational political violence are in many ways more threatening today than ever before as civilian casualty has been on increase. It is however difficult to evolve a single definition for the term ?terrorism?. The difficulty emanates from the lack of consensus or unified perspective among nations or scholars as to what could be regarded as terrorist act. Hence, terrorism has been described variously as both a tactic and strategy; a crime and a holy duty; a justified reaction to oppression and inexcusable abomination since it is a function of whose point of view is being represented (http://www.terrorism-research.com/).

Essentially, there is another viewpoint that contends that terrorism can be viewed as a socio-political feature that that is difficult to describe with objectivity and universality. What is more, when observing religious fundamentalism, from the political perspective, there is a possibility that the communities which are affected by poverty, fragility, and underdevelopment are the breeding grounds for the dissatisfaction that often lead to violence and extremism.

As far as terrorism and these terrorists extensive plots against other countries, a more in depth look should go towards the social aspect of these individuals. This is a big part in the cause of terrorism. Some of the findings, through brief research, may suggest oppression is related with terrorism. Another term that could be used and may be more appropriate in this case would be the term totalism. A totalistic individual is one who sees themselves as being oppressed, and basically will justify his or her actions through their own self-pity. This perhaps may be a cynical definition, but the average person who is picked on by a tall muscular bully may not always resent tall muscular people. On the other hand, another individual as opposed to a totalistic individual will not forgive nor forget this type of person. They may also be extremely prone to making horrific attacks against these types of people.

Terrorism is a term the world hears more than we want to. ISIS is making its headlines and bringing fear into the world. Fear is what terrorist thrive on and it is key to get policy makers attention. Defining terrorism is difficult because it has so many factors but it simply has one key point and that is the act of violence. Violence is used by small groups to achieve political change and it goes back to state violence against citizens during French Revolution and historically that is how terrorism has come to be defined.