GISE April, 2014 Tran, Thi Thuy Vuong I35028

Terrorism is defined as the use of violence by sub-state groups to inspire fear, by attacking civilians and symbolic targets for purpose such as drawing widespread attention to a grievance, provoking a severe response, or wearing down their opponent’s moral resolve, to effect political change.

 First and foremost, the characteristic of terrorism is the use of violence.  The tactic of violence takes many forms and often indiscriminately targets non-combatants.  The targets by terrorist are less legitimate and spreading fear by killing and maiming civilians.

 Terrorist groups often lack broader support for their objective  Therefore, reaching consensus on what constitutes terrorism is difficult. The legitimacy of terrorist means and methods is the foremost reason for disagreement.  Technologies associated with globalization have been used to improve the effectiveness and reach of terrorist groups, such as the ability of terrorist groups to work together, share information and reach out to previously unavailable audiences.

 Three factors led to the birth of transnational terrorism:  The expansion of commercial air travel  The availability of televised news coverage  Boarding political and ideological interest among extremists that intersected around a common cause

 The Iranian “Islamic Revolution” of 1979 was a watershed event in transnational terrorism: target citizens and other symbols of the USA.  During the decade of terrorism ( ), three disturbing trend emerged: greater casualties, increasing sophistication, and suicide attack.  The Transnational Marxist-Leninist groups were decreasing in scale and intensity and replaced by militant Islamic terrorism, symbolized by the group AL Qaeda.

1.Cultural explanations  Explaining why militant Islam’s call for armed struggle has been successful in underdeveloped countries’.  The violence between Sunni and Shi’a in Iraq is a example to explain terrorism by culture.

2.Economic explanations  Terrorist violence is motivated by inequalities of the global economy.  The USA and the post industrial states of western European from the global north dominate international economic institutions.  Wealth is linked to personal security and violence  The links between terrorism and poverty

3 Religion and new terrorism  Motivated by promises of reward in the afterlife, some terrorists are driven by religious reason to kill as many non believers and unfaithful as possible.  New terrorism is used to explain the global Jihad ( the internal struggle for purity spiritually).

The technological advances associated with globalization have improved the capabilities of terrorist groups to plan and conduct operations with far more devastation and coordination in following areas:  1. Proselytizing  2. Coordination  3. Security  4. Mobility  5. Lethality

1 Proselytizing  The development of technology, especially internet has empowered individuals and groups with the virtual presence  Another form of empowerment for terrorist groups brought on by globalization is the volume, range, and sophistication of propaganda material

2. Coordination The technologies associated with globalization have enabled terrorist cells and groups to mount coordinated  Attack in different countries  Operate independently at substantial distances from one another and network together.

3. Security The technological enablers of globalization assist terrorist cells and leaders in preserving security in a number of ways, including:  distributing elements in a coordinated network  remaining mobile  utilizing clandestine and encrypted communications.

4. Mobility  In open societies that have well developed infrastructures, terrorist have been able to move rapidly within and between borders, and this complicates effort to track them  The globalization of commerce has also improved terrorist mobility with the expansion in the volume of air travel and good passing through port.

5. Lethality  During transnational era, terrorist could obtain advanced weapon to conduct more lethal attacks, including rudimentary WMD.  In the absence of WMD, globalization has facilitated access to weapons, resources, and proficiency required to conduct smaller, but more lethal, attacks.

 By many ways depend on the policy of each nation:  A normative approach to tackling the problem, founded on the principles of international law and collective action, was less successful.  All states cooperate in a global war on terror to deal with the threat.  Terrorism is a crime that is best deal with through law enforcement methods  Information technologies associated with globalization have been useful in assisting to combat terrorism.

1. How can someone stop terrorism? 2.What caused the September 11 attack? 3.Do you think that peace negotiation is the best solution to terrorism?