Forms of terrorism have been prominent throughout history dating back to the eleventh century and farther in order to change the flow of politics by the use of extreme violence such as destruction, persecution, and assassinations. Even in our modern times the same ideology is relevant, however, terrorism has been exponentially radicalized creating even more of an influence on the world. As long as politics and religion are still at play, forms of terrorism whether big or small will still be forever re-occurring, and because of this, the ongoing war on terrorism will never come to an end.
There is no commonly accepted definition for terrorism. This is because it is too challenging to specify the wide variety of categories that it falls under. The FBI define it as, “The unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” The broadest way to describe it in modern times is the use of intentional fear, terror, and/or violence to achieve a political, religious, or ideological goal. No one political or religious idea is accountable for the acts of terrorism.
The cause of terrorism can be associated with numerous reasons. Poverty, corruption, high taxation, and social inequalities can easily create bodies of people who are willing to make radical changes with the help of the underground economy. Economic instability such as reformations and the transferring of power within a state can increase the chance of a terroristic threat. Social, ethnical, and religious conflicts contribute the most to the roots of terrorism due to the clashing of differing and sensitive ideals from various groups of strong believers. Put these together into one body and you will have a strong organization such as Al-Qaeda or ISIS. These groups condone terrorism and think it is for the greater good. There is a famous quote that states, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” Many are inspired from the “freedom fighter” ideal which leads to radicalization. No one political or religious idea is accountable for the acts of terrorism. The motivations for these acts are tremendously varying, and trying to figure out a single ideology they have is in fact, impossible. Terrorist groups lack the size and ability to stand up to a large entity directly so they rely on other tactics like suicide bombing, cyberterrorism, and other unorthodox types of warfare. Their cause for doing this is to provoke a response especially one of fear.
Domestic and International terrorism are basically the same thing. One is strictly inside one’s country while the other crosses borders and often times operates in different countries as well. Examples of domestic terrorism can be traced to groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Panthers whose motives are race related. Much of the recent domestic attacks we have faced recently can be traced to a single person acting on their own agenda. This can be scary because anybody can walk into a public place and start opening fire, whether their motivation comes from an outside source or just because of psychological issues.
Other than the deaths of many, psychological trauma, and injuries, terrorism also contributes to short-term as well as long-term effects on an economy. “In 2013 the 10 countries most affected by terrorism had declines in GDP between .5 and .8 percentage points. Worse negative impacts continue for many years after the attack, lasts up to five years as the effects disappear.” As for other countries, it affects trade and tourism depending on the hostility of the region it presides in which can negatively impact a huge portion of a nations income.
“The history of terrorism is as old as humans’ willingness to use violence to affect politics.” Terrorism is nothing new, in fact it dates back to the first century BCE where a Jewish group called the Sicarii would murder their opponents in order to remove Roman leaders out of Judea. The word “assassin” was derived from an Islamic group called the Hashhashin that assassinated their political enemies in the 11th century. Until recent events starting with the attack on the world trade center in 2001, terrorism was not a major issue. Since then it has become even more widespread and influential. Now we have horrible disasters such as the Boston bombing, San Bernadino, multiple school shootings, and countless other attacks of the innocent. This seems bad but it is almost nothing compared to other countries. The U.S. State Department declared that in 2015 there was over a combined 11,000 terrorist attacks in 92 different countries resulting in approximately 30,000 deaths worldwide.
The United states has spent billions upon billions of dollars fighting terrorist groups and radicals in the Middle East. Homeland Security as well as other policies have been created in order to protect the safety of American citizens. The spread of terrorism has been in fact reduced substantially since our first military occupation in the middle east, however new groups are being created and more people are becoming radicalized everyday. I do believe we can eventually stop the growing problems in the certain areas of the world and created positive impacts on governments. The United States and other countries have joined together to fight this evil and they are doing a great job. Terrorism however, will never vanish from history. Terrorists operate all over the world for all sorts of different reasons. Until the day we solve everyone’s problems to the point that no one is willing to risk death on account of them, terrorism will rise up from time to time as part of the landscape. It is just a certainty we are going to have to deal with, but the military campaign will one day end.