Terrorism From an International Governance View Research Paper

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Terrorism in Relation to International Governance

The 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States highlighted the global threat of terrorism since it changed the ways in which the world views terrorism. Actually, the attacks demonstrated the evolution of the threat of terrorism that has become a major security threat across the globe. Given the global dimension of terrorism, state actors and the international community has become increasingly concerned and developed various ways to deal with the threat of terrorism from a national and international level. Domestic and international law has altered policy towards terrorism, leading to an evolution of counterterrorism efforts. However, the effectiveness of these counterterrorism efforts requires an understanding of what terrorism is, its impact on countries, and international laws. Since terrorism is a global concern, international response may be crucial to resolving such a troubling issue.

Description of the Issue

Terrorism has continued to evolve in recent years to an extent that it has become a major security threat that endangers the well-being, stability, and prosperity of nations. However, there have been several difficulties in identifying an international definition of terrorism despite the increased focus on establishing policies and programs to deal with this threat. The United Nations has seemingly been unable to define terrorism in a comprehensive way though there are different classifications of terrorist attacks and terrorists. Ironically, while the United Nations Security Council has failed to provide a comprehensive definition of terrorism, it has provided the framework from which countries must respond when faced with terrorist activities or suspected terrorists (Setty, 2011, p.3).

Despite the lack of a comprehensive international definition of terrorism, these criminal activities can be described in a basic way. Terrorism is basically defined as the deliberate use or threat to use violence by a person or sub-national group in order to achieve certain political or social objectives by intimidating a large audience beyond the targeted victim (Gaibulloev, Sandler & Santifort, 2011). For such acts to be considered terrorism, they must be targeted towards achieving certain political or social objectives because the absence of such aims means that the acts are primarily criminal activities carried out for personal gain. The contemporary analysis or study of terrorism does not include state terrorism or acts of terror perpetrated or carried out by a government. To this extent, terrorist perpetrators are regarded as individuals or substate actors because incidents where the state sponsors a terrorist group are considered to be terrorist attacks. Some of the major ways used by states to sponsor terrorist attacks include intelligence, logistical support, government-provided resources, and safe haven.

Terrorists usually target a large audience to achieve their political and/or social goals because it enables them to apply public pressure on state officers to concede to their demands for change. In addition to targeting a large audience, terrorists seemingly randomize their activities in order to amplify and magnify the actual risks to the public. As a result, terrorists and terrorist groups are properly planned and adjusted for risks emerging from the government and private protective initiatives.

The consideration of terrorism as a global security threat is because the attacks are conducted outside the context of legitimate warfare. Unlike legitimate warfare, terrorist attacks are targeted towards noncombatants including military personnel in passive settings. An example of a terrorist attack that was targeted toward passive military personnel was the planting of a bomb under the car of an American soldier stationed in Germany (Gaibulloev, Sandler & Santifort, 2011).

Parts of the World Affected by Terrorism

Terrorism has developed to become the most popular security threat in the 21st Century and characterized by controversial responses by western states (Ervine, 2010). In light of recent statistics, terrorism is a global phenomenon or problem that endangers the security of nearly every country across the globe. Even though very few countries have suffered terrorist attacks over the years, every country is vulnerable to terrorist attacks, which implies that it's not a regional problem but a global problem. The number of people killed by terrorists across the world is an indication of the global magnitude of this security threat. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the number of people killed by terrorists across the globe has increased by 80% every year.

The evolution of terrorism to become a global problem is also evidenced in the increased growth of cyber-terrorism because of proliferation of technology and the Internet. Information technology has provided mechanisms through which terrorists can organize and carry out attacks against governments, computer systems and telecommunications, and networks (Bogdanoski & Petreski, 2010, p.59).

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This security threat can be carried out from a remote location and targeted towards a particular country, which implies that terrorism is a global problem.

International Treaties, Laws and Norms Addressing Terrorism

The global security threat posed by terrorism has contributed to the establishment of international treaties, laws, and norms to combat this issue. The United Nations, through its Security Council and Counter Terrorism Committee, play a crucial role in the development of international laws and norms to combat terrorism. Actually, since 1963, the United Nations has worked with the international community to establish 19 comprehensive global legal instruments to prevent and combat terrorist activities (United Nations, n.d.). Most of the existing legal instruments developed by UN were created under the auspices of the organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency and are open to Member States' participation. The laws and norms cover the various avenues that terrorist use to conduct their attacks including aircraft, hostage situations, nuclear material, maritime navigation, explosive materials, and bombings.

The elaborated 19 international legal instruments for preventing and dealing with terrorism form international treaties against terrorism since they are open to participation by all Member States. These international legal instruments define approximately 50 offences relating to terrorism, which generates a tendency to regard them as instruments creating a sort of evolving code of terrorist offences (O'Donnell, 2006, p.855). The legal instruments establish various obligations for Member States in relation to crimes defined in the treaties. These legal instruments have established the basis through which international community and states parties work together to prevent and combat terrorism.

Intergovernmental / Global Organizations Dealing with Terrorism

Since the international community works toward dealing with the global security threat posed by terrorism, there are regional and global intergovernmental organizations as well as non-governmental organizations that attempt to deal with terrorism. One of the global intergovernmental organizations that attempts to deal with the issue of terrorism is the United Nations. Through its Security Council, this organization tries to address global terrorism across the globe through enacting laws or policies that focus on prevention and combating terrorist acts. The United Nations Security Council provides framework and mechanisms relating to counter-terrorism initiatives to be adopted by state parties. In addition, the United Nations has established Counter Terrorism Committee that develops actions against terrorism for U.N. Member States. The other global IGOs that attempt to deal with terrorism are UN Office on Drugs and Crime (which develops effective measures for cracking down perpetrators of drug trafficking) and UNICEF (which protects children from exploitation, violence, and abuse).

The regional IGOs that try to combat terrorism include European Commission, which harmonizes national criminal laws and processes in the European region. Europol is a regional law enforcement IGO that handles criminal intelligence including those relating to terrorism (The Protection Project, 2015). The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is also a regional IGO that deals with terrorism through facilitating political negotiations and decision-making to handle arms control and protection of human rights.

One of the major non-governmental organizations that combat terrorism is the Campaign Against Terrorism Foundation, which designs and operates multifarious programs to eliminate terrorism while promoting social development. Other include Anti-Terrorism Force, which conducts anti-terrorism awareness programs across the globe and Institute for Terrorism & Security Management, which provides training capabilities for governments to help reduce susceptibility to terrorist attacks and lessen effects of such incidents.

Impact of the Issue at National Level

There are various countries that have suffered terrorist attacks in the recent past as the global phenomenon of terrorism continues to evolve. Since the beginning of the 21st Century, terrorism has continued to rise to an extent that record numbers of people have died from such acts over the past few years. The Middle East region and Africa are some of the most vulnerable regions to terrorism attacks as evidenced in recent trends and statistics. The three countries that have faced the most terror attacks in the recent past include Nigeria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Extent of Terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and Nigeria

Iraq and Afghanistan are ranked the first and second most terrorized countries respectively while Nigeria comes in third. Iraq is the world's most-affected country since it accounts for 30% of all terrorism-related deaths worldwide. Based on the Global Terrorism Index 2015 report, more than 9,900 people died in Iraq in 3,370 terrorist attacks that were conducted in the country (Ting, 2015). This number accounted for the highest number of.....

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