Analyzing the Links Between Globalization and Terrorism

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Assessment 2: Essay
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“Without the benefits of globalization, terrorist groups would be far less lethal.” Terrorism
refers to the use of indiscriminate violence intentionally as a means of creating terror among
mass people or fear for achieving the political or religious aim. Globalization includes free
movement of services, people and goods across the world. The globalization has grown with the
passage of time due to communication and transportation technology advances. With the
increased interactions globally the culture, ideas and trade have also grown internationally. On
the basis of ideologies, the terrorist groups organize the terrorist attack. At present, the world is
facing terrorism as a big problem due to which much destruction has been caused.
Globalization's implications from the perspective of security
The structure of globalization is amalgam and complex and has historical, economic, social,
political and technological dimensions affecting the security in a numerous way. Globalization is
impacting terrorism and has a strong relationship with this. It is also having a deteriorating
influence on the power of the nation-state. The world is divided by the globalization as it unifies
can be shown by the network of an anti-western terrorist. The enemies are produced due to this
as the participation is incorporated through this (Asal, et. al, 2012).
In the societies melting pot, everything in the world is being affected by the globalization by
mixing of people, culture, ideas, and beliefs. Since globalization's impact has been taken by
terrorism, the world is facing the terror war and desperate efforts are being made for uniting
against the terrorist groups that are growing at a faster pace. After many tragic events of
terrorism such as 9/11, Beslan school hostage crisis, London subway bombing, the mentality of
the world has changed vastly for dealing with future (Younas, 2014).
Impact of globalization on terrorism
The terrorism funding has been impacted due to globalization by allowing the stolen items and
illegal substances trading connections but globalization has also connected different nations
together. There are many of the countries that are harboring the groups of terrorist and allowing
different terrorist groups to inhabiting their land. There is a long list of the countries that are
harboring terrorism including Iran, North Korea, and Iraq. In Cuba, the terrorist groups are living
legally and they are also provided with arms, funds, trains (Richards, 2012). The main action of
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Cuba that makes it pro-terrorism is providing assistance in transferring the terrorist to the US
illegally. Many of the terrorist groups are also supported by Iran as they help them with funding
and give group materials. The assistance has been provided to terrorism through globalization
moreover, it has brought the latest technologies' involvement. The greater the globalization
impact, the higher the terrorism level is. Both terrorism and trade have been affected due to
globalization. Information exchanges, production trade between and within the terrorist groups
have been affected by trade openness, changes in the foreign market and technological
development. The globalization has benefited the terrorist in the form of damage of attacking,
higher effectiveness and speeds by increasing the prevention costs (Doosje, et. al, 2016).
Many of the great opportunities have been offered by the globalization to the groups or
individual for planning attacks on non-domestic actors that are considered to be dangerous. Fear
and insecurity are caused by the group of a terrorist by whom the damage can be brought to these
larger distances. There are some of the countries in the world that have not welcomed
globalization (Shay, 2017). These include Islamic and religious countries that have rejected
globalization largely and due to this the religious terrorism has been grown and developed so
much that has rapidly developed globalization. Globalization is perceived differently in different
countries. Some of the countries have a bad reaction towards the globalization. Islamic groups
have responded clearly to the globalization threat imposed on them. The communication
facilitation is possible through globalization with different means between countries and people.
At present the possibility has been increased that terrorist groups may affect many people by
making them malicious organization’s part. The facilitation of transport has also increased the
group members of the terrorist groups. Terrorism is spreading at a faster pace and has also
affected the techniques used. The terrorist groups have been enabled through globalization for
attracting the members domestically along from other countries (Bigo, 2012).
With the use of social networks, more widespread terrorism has taken place. An example is an
Islamic state in Syria and Iraq (ISIS) which has attempted recently for recruiting soldiers from
other countries for inciting terrorist attack and making them a reality. The terrorist attack has
launched in foreign countries due to the links of modern transport (Korstanje, 2015).
Globalization facilitating terrorism
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The spread of terrorism in recent years has come both outside the border, and within the state due
to the globalization and its assistance. The mechanism of penetration that has been included in
the globalization has been exploited due to the attack of terrorism. Various ideas of terror are
promoted by the internet. Some of the software programs can be used at ease and this brings
ideas and advantages for the terrorist attack. The nations are required to come together and unite
against the war on terrorism by the fund cutting of terrorist groups (OLANREWAJU, 2015).
Tactics of terrorism and the influence of globalization on tactics
There is a diverse impact of the terrorist tactics terrorist tactics focus on favoring attacks that
help in exploiting vulnerabilities and avoiding effective countermeasures. Various terrorist
tactics include bombings, stabbing, suicide attacks, vehicle-based attack, mortar and rocket
attack, etc. the terrorist groups have been enabled by the information technologies for reaching
malevolent activities at peak. Easy coordination can be made by these terrorist groups by making
use of these technologies and can terrorist tactics and activities can be planned in an effective
manner. The deceiving of people are also taking place due to this, they are getting recruited and
are made as part of their activities and attacks. So the effective use of technology is made by
them for promoting the causes advocated by them that are both full of violence and terror. People
who are suffering from economic problems can become part of terrorist groups very easily. The
frustration and violence have increased due to the highly developed globalizations and high
downturn of the economy (Marsella, 2012).
In the Arab countries, in the middle east which are considered both economically and politically
weak and are not the part of globalization have fallen easily to the groups of terrorist that have
made an attempt in spreading the influence of terrorism through the violence of terrorism. Due to
the existence of economic inefficiencies, the citizens of these countries easily become part of the
dangerous terrorist groups. The people also join these groups with the purpose of showing their
level of dissatisfaction and a way of solving their problems (Baylis, et. al, 2017).
Links between terrorism and globalization
There are strong links of globalization and terrorism as it can be seen that many factors of
globalization are resulting in causing the growth and widespread terrorism in the world. The
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globalization is referred to responsible for social and economic inequality and is termed as the
cause for social polarization within the country (Çevik, 2018). It is known that the measure of
underdeveloped countries cannot take place with the developed and large economies countries.
No competition can be taken place between two paradoxes. It leads to space between poor and
rich and can be served as nervousness and anger origin and this dissatisfaction adversely affect
the people with dissatisfaction and they are encouraged to use terrorism for expressing their
anger. Social and economic problems such as slow growth of economy and poverty may impact
terrorism badly. The social polarization is considered as the incentive of the activities of
terrorism. Globalization allows for the networks of criminal and political that adds to the terrorist
possibilities. The contribution is made by the globalization of implementing the culture of the
country into another country that has to spread and fueled terrorism. Through new technologies
of information, the globalization has caused many traditions and values to be changed. Changes
in the values are the spread and emergence of supreme values that are impacting the incentives'
growth for international tourism (Lutz, et. al, 2014).
Hence, it can be concluded that the globalization has impacted the terrorism in a negative way
and due to the different benefits that are provided by globalization the terrorist groups are
becoming more lethal and destructive. However, the issue of international security can be
improved through the globalization to a certain extent and will and ability can be fostered of the
global governments for combatting terrorism. Terrorism is helped by the globalization as it has
become an essential tool of competition and ideology by providing easier access to new
resources of finance and different weapons are provided to the terrorist.
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References
 Asal, V. H., Ackerman, G. A., & Rethemeyer, R. K. (2012). Connections can be toxic:
Terrorist organizational factors and the pursuit of CBRN weapons. Studies in Conflict &
Terrorism, 35(3), 229-254.
 Baylis, J., Smith, S., & Owens, P. (Eds.). (2017). The globalization of world politics: An
introduction to international relations. Oxford University Press.
 Bigo, D. (2012). Globalization and security. The Wiley-Blackwell companion to political
sociology, 33, 204.
 Çevik, A. (2018). Globalization and identity. In Violence or Dialogue? (pp. 85-93).
Routledge.
 Doosje, B., Moghaddam, F. M., Kruglanski, A. W., De Wolf, A., Mann, L., & Feddes, A.
R. (2016). Terrorism, radicalization, and de-radicalization. Current Opinion in
Psychology, 11, 79-84.
 Korstanje, M. E. (2015). The Spirit of Terrorism: tourism, unionization, and terrorism.
PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 13(1).
 Lutz, B. J., & Lutz, J. M. (2014). Economic, social and political globalization and
terrorism. Journal of Political, Economic, and Social Studies, 39(2), 186-218.
 Marsella, A. (2012). Psychology and globalization: Understanding a complex
relationship. Journal of Social Issues, 68(3), 454-472.
 OLANREWAJU, J. (2015). Globalization of Terrorism: A case study of Boko Haram in
Nigeria. International Journal of Politics and Good Governance, (6), 1-22.
 Richards, J. (2012). Intelligence dilemma? Contemporary counter-terrorism in a liberal
democracy. Intelligence and national security, 27(5), 761-780.
 Shay, S.( 2017). The Globalization of Terror: the challenge of Al-Qaida and the response
of the international community. Routledge.
 Younas, J. (2014). Does globalization mitigate the adverse effects of terrorism on
growth?. Oxford Economic Papers, 67(1), pp.133-156.
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