Essay on Terrorism: Analysis of Academic Contributions and Impacts

This essay delves into the multifaceted issue of terrorism, examining its definition and the various factors that contribute to its rise in the contemporary world. It analyzes the academic contributions of scholars Scott Burchill and Greg Barton, focusing on their perspectives on terrorism, radical Islam, and international relations. Burchill's work explores how fear is used to create unity, while Barton examines the rise of extremist groups. The essay further discusses the significance of these academic contributions in understanding the complexities of terrorism and concludes with an assessment of terrorism's impact on people's lives. The analysis covers key aspects, including the role of the state, the influence of conflicts, and the effects on society, offering a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Running head: ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION ON THE ISSUE OF TERRORISM
Academic Contribution on the issue of Terrorism
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION ON THE ISSUE OF TERRORISM
Executive Summary
In the recent world, the intensity and frequency of conflicts has risen rapidly where the fighting
in the modern times has taken the form of terrorism. This essay seeks to discuss about the
concept of terrorism and the various factors that have contributed to it. The essay also looks into
the academic scholarly articles of Scott Burchill and Greg Barton and analyze their opinions
about terrorism. The essay concludes with the impact of terrorism on the lives of the people in
the contemporary world.

2ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION ON THE ISSUE OF TERRORISM
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Academic Contribution of Scott Burchill........................................................................................3
Academic Contribution of Greg Burton..........................................................................................5
Significance of Academic Contribution..........................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

3ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION ON THE ISSUE OF TERRORISM
Introduction
The contemporary world of today is facing one of the most concerning problem, that of
terrorism. The killing of people and pillaging of various properties have existed in human history
since times immemorial (Jenkins 2015). The armies of various rulers killed many in the
battlefield in order to gain some political interest or social cause. However, this has taken a new
form in the recent times. Ever since the institution of the agency of the State, the concept of
rulers have fizzled out. It is the State, with the help of the government, which has the legitimate
power to rule. However, this does not mean that there are no more conflicts in the world. The
concept of territorial expansion may no longer be there, but there are other self-interests and
motives for which conflicts amongst human beings still exist (Nacos 2016). In the recent world,
people no longer fight with huge armies and traditional weapon. The fighting in the modern
times has taken the form of terrorism. Terrorism means undertaking of violent activities by
several individuals who are against the agency of the State and has a desire of their own which
they seek to fulfill by striking fear in the minds of the common people (Laqueur 2017). This
essay seeks to discuss about the concept of terrorism and the various factors that have
contributed to it. The essay also looks into the academic scholarly articles of Scott Burchill and
Greg Barton and analyze their opinions about terrorism. The essay concludes with the impact of
terrorism on the lives of the people in the contemporary world.
Academic Contribution of Scott Burchill
The issue of terrorism is a concerning issue of the contemporary world. Many scholars
have written academic journals and books on this crisis in the hope that the people would find
some enlightenment in them. One of such scholars include Dr. Scott Burchill who is a Senior

4ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION ON THE ISSUE OF TERRORISM
Lecturer in the program of International Relations of the School of Humanities and Social
Sciences within the Deakin University. Doctor Scott Burchill has had an interesting career where
he served as a political officer within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, both in
Europe and Indochina. As such, he has had experience of the domestic politics and conflicts of
the countries he had served in. This provides credit to the works of Doctor Burchill as he is
familiar to the existing situations in most of the polities of the world.
Scott Burchill made important statements on the issue of terrorism. One of the articles
written by Scott Burchill is “Radical Islam and the West: the moral panic behind the threat”.
Burchill clearly mentioned about how the concept of moral panic is created by the institution of
the State to ensure that the domestic political factors are kept bonded together (Burchill 2005).
Fear of an external threat is also helpful but some amount of fear and apprehension is needed in
order to ensure that the citizens of a concerned State stand together in unity. The rise of terrorism
is attributed to the idea of danger and fear. In their bid to achieve their desired targets with the
aid of violence, the terrorists aim to strike fear in the minds of people and the government. As a
consequence, in order to save themselves, the people unite together to fight against the threat of
terrorism (Burchill 2013). The academic contribution of Scott Burchill lies in this idea of unity.
He opines that the agency of the State uses the fear and panic imbibed by the terrorists among the
people to ensure that the people stand together in times of crisis. This keeps the people distracted
from the internal domestic problems. In this article Burchill looked in to the various factors
which contributed to the rise of ISIS within the folds of Middle East region. He opined that it
was not the domestic unrest of the Persian Gulf and the region of North Africa but rather the
wars in the Gulf region in 2010 and 2011 and the revolutions following the Arab Spring which
led to the rising of the terrorist outfit (Burchill 2006).

5ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION ON THE ISSUE OF TERRORISM
One of the most significant books written by Scott Burchill is “Theories of International
Relations”. In this book he stated that it is important to be aware about the different theories of
international relations as they help the political thinkers of different time periods to base their
solution to a societal problem in accordance with a specific theory. Theories are needed in order
to provide explanations of different occurring in the world and also to provide a certain level of
accuracy in understanding the changing nature of international politics. In this book, Burchill
wrote a chapter on Liberalism (Burchill et al. 2013). The concept of liberalism had a deep impact
on the shaping of the contemporary societies of the world. According to Burchill, Liberalism
stood for the freedom of rights of all human beings, their right to life and property and the
support of rationality and progress. It is against these principles of western notion of liberalism
that the idea of terrorism emerged in global politics.
Academic Contribution of Greg Burton
The idea of terrorism which occupies a central position in the field of international
politics has also been dealt by another eminent person known as Greg Barton. A research
professor in the Global Islamic Politics within the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and
Globalization, Greg Barton has made vocal as well as academic contribution towards the issue of
Islam and violent terrorism and the concept of democratization and the need for civil society.
Barton has made significant contributions to the issues of human security and security studies,
focusing on the topics of Jemaah Islamiyah and the different factions of radical Islamist
movements.
The book written by Greg Burton titled “Indonesia’s Struggle: Jemaah Islamiyah and the
Soul of Islam” which was published in the year 2004, examined the history of the birth of
Jemaah Islamiyah and the names and details about the founding members of the outfit (Barton

6ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION ON THE ISSUE OF TERRORISM
2004). Jemaah Islamiyah is considered to a religious extremist group with the main objective of
establishing an Islamic Caliphate within the region of South East Asia especially that of
Indonesia. In this book, Barton clearly shows with evidence the existing conflicts between the
Jemaah Islamiyah and the different secular groupings of Indonesia and how this conflict has
given rise to the issue of terrorism within the region of South East Asia. Barton mentioned about
the bombings of Bali in the year 2002 that resulted in the death of hundreds of innocent people in
Indonesia (Barton 2005). The main objective of Barton in writing this book was to show to the
world, especially that of the government of Indonesia that there existed an extremist group
within its territorial boundaries whose presence and activities could not be controlled by the
government. Through the book, Barton wanted to make an important contribution to the world
by the making the people aware about the disastrous effects of the presence of a terrorist outfit
on the innocent human lives (Barton 1994).
Significance of Academic Contribution
The academic contributions of both Scott Burchill and Greg Burton are significant. The
issue of terrorism has gripped the entire world in panic and fear which is causing severe damage
to human lives and property all around the globe. The two scholars define the issue or terrorism
and also expands on the various reasons for their growth. This is important for the readers as
before being able to tackle a crisis, it is important to know all the existing parameters about the
crisis (Barton 2001). The readers will also get to know what the various factors are which are
contributing to the rise of terrorism. This will help them to take effective measures to prevent the
occurrence of a situation which might lead to terrorist activities. The main objective of Scott
Burchill and Greg Barton is to make the world aware that any unrest within a region or outside of

7ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION ON THE ISSUE OF TERRORISM
the region will lead to extremist activities amongst the people which causes devastating effect on
the environment and also on the society (Barton 2015).
Conclusion
In conclusion it is observed that the important contributions have been made by
researchers and scholars in their field of study. The books and journals which are written by such
scholars are simply not for the purpose of learning but they contain important knowledge which
will help the readers to be aware of what is going on in their surroundings. Being invested with
such knowledge, it is imperative that the population should take steps to ensure that the society
in which they live in is improved to a considerable extent and that the people are happy and
content with the existing situation. The academic contribution of Scott Burchill and Greg Barton
is unparalleled in the field of terrorism and violent extremism. They have researched diligently in
to each aspect of terrorism and has written down about how terrorism has grown rapidly in the
recent times. This concept is wildly misused by other people who even though, are not involved
in terrorist activities, but tries to achieve their own selfish motives under the guise of terrorism.

8ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION ON THE ISSUE OF TERRORISM
References:
Barton, G., 1994. The impact of neo-modernism on Indonesian Islamic thought: the emergence
of a new pluralism. Democracy in Indonesia: 1950s and 1990s, pp.143-50.
Barton, G., 2001. the Prospects for Islam. Indonesia Today: Challenges of History, p.252.
Barton, G., 2004. Indonesia's struggle: Jemaah Islamiyah and the soul of Islam. UNSW Press.
Barton, G., 2005. Jemaah Islamiyah: Radical Islamism in Indonesia. NUS Press.
Barton, G., 2015. Islam and democratic transition in Indonesia. In Religious organizations and
democratization: Case studies from contemporary Asia (pp. 231-251). Routledge.
Burchill, S., 2005. The national interest in international relations theory. Springer.
Burchill, S., 2006. The Israel-Palestine conflict since 9/11. Australia and the Middle East: a
front-line relationship, pp.123-133.
Burchill, S., 2013. Liberalism. Theories of international relations, pp.57-87.
Burchill, S., Linklater, A., Devetak, R., Donnelly, J., Nardin, T., Paterson, M., Reus-Smit, C. and
True, J., 2013. Theories of international relations. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Jenkins, B.M., 2015. International terrorism: A new mode of conflict. In International terrorism
and world security (pp. 23-59). Routledge.
Laqueur, W., 2017. A history of terrorism. Routledge.
Nacos, B., 2016. Mass-mediated terrorism: Mainstream and digital media in terrorism and
counterterrorism. Rowman & Littlefield.