Good Example Of Argumentative Essay On Does Economic Globalization Provoke/Lead To International Terrorism

Introduction

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon. For the past several decades, terrorists have succeeded in carrying out attacks against the non-combatant targets in different parts of the world. In fact, their activities have caused enormous destructions worldwide through cruel attacks. There exists a connection between globalization and terrorism. In a less globalized world, states had fewer external problems since there was equilibrium in the world politics. In essence, the states could sort out their internal affairs without difficulty. The process of globalization supported the establishment of free trade and facilitated the improvement of the conditions of communities by the worldwide and regional organizations. However, everything changed after the September 11 attacks and globalization became an obstacle itself to such advances. In fact, terrorism became widespread as globalization was accelerated. The terrorist attacks of 2005 in London, 2004 in Madrid, and September 2001 in Washington and New York made the governments of the western countries more concerned (Keefer & Loayza, 2008). Ideally, terrorist networks have been using the non-state actors and privatization while benefitting from globalization. In the face of the several studies conducted on the topic of terrorism, the publications that directly address its core causes have been limited. The present paper centers on the concepts of economic globalization and international terrorism. Specifically, the paper maintains that economic globalization provokes/leads to international terrorism by elucidating the different ways it does so.
Terrorists use extra-normal force to get an ideological, political, or religious objective through intimidating a broad audience. The transnational terrorist incidents in a country involve the perpetrators, institutions, or victims of another nation. The subject of terrorism is complex and sensitive. It is complex because it combines several aspects of human experience. In fact, the study of the terrorism concept is multidisciplinary. Terrorism has been investigated in a number of fields such as history, criminology, psychology, political science, economics, and many others. The subject of terrorism is similarly sensitive since the experiences of terrorist activities stimulate tremendous feelings among the individuals. The implications of terrorism on the contemporary society have been among the most pressing issues in the modern world. There has been a specific stress on the issue of terrorism, particularly since the September 11 attacks. Zulaika & Douglass (2014) state that terrorism has turned out to be the very thing of both national and international politics since 9/11. In fact, in the months succeeding September 11, numerous individuals questioned the future possibility of an open worldwide economy, accepting as true that the international terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center had been facilitated by the economic globalization. Following these attacks, people began questioning whether the states, which are more integrated into the global economy, experience more international terrorist occurrences in their borders.
The rising interdependence of the economies in the world due to the growing scale of the cross-border trade of services and commodities, the rapid spread of technologies, and the flow of international capital provoke international terrorism. International terrorism and economic globalization are intricately intertwined forces. Globalization is an imperative factor in the spread of transnational terrorism (Cilliers, 2003). The international terrorism evolved and changed with the increased globalization taking place around the world. In essence, globalization facilitates the supply of technologies, which terrorist groups use to extend their global reach. In addition, economic globalization has provided a new threat for the terrorists to exploit. It also makes the movement across the transnational borders easier further presenting threats to various parts of the world. The economic globalization slows social development, produces global inequality, and increases international tensions. Economic globalization accelerates economic failures in some less developed and developing countries such as those found in Africa. The regime legitimacy of these countries is eroded by the economic failures brought about by the economic globalization and, as a result, this promotes the dissatisfaction among the unemployed youthful populations, leading to terrorist gangs. According to Cilliers (2003), the failed and weak African States offer a facilitating environment for domestic and international terrorism.
The terrorist groups across the world have taken advantage of the tools afforded to them by the modern technology. The advances in both the communication and transportation technologies have been facilitated by the economic integration. The communication and transportation technologies offer the infrastructure for globalized activities (Targowski, 2009). Terrorists can now spread their messages and execute their initiatives overseas thanks to these technologies. In particular, the economic globalization has been facilitated by the use of information technologies such as mobile phones and internet that the terrorists make use of in planning their cruel activities. The tools of global information age have resulted in improved efficiency in numerous terrorist-related undertakings, including the communication among the adherents, coordination of operations, recruitment of new members, attraction of sympathizers, and administrative tasks. These terrorists make use of the most prominent tools in the modern age to carry out their activities. One of the most critical technologies for them has been the internet. They have been using these technologies to plan their terrorist activities while pretending to be conducting business.
As mentioned above, economic globalization has brought about the advances in transportation technologies. Ideally, economic globalization has facilitated the movement of technologies across the borders further increasing international terrorism. For instance, the increasing number of container vessels and trucks that facilitate transnational commerce owing to the growth of economic globalization increases the possibility of terrorists successfully smuggling weapons undetected across the vulnerable borders. The transportation technologies promote the movement of individuals across the international borders. In fact, Mittelman (2010), imply that the ease of travel, internet, and financial networks facilitate terrorism across transnational boundaries. These technologies link business and commerce interests across transnational borders and, as a result, terrorists take advantage and move to their various target destinations. Terrorist organizations now reach across transnational boundaries with the help of transportation technologies in the pretense of conducting businesses.
Moreover, the dropping of barriers between nations has eased the smooth flow of individuals, ideas, and goods across the world. As a result, this has enabled terrorists to move about freely and create cells around the world. The uninhibited traffic between countries due to economic globalization has significantly contributed to the fragmented nature of the terrorist organizations. Thus, the free movement across international borders enables the terrorists to succeed in carrying out attacks. Additionally, it allows them evade being captured by the authorities and further complicates their trial if they are apprehended since extradition laws differ significantly from country to country. The drop of trading barriers also increases the permeability of the transnational system. For this reason, this raises the capability of the foreign terrorist organizations to collect intelligence information about a country and evade with it. These organizations thus exploit the freedom related to the globalization so as to promote their unpleasant activities. The ability to move information and resources across the international borders provides terrorists the means by which to remain undercover. For this reason, the terrorist leaders and operatives are capable to secure the failures in information and credible commitment problems, which enforce their goals of intimidation, attrition, spoiling, provocation, and outbidding.
In addition, the drop of traveling barriers between states as a result of economic globalization has facilitated the smuggling of mass destruction weapons by the terrorist groups in various parts of the world. It has also facilitated the financing of terrorist activities through promoting illegal businesses across international borders. The international terrorists take advantage of the global trade network to market their services and goods in an attempt to marshal the resources with which to fulfill their terrorist activities. In essence, terrorist organizations from different parts of the world frequently depend on the transnational trade networks to trade illegal goods such as drugs to fund their activities. The possibility of occurrence of this illicit trade is facilitated by the increasingly nature of the worldwide distribution networks and investments as a result of economic integration. Nonetheless, the various governments in different parts of the world are not well equipped to deal with the illegal trade. It is worrying to note that the enforcement officers are not enough to perform appropriate monitor and regulatory functions at various worldwide trading centers. In addition, the government investigators as well as the bank examiners have been unable to offer the required levels of enforcement due to the massive volumes of the transactions carried within the international borders in a day.
Economic globalization also leads to international terrorism through increasing the density of looked-for targets within various countries. According to Keefer & Loayza (2008), rich source countries produce a reduced amount of terrorism while rich host states generate lots of terrorist activities. In other words, economic globalization increases the likelihood of transnational terrorism by increasing the density of right targets in the more globalized states. Ideally, economic globalization has facilitated the movement of people across the world. Various business associates travel to different parts of the world for business purposes hence it is normal to find many foreigners in such countries at any time of the year. The western citizens have been the majority of the victims of transnational terrorism because they travel across the world much to conduct business. The multinational corporations and banks of the most globalized economies within the western states send their representatives in various countries around the world. Thus, this increases international terrorism since these agents become the desired targets for the terrorist groups. Consequently, these western citizens have been the targets for terrorist groups hence this increases the possibility that the terrorists will choose a particular country as the location for an attack. In fact, various terrorist groups have targeted the United States citizens in the African and Arab countries and succeeded in carrying out their cruel activities.
Following the economic globalization, the financial markets have experienced a radical upsurge in the volume of transnational transactions. In essence, the day-to-day turnover within the foreign exchange markets exceeds the value of all traded services and goods. The increasing number of the transnational financial transactions threatens to overcome the enforcement officers who try to intercept the cash that is meant to sponsor terrorism acts. For this reason, the economic globalization through the financial markets has facilitated international terrorism by easing terrorist financing. In particular, these markets enable the funding of the terrorism and money laundering, thus contributing to the increase in international terrorism. Fundamentally, terrorism funding came into public interest in the US following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. As a result, the government passed the Patriot Act in its attempt to impede the funding of terrorism. The Act has given the government an incredible increase of surveillance authority, which goes beyond terrorism investigation (Zulaika & Douglass, 2014).
Terrorism funding may involve the funds that are raised from the criminal sources such as kidnapping, drug trade, extortion, fraud, and smuggling of weapons or funds that are raised from the legitimate sources. Within the financial markets, the terrorists make use of the techniques such as those money launders use to evade the attention of the enforcement officers and protect the personality of the beneficiaries and their sponsors. It has become hard for the enforcement officers to detect and track the terrorist funds that come from the legitimate sources. In moving their funds, terrorists use the methods such as asset transfer, the banking system, physical transportation of money, value transfer systems, and gold as well as other valuable items through smuggling routes. Thus, it has become extremely difficult for the authorities to detect and track these funds hence this increases the international tourism.
The growth of the international banking system due to the economic globalization has facilitated the sustained interdependent relationship between the international criminals and international banking industry. The banks must protect the privacy of their clients. On the other hand, the governments require them to disclose the unlawful banking activities of their clients. However, they risk losing profit and customers if they disclose such information to the government. The banks are likely to continue protecting the privacy of their clients and, as a result, facilitate the continuous use of the transnational financial system to finance the terrorist activities. For this reason, the international banking system leads to international terrorism. The inability of the banks to disclose the privacy of their clients presents difficulties to the governments in their fight against international terrorism. Consequently, the governments can only succeed in their fight against international terrorism through establishing cooperation with the transnational banking community.

References

Cilliers, J. (2003). Terrorism and Africa. African Security Studies, 12(4), 91-103.
Keefer, P., & Loayza, N. (Eds.). (2008). Terrorism, Economic Development, and Political Openness. Cambridge University Press.
Mittelman, J. (2010). Hyper conflict: globalization and insecurity. Stanford University Press.
Targowski, A. (2009). “From Global to Universal-Complementary Civilization.”
Zulaika, J., & Douglass, W. A. (2014). Questioning Terrorism/Counterterrorism Rationality. Exchanging Terrorism Oxygen for Media Airwaves: The Age of Terroredia: The Age of Terroredia, 231.