TERRORISM AND ITS IMPACT ON GLOBAL SECURITY (A CASE STUDY OF AL-QAEDA)

ABSTRACT

 

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon which has been in existence for years carried out by individuals and organizations mainly for political reasons. Notwithstanding, due to the activities of these terrorist groups, they will in general debilitate a state’s capacity to guarantee the  wellbeing and security to its citizens. Using Al-Qaeda as a case study, a group in existence for over 2 decades, the study focuses on their terror acts such as the bombing of train stations in Madrid 2004, and London 2005, the Bali club bombing, and how it has impacted the world at large, economically, psychologically, and socially. More so, for the objective of the study to be achieved, the study made use of qualitative research to analyze the subject of this research work. In the context of theoretical framework, the theory of Realism was used. Based on the findings the study concludes that the US assemble and sponsor terror networks mostly for short term purposes and where they are no longer useful, they are disposed, although sometimes disposing such network is not the easiest of tasks. Political intentions remain the major link between terrorism and global security with major actors, while promotion of religious ideologies come as the minor indications because they are not which much state sponsorship like the political element. Regarding the specific impacts of terrorism on Economic Security, findings includes the reduction of FDI, reduced capital inflows, stalls stock markets, shifts investment both capital and labour. It ushers in higher uncertainty thus reducing confidence among potential investors. The study recommends an understanding of the adaptive and resilient nature of transnational terrorist groups is critical. By incorporating this data into antiterrorist doctrine, strategy, and tactics, which various actors in the fight against terrorism can adjust their operations to meet the changing demands of the security environment against a dynamic enemy such as Al Qaeda. 

 

             

 

CHAPTER ONE- INTRODUCTION

1.0 BACKGROUNG OF STUDY. 

Terrorism has been a focal point that has gained wide acknowledgement by the research, academic, professional, governmental, and international communities. Its origin can be traced as far back as the 20^th century, prior to the event that happened in September 11^th, 2001.  Terrorism was among one of the developing numbers of global security concerns before the assault of September 11, 2001, however, turned into the principal concern of the international community. Terrorism today is viewed as an impede to the development of social orders governed by the rule of law; but also seen as a global threat that affect every nation.  However, it is important to define the term Terrorism for a better understanding before proceeding. Terrorism is numerous and disputable, and has gained a wide range of debate with the saying that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”. As a result of this, different scholars and researchers have defined the term terrorism in different ways;

The Oxford Dictionary calls terrorism “the unlawful utilization of viciousness and intimidation, particularly against regular citizens, in pursuit of political objectives. MerriamWebster considers it the methodical and coercive utilization of terror, defined as “fierce or destructive, (for example, bombing) committed by groups to threaten a populace or government into conceding their requests.

According to Shreyasi Ghosh, terrorism is a complicated term that is an upsetting sort of brutality, a strategy for battle or an approach used to accomplish certain objectives, to advance a condition of fear in its casualties that does not affirm to humanitarian standards which exposure is essential for its approach. This usually involves killing innocent individuals and the demolition of property, to make panic and fear, which affected even the remotest aspect of the globe.

 

UNSC resolution 1566 in 2004 defines terrorism as any criminal demonstrations including against customary residents, executed to cause death or genuine considerable injury, or taking of prisoners, with the motivation to prompt a condition of fear in the general populace or a gathering of individuals or explicit individuals, alarm a general population or drive a government or an international organization to do or to avoid doing any act.

 

It will be well said that terrorism is a recent phenomenon, and to a degree because of current correspondence. In any case, terrorist activities existed even hundreds of years back. Three groups of terrorist acts existed hundreds of years back which are; the Things also known as the Hindu, the Assassin known as the Islamic, and the Zealots who are the Jewish, showing that terrorist activity has been in existence since the times of the Roman Empire. Notwithstanding, terrorism is not a phenomenon brought about by extreme consideration from present-day media, for instance, the Assassins did not require the media to contact audiences and make known their intentions because their victories were killed in adored spots and regal courts, which generally occurs on blessed days within the sight of numerous witnesses.

 

 

 

From the last part of the 1960s to the last part of the 1980s, terrorism is supposed to be propelled by patriotism, nonconformity, communist belief system, prejudice, agnosticism, and financial balance. It is contended that the current influx of present-day terrorist activity is observable on account of its religious character. Since the start of 1980, the quantity of terrorist monger on religion-based gathering has expanded because of the dynamism of terrorist group. Because of the global development of strict fundamentalism, a few researchers consider the religiousbased group as more perilous than that of the whole terrorist group whose rationale is to prevail upon individuals and with this, they do not have any desire to leave enormous losses while other researchers cannot help contradicting this arguing that, the ebb and flow type of terrorism is not new and not specially identified with religion.

 

Terrorism is a complex phenomenon that is an alarming kind of violence, a method to combat or a strategy to achieve certain goals that it aims to induce a state of fear in the victim, that it is ruthless and does not conform to humanitarian norms and that is one the reason it stands out a threat to global security.

 

According to a report by the UN released in 2018, “political and social polarization built on economic disparities and populism, competition for natural resources and environmental degradation, fragmented non-State armed actors and the absence of political solutions to evolving conflicts, remain the main causes for insecurity.”  The above serves as a stage for terrorism to rise as a source of insecurity. Depending on the world economic state, poverty serves as a fuel for terrorists’ sympathizers, thereby increasing the rate of reoccurring terrorism incidents.

 

More so, the purpose behind terrorism being a cause of global insecurity is its relationship between religious and political causes, on the identification with religion then terrorist action represents a challenge to the state- sovereignty system. It has been known that the use of terrorism implies an attempt to delegitimize the concept of sovereignty and even the structure of the state system itself. Although most nations are far from helpless, we live in a world that is rapidly becoming a local village also known as globalization.

 

Looking at the security side of the globalization analysis, international security has become so complex and multi-dimensional that the normal traditional national border-setting type of security perception is not capable of recognizing new threats that transcend the national borders and this is a problem. In this context, international terrorism became one of the main concerns with its highly complicated characteristics. This problem has been recognized not only by one nation but also in the era of globalization when the nations became much more connected and interdependent, it became a threat to international security. Some of the states have witnessed terrorist threats for many years. Nevertheless, though these states have already known the pains of terrorism, it became more concerned with incidents such as the 9/11 attack.

 

Terrorism thus, under the impact of globalization has rippled in world politics, adding an altogether new dimension in the study of international relations in particular to security studies, threatens the state system and the global security as a whole. The largest international organization (UN) responsible for maintaining global peace and security views it as the biggest threat to mankind, which may upset the maintenance of global peace in our times and pose a serious challenge in safeguarding human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the world.

 

1.1 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Terrorism has been a predominant issue that has been in existence for quite a long time. The Department of Defense Dictionary of Military Terms defines terrorism as the determined use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to instill fear, to force or scare government or social orders in the quest for objectives that are commonly political, religious, or ideological. Terrorism has been a significant issue not just in the United States nor the United Kingdom, but the world at large. Bearing this in mind, it is critical to outline the fact that terrorist activities will in general, debilitate a state’s capacity to guarantee the  wellbeing and security to its citizens. All humans have experienced enormously the results of terrorism. The 9/11 assault on the U.S. has demonstrated that not just little actors in the global framework experience the ill effects of terrorism also the most remarkable states and vital participants in the international system.

 

Using Al-Qaeda as a case study, the group has been in existence for some time and has carried out different operations, for example, the 9/11 assault in the U.S., the bombing of train stations in Madrid 2004, London 2005, the Bali club bombing, and some more. Notwithstanding this has affected people and the world at large, economically, psychologically, and socially.

 

More so, it is also important to outline the fact that people consistently play a key role with regards to terrorism, which could be in form of killings, kidnapping, taking of hostages, and the releasing of violence. Due to all these, their memories consistently bear traumatic and torturing events to people. However, this essay tends to focus on this problem and find a solution to manage the act of terrorism with the help of the following research questions.

 

1.2 RESEARCH AIM

The aim of my research is to examine terrorism and its impact on global security with reference to Al-Qaeda.

In order for the above aim to be achieved, the following are objectives set:

1. To investigate the link between terrorism and global security.
2. To critically analyze specific impacts of terrorism on global security in relation to

Al-Qaeda activities.

3. To critically examine international response to Al-Qaeda in relation to global security.

 

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the facilitators and barriers of terrorist activities internationally?
2. What are the impacts of terrorism on global security in relation to Al-Qaeda activities.

 

3. What are the actions taken by regional bodies against acts of terrorism?
4. What are the specificity of such impacts of terrorism on global security and to what extent have they been curtailed?

 

 

1.5  SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The significance of the study is the inspiration driving this research work. In this regard, the significance of the study will be on the following essentials;

• The study is going to lay accentuation on how the exercises of Al-Qaeda has affected the world as a whole, and how it has impacted insecurity in the world.
• The study will likewise examine how Al-Qaeda has caused nations to fortify their security policies.
• The study will, however, highlight the effect of terrorism on the arms trade, which endless nations use as motivation to build its military budget.
• The study will likewise add to the existing body of literature on terrorism and global security and be critical to analyze terrorism and global security.

 

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

The scope of this study is centered around the implication of terrorism on global security using Al-Qaeda as a contextual analysis.

LIMITATION OF STUDY

While doing this research work, there were a ton of difficulties encountered such as;

Time Constraint: This exploration will require a great deal of time and commitment, which will not be conceivable because of the reality it will participate in the study with other academic work, and will however reduce the time dedicated to this research and slow down the progress of this research that could result to the work not being ready on time.

Financial Constraint: Insufficient funds will, in general, ruin the viability of the examination in getting the relevant materials, data, literature, and the process of data collection. This is because of the reality the majority of the materials online must be purchased, which are costly and are usually in foreign currencies, in which the conversion scale is high.

Sourcing of materials: The accessibility of materials is restricted, which is because of the way that most libraries are shut because of the pandemic, making it difficult to get printed copy books. With the progressing circumstance, the research must choose the option to depend on an online source, which is restricted, with a ton of biased works in which getting the accurate materials required might be hard. Another issue is that some online libraries require the Institution to be enlisted, which, tragically, Baze University is not registered.

 

1.7 RESEARCH METHODLOGY

The principal goal of the research methodology is that it clarified how data is assembled, examined, and deciphered. However, this essay will be making use of qualitative research to analyze the subject of this work. Consequently, the main source of this research is mainly secondary data derived  through the context of articles, official publications, relevant writings, magazines, books, newspapers, and documentaries, will serve as a tangible insight to terrorism and global security. Be that as it may, this research is carefully restricted to recorded data on al-Qaeda its implications, and exercise, and be investigated through the substance examination of libraries, academic articles, books, and the web. Likewise, this technique will be utilized to assess such discoveries with previously existing discoveries on the topic.

To arrive at a finding, the various information from the secondary sources will be analyzed using the thematic method of analysis as the researcher seeks to find topics, ideas and patterns of meaning that come up repeatedly or with similarities across the various secondary sources.

 

1.8 REVIEW OF THEORY

This research will rely on the Theory of Realism in the discussion of terrorism and global security. The theory of Realism offers an alternative explanation on the failure of idealism to curtail problems posited by terrorism on international peace and security. Realists consider the principal actors in the international arena to be states, which are concerned with their own security, act in pursuit of their own national interests, and struggle for power. The negative side of the realists’ emphasis on power and self-interest is their skepticism regarding the relevance of ethical norms to relations among states. Korab-Karpowicz (2011:6) states that “national politics is the realm of authority and law, whereas international politics, they sometimes claim, is a sphere without justice, characterized by active or potential conflict among states.” This realist perception underscores the very nature and behavior of states.

Bennet (1984:134) states that “the national goals, values, interest and international commitments compete with the demands of collective security for action…national security takes precedence over collective security, cultural, traditional, trade and investment, military alliances and ideology are balanced against a general commitment to world peace.” Thus the selfish and competitive aspects of

international relations present a major challenge to the success of collective security agenda at the regional and global level. The study provided that human beings are needy and vulnerable and can easily be led astray by our attempts to know the world and communities around us such that when we act, we may do so selfishly and impulsively on the basis of faulty reasoning or theology.

 

1.9 DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

Terrorism: Terrorism can be said as a demonstration of viciousness against people, gatherings, states, and some more, ordinarily with political or ideological aims, with the intent to cause havoc (Jenkins, 2019).

Global Security: Global security can be defined as measures, for example, military or political carried out by countries and international associations intending to accomplish common peace, security, and safety (Global Security, 2019).

Security: Security is the condition of being protected from danger (Booth, 2014). Al-Qaeda: Al-Qaeda is a terrorist wide-based assailant Islamist association whose point is to kill the Western presence in Arab nations and to restrict western foreign policy established by Osama bin Laden in 1988 (Encyclopedia, 2020).

 

 

1.10      SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER

This chapter is an overview of the study. The chapter shows that terrorism is not a new phenomenon, and has been in place and used by individuals to achieve certain goals. Also, it gives an overview of security and global security. Thus, the study gives a background to the study, the history and origin of terrorism, talked on security and global security, the statement of the problem, research aim and objectives, research questions, the significance of the study, the scope and limitation, and finally the definition of terms.

TERRORISM AND ITS IMPACT ON GLOBAL SECURITY (A CASE STUDY OF AL-QAEDA)

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