Terrorism's global threat: economic, political, and social implications

Terrorism

What was once seen on television as part of temporary news broadcasts is now more and more present to even become a global threat. Terrorism is "the threat or use of violence, often against the civilian population, to achieve political or social ends, to intimidate opponents, or to publicize grievances" (the Columbia Encyclopedia, 2007). The most jeopardizing feature of terrorism for a community is given by the fact that it most often targets innocent civilians and it becomes a danger to all of us, everywhere we may be: the shopping mall, the street, the train or even our workplace. "Terrorism, like the plague in the Middle Ages, frightens both leaders and citizens. It is a disease that is spreading, its cure is unknown" (Deutch, 1997). But aside from the social aspect of terrorist attacks, there are also other major implications in the field of economics and politics. The major economic effects could revolve around the flourishing or decline of certain industrial sectors or the effects felt by the operations of international trade.

But in spite of these implications upon the economic well-being of countries, terrorism is rather difficult to stop due to its numerous characteristics. The international powers have often joined forces in trying to resolve the problem of terrorism, and they encountered both success and failure alike. The fight against terrorism has mostly been led on two simultaneous fields - through military combats and within political debates.

2. Terrorists' Incentives

It is rather difficult to look at terrorism from a positive standpoint and identify its benefits, more over since it most often targets innocent individuals and causes their death. Also, the benefits are difficult to be seen as there most always exists a non-violent alternative to achieving the desired results; however the alternatives have a less distinct impact (Halwani, 2006). The costs of terrorist acts on the other hand are more easily identified and they are tremendous, to include the death of innocent civilians and the trauma of the remaining ones. The international standpoint on terrorism is well established but to understand the incentives that drive terrorists, one should look at the marginal benefits and costs from the standpoint of the member to a terrorist organization.

Benefits of terrorism

There are two primary benefits of terrorist attacks. First of all, the individuals committing the acts are ensured that their message will be clearly heard and understood by the desired recipients, generally the members of the political parties, and more recently the officials of large corporations. Then, the second benefit is that of creating chaos and gaining more power, which would help the terrorist better achieve their goals. To explain, take the hypothetical example of a European country fighting alongside with the American troops to bring peace and political stability in Iraq and Afghanistan. Take the situation where the country was not initially a great supporter of sending its troops there and sacrificing its military men in a war that wasn't even theirs. Say then that the European country was attacked by the terrorist groups in Afghanistan and they demanded that the European troops be removed from the Afghan territory, otherwise other attacks would follow and other innocent civilians would be killed. The European country would then find itself in a state of mass hysteria and generalized fear and the inhabitants would most likely pressure the government to remove the troops from the foreign territory in order to best protect the country. Therefore, the desired terrorist goal could be achieved through a sentimental blackmail and an installment of fear.

In the particular case of the terrorist attacks originating in the Middle East and targeting the United States of America, another benefit could be identified. The evidence in this matter is rather circumstantial and has not been supported with any data, but it is worth mentioning at least to better understand the standpoint of the attacker. In this line of thoughts, the Afghanis often feel that the U.S. is not interested in their peace and security but in their oil reserves and the terrorist attacks make a statement that taking over these reserves would not be acceptable, and if it were to occur, it will not be easy nor without a fight. All in all, the primary justification of terrorist attacks is that they mostly occur from the desire to protect one's property, be it material or immaterial, and the benefit is that the statement made is so horrific that it has an international impact.

Costs of terrorism

Again from the standpoint of the member of a terrorist organization, the costs are not clearly established but these may take a more social turn. In other words, even if the inhabitants of a country feel the same way and have similar demands and expectation as the terrorists, they would prefer a more peaceful approach. Foremost, the other inhabitants often condone the acts of their fellow countrymen, resulting in the social outcast of the terrorists.

3. Anti-terrorist policies

The first anti-terrorist policy was adopted in Geneva in November 1937 and it was the result of the assassination of King Alexander or Yugoslavia and French Foreign Minister Loius Bathou by a revolutionary Macedonian belonging to a fanatic group of Croatians. The League of Nations Council for the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism saw that "the contracting states undertook to treat as criminal offences acts of terrorism, including conspiracy, incitement and participation in such acts, and in some cases to grant extradition for such crimes" (Suter, 2005). However, it never came into full force as the countries did not ratify it and therefore its effects did little aside from increasing awareness of the existence and threat posed by terrorist groups.

Such an agreement on the international treatment of terrorism still fails to materialize and the need for it increases with every day. Countries generally take matter in their own hands when being attacked. The United States for instance, following the tragic events of September 11, installed policies that prohibited foreigners from entering the country. "Immediately after [the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States] the United States' national program to admit refugees fleeing persecution around the world was shut down completely for almost three months, stranding more than 22,000 refugees who had already been told they could come to the United States. At the same time, the U.S. government began an intensive effort to apprehend accomplices and prevent another attack. Thousands of people who had nothing to do with terrorism-mostly non-citizens-were trapped in a hastily-cast net. Nearly 1,200 people were detained, mostly Arab, South Asian and Muslim men" (Balkin, 2004). And most of these men had no implication in terrorist activities. The clear effect was an increasing fear and instability of the general population alongside with mistrust in the state authorities.

In regard to the terrorist groups, the anti-terrorist policies have had limited effects. It is true that the laws become stricter; terrorist found it harder to enter the better supervised territories and some of them were even captured, but this only led to the further development and adaptation of the terrorists to the new rules and techniques implemented by the authorities.

5. Economic Consequences

It is generally a habit of the terrorist groups to target international powers in order to make their statement. But these international powers have extremely strong economies, and most importantly, extremely diverse. What this means, is that even if a terrorist attack would affect one economic sector, the large diversity of operations and revenues would be able to support the economic revival of the affected sector and support the country's economic growth (Sandler and Enders, 2005). However, one cannot rely on this premise as it is most applicable at a macroeconomic level. On a microeconomic level, the internal strength of the economy can be easily affected.

After an attack has occurred, certain businesses are expected to flourish while others could encounter difficulties. A sector which integrates in both categories is the insurance industry (OECD, 2002). To better explain, after the incident has occurred, many insured individuals are expected to cash in their insurance money, placing as such the company in a situation of financial difficulty. On the other hand, a large number of uninsured individuals could be frightened by the devastating effects of the attack and open life insurance policies, which would then pour a lot of money into the insurance company.

Two other major economic implications refer to the creation of a large federal debt due to investments in the military and the raising of trade barriers (OECD, 2002). In terms of international trade, the affected country could also suffer several changes. In this particular instance, the natural reaction would be to better supervise the merchandize and transports entering the country's territory. This could eventually materialize in the raising of trade barriers and the creation of a trade deficit, all for the economic detriment of the country. Then, like in the case of the U.S., the officials in the attacked country would be most likely willing to invest more in the state security and defense, placing as such large sums of money into the military, in the detriment of other sectors, and generating a record high federal debt.

6. Conclusions

Terrorism is quickly becoming a threat to the international safety and its most devastating feature is that it targets innocent civilians. However no justification for the acts can be found, the terrorist are often driven by their sense of well-doing in the name of their country and often their religion. Even if the international position in regard to terrorism is rather clear, no specific act or laws exist to prevent and punish these crimes. Foremost, however this is not the intention of the global context, it has developed certain features that increase the opportunity costs of becoming the member of a terrorist organization.

Aside from the social and political implications of terrorists acts, communities are also subjected to changes in the economic environment, which most often becomes weaker and more vulnerable. The primary aim of these attacks is to make a clear statement and to achieve the desired goals through political pressures. But since an internationally generalized response to the attacks has yet to be developed, each country reacts as they find most suitable.