College of Education

School of Continuing and Distance Education2014/2015 – 2016/2017

POLI 212

Introduction to International

Politics

Session 12- TERRORISM AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

Lecturer: Dr. Bossman E. AsareContact Information: bossasare@gmail.com/beasare@ug.edu.gh

Session Overview

– Overview

– This session lays emphasis on terrorism against thebackdrop of the proliferation of several terroristnetworks that threaten international security.

– The discussions will broadly look at some of the popularterrorist organizations as well as examples of terroristactivities; the objectives of terrorists and terrorism;reasons why people engage in terrorism; the types ofterrorism in the global system; and counterterrorism.

– Students will become familiar with why in recent timesalmost all countries have adopted measures to addressthe threats posed by terrorists.

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Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:

• Topic One: Global Terrorism

• Topic Two: Why People Engage in Terrorism and Counterterrorism

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Reading List

• Bossman E. Asare, 2016. International Politics: The Beginner’s Guide- Updated and Expanded, Digibooks, Ghana. chapter 6

• Charles W. Kegley Jr. and Shannon L. Blanton, 2010. World Politics: Trend and Transformation, Wadsworth: CengageLearning. Chapter 13

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GLOBAL TERRORISM

Topic One

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Global Terrorism

• Broadly defined, terrorism is a deliberate attack on innocent civilians and vulnerablepeople in countries or communities. At times, too, terrorism is an attack onimportant government installations. It is “premeditated violence perpetrated againstnoncombatant targets by subnational or transnational groups or clandestine agents,usually intended to influence an audience” (Kegley 2009: 205). According to Combs(2011: 5), “terrorism is a synthesis of war and theater, a dramatization of the mostprescribed kind of violence- that which is deliberately perpetrated on civiliannoncombatant victims- played before an audience in a hope of creating a mood offear.”

• Those who engage in terrorism are called terrorists. The reason why terrorism is adeliberate attack on innocent civilians is that terrorists rarely succeed in attacking orkilling the leaders of countries or groups who are their main targets. Because of thisdifficulty, they resort to killing innocent people so that the leaders of countries andgroups would change their policies towards them. We know that leaders ofcountries tend to have impregnable security, and this explains why they mostlysurvive the attacks of terrorists.

• On the other hand, civilians are easily susceptible to attacks. Consider the footballstadium, the movie theater, and the market center. These are places whereterrorists easily carry out their activities. Generally, whenever terrorists carry outtheir activities there is always an unequivocal intention on their part to cause massmurder. Primarily, killing people then becomes a norm in their scheme of things.

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Global Terrorism (Contd.)

• Terrorism predates the modern state because several violent and horrifying attackswere directed at various religious and ethnic groups some centuries ago. Thecurrent form has been boosted by globalization and this has created a network ofterrorists spread across several countries. Terrorism in the contemporaryinternational system has taken the following dimensions which makes it differentfrom the past:

• 1. Global, in the sense that with the death of distance borders no longer serve asbarriers to terrorism.

• 2. Lethal, because now terrorists have shifted their tactics from theatrical violentacts seeking to alarm for publicity to purposeful destruction of a target’s civiliannoncombatants, to kill as many as possible for the purpose of instilling fear in asmany people as possible.

• 3. Waged by civilians without state sanction in ways and by means that erase theclassic boundaries between terrorism and a declared war between states.

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Global Terrorism (contd.)

• 4. Reliant on the most advanced technology of modern civilization to destroythrough those sophisticated technological means the modern civilization seen asposing a threat to the terrorists’ sacred traditions

• 5. Orchestrated by transnational non-state organizations through globalconspiratorial networks of terrorists cells located in many countries, involvingunprecedented levels of communication and coordination (Sageman 2004, cited inKegley 2009:204-205).

• Examples of Terrorism and Terrorists• There have been several terrorist attacks in almost all parts of the world. In 1998,

the United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were attacked and this led tothe deaths and injuries of several people, mostly civilians. On September 11, 2001(often called 9/11) the World Trade Center in New York City was bombed byterrorists, causing the deaths of more than 3000 thousand people. Most of thepeople who died following the 9/11 attacks were from several countries, not onlythe United States. In 2003, there was the Madrid bombing, which also led to thedeaths of several persons. Britain witnessed an attack recently. Columbia haswitnessed some of the deadly terrorist attacks in the world. In Russia, terrorists’attacks are frequent occurrences, as are Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Morocco,Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine.

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Examples of Terrorism and Terrorists(contd.)

• Pakistan is one of the countries with regular terrorist activities largelybecause of their closeness to Afghanistan where the Taliban (an allegedterrorist organization that used to govern Afghanistan before the USinvasion in 2001) is believed to be hiding. The border between Pakistanand Afghanistan is really a dangerous place for civilians.

• Moreover, religious fundamentalism or extremism is rampant in Pakistan,and this has led to several fundamentalist groups opposing the tenuousalliance between Pakistan and the advanced industrialized countries. OnDecember 24, 2010, a bomb blast close to a UN/World Food Programdistribution point in Pakistan resulted in the deaths of more than 40persons and several injuries (close to 100 persons).

• A Norwegian, Anders Behring Breivik, went to a youth camp in Norway inJuly 2011 and killed 69 young people in what was widely condemned asone of the heinous terror attacks on the European soil. Earlier before thisincident he had killed eight other people.

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Examples of Terrorism and Terrorists(contd.)

• Osama Bin Laden, who was a Saudi national, was unquestionably the most fearedamong terrorists in the world. The US was able to kill him in 2011 after severalyears of hunting for him. It took a lot of intelligence work by the US and othercountries to kill him. When you enter the word terrorism or terrorists in any of theInternet search engines (Yahoo, Google, MSN, etc), you will realize that terroristactivities abound in almost all parts of the world. In the Netherlands, for example,some 12 alleged terrorists were recently prosecuted by Dutch prosecutors. Thereare similar prosecutions underway in many western countries.

• In Nigeria, several violent activities take place that many prefer to call terroristactivities. The Nigerian (Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab), who was arrested inDecember 2009 for attempting to blow up an airplane headed for Detroit in theUnited States, entered the US from Ghana. Mr. Abdulmutallab was alleged to haveconcealed certain dangerous explosives in his underwear to cause mass murder inanother country.

• After investigations by United States’ intelligence officials, according to AttorneyGeneral Eric Holder, it was revealed that Mr. Abdulmutallab belonged to a YemeniAl Qaeda group. This group allegedly plotted the attack and the Nigerian wastrained to finish the job.

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Examples of Terrorism and Terrorists(contd.)

• Some of the terrorist organizations in the world are Eta (in Spain) AbuSayyaf (in the Philippines), the Taliban (mostly Afghanistan and Pakistan),Tamil Tigers (Sri Lanka), Ku Klux Klan(KKK in the United States), Hamas(Palestine), Al Shabaab (in Somalia), Hezbollah (in Lebanon), Boko Haram(Nigeria), Islamic State (Syria, Iraq, and other countries), and Al Qaeda(perhaps worldwide).

• Apart from these groups, there are several ones operating in certaincountries that are yet to receive international and even nationalrecognition. Terrorism forms part of the type of conflict known asasymmetric warfare. Asymmetric warfare is a conflict betweenbelligerents or fighters of unequal strength.

• The weak side uses unconventional tactics such as bombing, kidnapping,and other covert means to surprise and attack the strong side. Terroristsare the weak side and countries/states are the superior side. Symmetricwarfare, on the other hand, is war between belligerents of equal strength,and both of them are likely to be countries.

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Terrorists Networks

• Kenya has been at the receiving end of many terrorist attacks inrecent times yet the government has not been able to address theproblem. In September 2013 Al Shabaab militants attacked theWestgate Mall and that claimed about 27 lives and several injuries,and the March 2015 Garissa University College attack by samegroup claimed about 150 lives.

• In 1998, the bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya andDares Salam, Tanzania led to about 200 deaths and another 4000were injured.

• Again in 2002, al Qaeda backed- terrorists attempted to shoot downan Israeli airliner after bombing a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya.

• In responding to the threats posed by terrorist networks, Ethiopia,for example, adopted proclamation no. 625/2009 tocounterterrorism. Several African countries have adopted certainlegislation to prevent and control terrorism in their jurisdictions.

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Terror Networks (contd.)

• On September 10 2015 the Al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahri(a physicianby profession), who took over the leadership of the group after the deathof Osama Bin Laden, issued a statement calling on Muslims especially inthe western world to attack the US and other western countries.He stated, “I call on all Muslims who can harm the countries of thecrusader coalition not to hesitate. We must now focus on moving the warto the heart of the homes and cities of the crusader West and specificallyAmerica."

• He further urged all militant Islamic groups to work towards unity in aneffort to inflict much pain on the western countries.

• Ayman al-Zawahri again alerted the Muslim youth to follow the examplesof the Tsarnaev and Kouachi brothers, who carried out the deadly Bostonmarathon bombings in April 2013 and Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris inJanuary 2015 respectively, and several other militant groups as examplesto follow to advance the cause of their worldview.

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Terror Networks (contd.)

• Since 2011 a terrorist group known as the Islamic State in Iraq andSyria (ISIS or IS to indicate Islamic State, or ISIL to indicate IslamicState in Iraq and the Levant) has become the most dangerousmilitant group in the world.

• Though founded much earlier than 2011, the group is now widelyconsidered the most feared by Counterterrorism Experts. The groupis led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has ensured that the group isattractive to many young people in the Middle East and the GlobalNorth. ISIS boasts of having fighters from Britain, Germany, France,USA and several countries in the Middle East.

• There are reports indicating that there are two Ghanaians who aremembers of ISIS. There have been several reports in the globalmedia highlighting the many young people both males and femalesthat went to Syria and Iraq to join forces with ISIS.

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Objectives of Terrorism and Terrorist

• One of their central objectives is using force to kill. Here, terrorists carry outdeadly attacks at market places, sports stadia and other public places. Theyspecifically look for places that are soft spots and are difficult for security officialsto arrest them. With this objective, they send a strong signal to countries that theyhave to change course otherwise they would continue to use force to kill as manyinnocent people as possible. Both the 9/11 and the Madrid bombings were clearwarnings to the United States, Spain and other western countries that they had toalter their foreign policies.

• Additionally, agitational objective involves terrorists advertising their agenda topromote the group and discredit countries. In advertising their agenda, they oftencarry out certain attacks to draw the attention of people and countries, that theyare still active and ready to cause mass murder (Kegley 2009:388).

• Moreover, there is an organizational objective, which involves how terroristsacquire financial and other resources to be able to carry out their activities. Theyengage in illegal activities such as robbing financial institutions, money laundering,and selling illicit drugs. Various experts have argued that before a terroristorganization will get people to carry out deadly attacks, they will have to providesome huge sums of money to the family before these persons will agree to carryout the attacks.

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Objectives of Terrorism and Terrorist (contd.)

• Another objective is self-determination, and this involves groupsengaging in terrorist activities to gain their independence from acolonial power or repressive regime.

• Perhaps a final objective is the promotion of religious doctrine ordogma. Their main intention is to impose their religious views onothers.

• In India, fundamentalists Hindus want their country to be governedby the doctrine of their religion. In the Arab world, there are severalgroups that want Sharia/Islamic Law to be part and parcel ofgovernance.

• In the same way, in many western countries, there are groups thatbelieve that leaders must govern base on the teachings of the Bible.When these groups are unable to get politicians to govern base ontheir worldviews, some of them resort to terrorism.

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Tactics used by Terrorists

• Terrorists use a number of tactics to carry out their destructions on targetcountries and communities. The popular tactics or techniques they use arekidnapping, hijacking, hostage taking, assaults, and bombing (suicide bombing).

• With kidnapping, for example, they require countries and family members of thosethey have kidnapped to pay some money to them and these moneys are used tofinance their activities. At times, they tell countries to release their people or otherterrorists who have been imprisoned else they will kill those they have kidnapped.

• Hijacking is common with airplanes, buses, and trains. They often hijack with theintention of killing innocent civilians or demanding that countries pay a ransom. InAugust 2010, a bus carrying visitors in the Philippines was attacked, leading to thedeaths of about eight people and several injuries.

• Largely because of these covert tactics used by terrorists, many have concludedthat they are cowards. However, terrorists and some experts of terrorism counterthis argument by noting that, they are not cowards and that the nature of their jobis such that they have to act clandestinely to stay ahead of countries.

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Different Kinds of Terrorism

• Terrorism is in different forms. Groups that undertake attacks in Nigeriaand other countries are different from the terrorist groups that carry outattacks in most western countries.

• Broadly, terrorists differ from one another based on the scope of theirattacks, the target of their attacks, their location, and the philosophyguiding their activities. Five kinds of terrorism have been identified in theliterature though some of them overlap (Payne 2007:161).

• Domestic terrorism is the kind that takes place within the borders ofcountries such as those that frequently occur in Nigeria and thePhilippines. The Oklahoma City bombing in the United States is anexample of domestic terrorism. These groups usually carry out attacks ongovernment properties and innocent people in their countries.

• Domestic terrorists engage in terrorism in part because governments arenot addressing their legitimate grievances or governments are carryingout attacks on innocent people. They may not deliberately cross theborders of their countries to carry out attacks.

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Different kinds of terrorism (contd.)

• Nationalists’ terrorism are those terrorists that seek the independence oftheir jurisdictions or certain parts of their countries. In Sudan, those whouse violence and other mechanisms used by terrorists to demand theindependence of South Sudan are nationalist terrorists.

• Similarly, the various Palestinian terrorist groups fighting for anindependent Palestinian state are clear examples of nationalist terrorism.The violent individuals within the ANC when South Africa was underapartheid could also fit in examples of nationalist’s terrorism.

• State terrorism is the type supported by the state. States have theresources in terms of money and technology and they are able to supportothers to carry out violent attacks and bombings with precision. Somestates can openly attack people in their countries. For instance, thealleged genocide that took place in Sudan is state terrorism.

• Other examples of states being genocidal are Nazi Germany, StalinistRussia, genocide in Rwanda in the mid-1990s, Cambodia under Pol Pot andhis Khmer Rouge Party, and Uganda under Idi Amin (Payne 2007:171).

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Different kinds of terrorism (contd.)

• Global terrorists’ seek to annihilate leaders and people fromall parts of the world that try to oppose their worldviews aswell as countries that want to impose their values on others.

• Global terrorists, such as Al Qaeda and ISIS, can launch attacksin several parts of the world. They are global because theemergence of advanced technology enables them to carry outviolent attacks from distant locations.

• Some of the global terrorist organizations have affiliates inseveral countries.

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Different kinds of terrorism (contd.)

• Religious terrorism is the kind of terrorism that is influenced by religiousfundamentalism. These religious extremists usually have national and attimes global agendas that they want others to embrace. Those that do notshare that view become enemies and they use violence to impose theirwill. Religious terrorists generally believe that God has instructed them tochampion certain policies on this earth and this must be executed by hookor crook. Four main reasons have been recognized for the violence ofreligious terrorism:

• 1. Violence is believed to be a sacramental act of divine duty inaccordance with theology;

• 2. Religious terrorists view large-scale and indiscriminate violence asnecessary for achieving their goal;

• 3. Religious terrorists do not feel constrained by public opinion or a needto gain popular support because they are engaged in a total war; and

• 4. Religious terrorists generally believe that modifying the system isinsufficient; they seek fundamental changes in the existing order(Hoffman, 1998: 51, cited in Payne 2007:169).

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Sample Questions

• List and explain the differences between the various types of terror networks.

• What are the main features of terrorism in the current international system?

• Identify six terror networks and show the countries where they are located.

• What is terrorism?

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WHY PEOPLE ENGAGE IN TERRORISM AND COUNTERTERRORISM

Topic Two

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Why people engage in terrorism

• Experts in international politics and terrorism especially are yet to reach a consensuson the causes of terrorism. However, experts have given several reasons thatpurport to explain why people become terrorists. The factors discussed here maynot apply to all terrorists since there are different factors that motivate eachterrorist organization. One of the causes of terrorism is poverty and extremeinequality. People who live in poverty can easily be indoctrinated by some wealthyindividuals to become terrorists. When young men mostly those living in povertyare told that the government is not working for them and that the best option is forthem to resort to violence to get their fair share of the national cake, they are likelyto heed. This is one of the reasons why poor countries are susceptible to violenceand other terrorist activities.

• Economic exclusion in certain countries provides a platform for people to engage inviolent behaviors. Many minorities including religious groups in both advanced andemerging economies that feel marginalized can easily organize themselves tothreaten the security of countries. In France and Kenya, for example, many Muslimsbelieve they are excluded economically, and these make the young religious faithfulan easy target for recruiting to become violent extremists A documentary onterrorism in Europe and elsewhere entitled Al Qaeda’s New Front, a terroristindicated that if he died in the act of terrorism he would come back to the worldwith a reward of 77 virgins (ladies). This has been corroborated by some interviewsof terrorists.

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Why people engage in terrorism (contd.)

• Additionally, failed states are a panacea for terrorism. Failed states are thosestates that are unable to maintain law and order in their territories. In such states,it is not uncommon for one to witness several and different groups claiming thatthey are responsible for the governance of certain portions of the country. In suchsocieties or countries, groups that are looked down upon or discriminated againstuse violence to present their case to the authorities in the country.

• Primarily, the absence of a centralized authority that is recognized as legitimate byall in the society makes it easier and encourages people to become terrorists. InIraq the power vacuum that was created following the toppling of SaddamHussein’s administration in 2003 by the United States and coalition forces led tothe proliferation of several terrorist groups.

• Somalia is a quintessential example of a failed state. In Somalia, until recently,there were several warlords that claimed that they were the political authorities ofcertain sections of the country. Moreover, the killing of Ahmed Godane, theinfluential and perhaps well-trained Al Shabaab leader, in September 2014 by a USdrone weakened the group.

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Why people engage in terrorism (contd.)

• Likewise, governments’ failure to address the legitimate concerns and grievancesof people or groups in the country can trigger terrorism. Usually when groups in acountry believe that the government has the resources to be able to provide themcertain basic necessities but does not do it, they will feel discriminated and somewill take to violence to tell governments that they are fed up with their rhetoric toaddress their concerns. Some of these concerns may be related to human rightsand the political and economic freedoms that are not guaranteed to certain groupsor races. Payne (2007:153-154) has argued that the African National Congress(ANC) of South Africa, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Palestine LiberationOrganization (PLO) became terrorist organizations at some point because theirlegitimate concerns were not addressed by those in power..

• Similarly, violence and human rights abuse by governments serve as a catalyst forsome people to become terrorists. Governments that infringe upon the rights oftheir people and engage in violence may end up fomenting terrorists in their owncountries. Iran under the leadership of the Shah used violence on the Iranians andthis inspired the formation of violent groups that sought to fight the Shah and thenational police of Iran. Some terrorist activities in certain specific countries aretraceable to governments’ use of violence on sections of the country.

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Counterterrorism

• Counterterrorism denotes the policies adopted by countries to preventterrorists from attacking them in the first place. Many countries havesecurity and intelligence agencies responsible for denying terrorists andterrorist organizations access to vital information.

• Experts generally agree that terrorism can never be eliminated in theworld but it can be minimized. Counterterrorism experts design programstargeted at making their countries avoid the attacks of terrorists. They giveinformation to their governments on what they can do to make theircountries safe.

• Some of the measures recommended by these experts are denyingterrorist networks access to financial resources by freezing their accounts,preventing them from engaging in illegal activities like illicit drug trade,cooperating and working with intelligence agencies in other countries,imposing sanctions on countries that support terrorism, promotingdemocracy in other countries, and preventing charities and individualsfrom making donations to alleged terrorist groups.

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Counterterrorism (contd.)

• It is also common for intelligence agencies in the western world to send spies toother countries so that they can report on the activities of countries and terroristnetworks. These people can live in other countries for several years and it will bedifficult for residents of the countries to know the reasons why they are livingthere. The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been known to have workers inseveral countries but their identities are shielded to prevent others fromrecognizing them.

• At times, too, these agencies use local people in their countries to give informationabout terrorist activities. We already indicated that advances in technology havefacilitated the work of terrorists, so counterterrorism officials “take aerial andsatellite photographs and conduct general photo reconnaissance” (investigation)as well as “use a wide variety of listening devices to record conversations, interceptradio and other signals, and monitor computer activities” (Payne 2007:175).

• Apart from what countries do to counter terrorism, intergovernmentalorganizations have also adopted policies to prevent terror networks from causingharm to people in the world. Most of the policies have been directed at preventingterrorists from having access to deadly weapons and demanding that countriesand individuals should not finance the activities of terrorists.

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Sample questions

• Explain the meaning of counterterrorism.

• Why have almost all countries invested in counterterrorism?

• How does poverty influence people to engage in terrorism?

• To what does the foreign policy of countries inspire others to engage in terrorism?

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Conclusion of Session 12

• In this session, you have been introduced to terrorism andinternational security.

• we have been able to cover several thematic areas such asthe meaning of terrorism, examples of terrorists and terroractivities, counterterrorism, why people engage in terroractivities, the different kinds of terrorism, and the tacticsused by terrorists.

• I am sure you are now familiar with the reasons why almostall countries have adopted measures to address thechallenges posed by terrorists.

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References

• Bossman E. Asare, 2016. International Politics: The Beginner’s Guide- Updated and Expanded, Digibooks, Ghana.

• Charles W. Kegley Jr. and Shannon L. Blanton, 2010. World Politics: Trend and Transformation, Wadsworth: CengageLearning.

• Kegley, Charles Jr. (2009). World Politics: Trend and Transformation (12th Edition), Wadsworth CengageLearning: USA.

• Payne, Richard (2007) Global Issues: Politics, Economics, and Culture. Pearson Longman: New York.

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