Terrorism A Productive Political Strategy example essay topic

430 words
The best example of terrorism in the present day was the attack on the Americans on September 11th when the world trade center was destroyed. It certainly caught the attention of the world and succeeded in its goal. Terrorism is defined as using terror-inspiring methods of governing: is this a productive political strategy? Terrorists usually campaign for their political view to be enforced. By drastic, extreme methods, such as the September 11th attack, terrorists are able to inspire fear and make their views known in effective ways. USA civilians mourned the loss of life on September 11th but they also mourned over their loss of faith in the system that protects them from any attack.

This fear was created by terrorism. Action taken by terrorists is made more significant by the inevitable publicity terrorists crave. Gaining the public eye allows terrorists to emphasize the political point they are campaigning about well, which is exactly the desired effect of terrorist attacks. It is evident that terrorism is a successful means of displaying a message because US President George Bush made clear the motive of the suicide bombers on September 11th. He advertised their cause for them. A "war on terrorism" is almost impossible as terrorism is what might be called an abstract concept.

Terrorism cannot be demolished through plain hand-to-hand combat, as the USA discovered in the Vietnam War against the communist guerrillas. Terrorism can only be abolished by the causes of terrorism being abolished, making the world a place free of grievances, which is almost impossible to achieve. Certain terrorist movements can be combated by intelligence agencies. However, terrorist operations ensure that their plans will not be known by many people, so it is extremely difficult for the intelligence agencies to find out what they are doing. This method of terrorist organisation is extremely difficult to counter, making it a strong, reliable strategy. Terrorism may bring a political cause to the world's attention, but it frequently destroys any sympathy which others may have for the fighters.

Terrorist attacks are frequently targeted at civilians, which is widely felt to be unfair. In the long term, indiscriminate violence is probably counter-productive. Terrorism is a highly successful way of communicating to the world a political message and is used by many groups, like al-Qaida. It creates fear, it publishes the political messages terrorist want to convey and it is almost impossible to combat. These factors make terrorism a productive political strategy.