Terrorism – what is it exactly? A social movement with a purpose? An ideology? Mostly, terrorism is derived from religious fanaticism, political rivalries, ethnic hatred, etc. They are a group of people that think that violence is a piece to achieve whatever goals they have and will be tolerated is what most people think of it as. Most of the people who are seen to be a part of such groups are “Muslim Extremists”, however, no religion ever leads to or encourages such abhorrent acts. Hence, to justify their doings, people put the blame on their religion. Whereas, it can be noticed that religion doesn’t play a role when it comes to terrorism. Whenever there is any news related to the reason behind the attack, its generally an assumption of what the people think the reason is. It is not the real reason. In the past few years, it has been noticed that Terrorism is not a threat to the world as much as it is to the West. However, we can still say that Terrorism is somewhere down the line increasing. Even though Europe has been a target in the past couple of years, it is noted that the attacks that took place on the American soil were the worst. Hence, in the past couple of years, the foreign policy of The United States has been a highly debatable topic as both the political parties have a different take on the topic. Through this research paper, it will be easier for everyone to get a good grasp as to what Terrorism and it’s current predicament as it talks about the meaning of terrorism, reasons behind the such acts, what motivates the people to perform such abhorrent acts. In addition to that, a clear picture of how and where in the world is terrorism increasing and how the people of the same religious group have been victims of these acts. Moreover, the take of the United States’ government on the acts and the Foreign Policy. 

Terrorism is one of the biggest threat nowadays. Hundreds of people have lost their life. Many have lost someone they love because of terrorism. Most of the world lives with the fear of terrorism, wondering what and when will happen? Will they be able to survive it? Will their family be protected from it? This topic is not just about the fear of a few people or some groups, it is the fear almost every single person has. Hence, it is mandatory for everyone to know what is going on. Stephen Sloan, a Professor at the University of Central Florida, specializes in research, consulting, and teaching terrorism insurgency, intelligence and crisis management under National Security. In his book, “Terrorism: The Present Threat in Context,” he explains terrorism as, “Terrorism is the premeditated use or threat to use violence by individuals or subnational groups to obtain a political or social objective through the intimidation of a large audience beyond that of the immediate noncombatant victims.” In other words, it is ‘violence for effect’. As observed in several cases, the act of terrorism is done to attain political or social goals. Both the Democrats and the Republicans have had their fair share to make their own points. However, the focus right should be whether the attacks happening in the past have been a Terrorist activity? If yes, then how fast are they growing? How big of a threat are they? And, what steps would make certain that the American soil would be a 100% protected after that?

For major part of the society, the logic behind such acts is abhorrent. Then why do the people (terrorists) do such acts? Make life miserable for some people? Sloan has investigated the logic basis of such violent acts. He clearly points out, “While it may be emotionally difficult to conceive of Terrorism as a form of purposeful violence when one sees the shocking results of such acts, the fact remains that terrorism is ‘violence for effect’.” Other than that, by using means like psychology and precise analysis of previous attacks, trails left by some of the terrorists, it has been observed that they (terrorists) totally believe in the saying “actions speak louder than words.” Such acts symbolize their need to show dominance, make the world fear them, believe in the fact that the political systems and their countries have done wrong to them. Al Qaeda, the most well-known terrorist association, which is still in operation and encourage people from all the Islamic countries to join their initiative. From where do the people in such groups get their motivation from, these are still unknown contexts. However, people who are more open to terrorist recruitment and radicalization are known to – a) feel angry or alienated, b) perceive themselves as victims of social and political injustice, c) strongly believe in taking an action (mostly by engaging in violence) rather than talking about the problem, and d) believe that such acts will get them justice and recognition. 

Now that it’s clear what terrorism is and what motivates it, it is important to know how fast it is increasing. In the article ‘Is Terrorism Getting any Worse?’ Freidman explains, “These days, terrorism seems not just more lethal and more common, but more widespread. The death toll in recent weeks speaks for itself: 22 people dead in Bangladesh, 49 gone in the United States, 44 gone in Turkey, 292 gone in Iraq, then another 37, another 12, yet another 12.” It has been suspected that the attacks have been growing at a rapid speed since George W. Bush declared the “war on terror.” Also, using Statistics from University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database, Freidman reveals that in 2015, there were terrorist attacks in 100 countries (it was 59 in 2013). Terrorism is a one of the biggest and most dangerous threats in today’s world. Hence, in order to figure out its aspects, it is important to know exactly how big the problem is. And where it is spread the most and how bad the conditions are? And from these statistics, it can be seen clearly that terrorism has increased significantly in the past five years. However, do we know where?

Terrorism is growing at a rapid speed in the world, no. In the West, yes. In the past few years, it has been observed that high-profile attacks in cities including Brussles, Paris, Orlando and San Bernardino, California have increased the public fears of terrorism. This, in turn, had made a big issue in the United Stated Presidential Campaign. Hence, President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump have highlighted the risk of terrorism in the United States of America. The article, “The Real Debate 2: Two Very Different Worldviews” was published in NPR. This article is based on a debate between the Democrats and the Republicans about the Foreign Policy of The United States. It mainly talks about sending troops to Syria and Iraq to fight ISIS. However, instead of having a clear opinion, both the parties ended up having a debate over the same. On one hand, Obama did not support the sending in troops to the Islamic States, his focus was to fight Worldwide Terrorism by building strategic alliances with other countries which were facing the same values and fighting the same threats. On the other hand, the Republicans believe in displaying military power to curb Terrorism. The author has efficiently provided enough material to support his claims (taking the excerpts from the Press conferences given by the party members). Generally, the author (and sometimes the media source, NPR) leans toward the left (based on his previous work). However, the debates written by him seem to support both the sides well and are without any bias. The response on the audience depends upon their values and which party do they support. If they are in favor of calm and strategical planning, they could support Obama. Whereas, if they prefer displaying power, they would go with the Republicans. 

According to the “Republican views”, a website that is run by the Republican political party’s office.  The Republicans believed in “the right of the people to be secure in their houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” They want their enemies (and the country’s enemies) to know that they prefer dealing with issues by showing power (especially when it comes to National Security). They want to finish all the problems at once so that everybody can rest peacefully instead of being on alert all the time. Even though this method is a breach of values, people still believe it will be more effective than the Democrats views because, “as opposed to the Democrats’ diplomacy, the Republicans are at least decided on what they want to do”. Now that Donald Trump is the President of the U.S., it is mandatory for the citizens to know how he would approach such an important topic. The source, “Democrats’ Biggest Vulnerability In 2016: National Security” talks about how Obama’s denial about the increasing rate of Terrorism affected the democrat’s credibility. Obama believed in not taking drastic measures in order to “keep the country safe”. This changed the views of the public towards the Democrats. However, the party insists that they are just focused on making a strategic move instead of a drastic one. However, this make not work out in their favor as the public only wants to be safe. If they don’t see the government working for it, they will not be happy about it.

Now that the areas being affected by terrorism are known, it is important to know the reasons behind these attacks. The article “Why Terrorism is Apparently Increasing?” helps in shedding light on how cyber space, the place where everyone spends most of their time at, is the cause of terrorism. Studies in the past few years of the terrorists’ attacks have shown that the main channel of communication for the terrorists has been possible to pull off these attacks. These types of attacks have been possible by the help of internet not only for communicating but also provides information, knowledge and skills in cyber space. This is one aspect that facilitates the increased levels of terrorism by providing access to powerful tools such as internet and financing. Globalization has been a way to provide access to travel and cyberspace which makes life easier for everyone and everything. Moreover, the global media coverage has led to the outrageous attacks that made the terrorists attempt to a more and larger scale of terrorism. 

Most of the time, the people who are found to be the reason behind the terrorist attacks are the people following Islam (the Muslims). This led to the world fearing the religion – Islamophobia. Islamophobia has been a big deal in the West as, in the past years, that are specifically has been the target of the majority terrorist attacks. However, it is important for people to know that a religion is never the reason behind any such abhorrent deed. It is a cover for people to save their face and blame the religion for the deeds they do. As it was noticed that most of the terrorists were Muslims, the Islamic countries such as Pakistan were tagged as terrorists. However, what people don’t know is that Pakistan has also been a victim of terrorism for an extremely long time along with the other countries facing Terrorism. Karima Bennoune, a professor at the University of California – Davis School of Law shares her and other people she interviewed stories’ about fighting against fundamentalism. The stories demonstrates how people from their community take a step to fight against crimes against basic human rights. This is her way to point out the most common myth related to the terrorism – all Muslims are not terrorists. It’s the people who use religion as a way to take out the anger on the world. In the article, “Pakistan Is Winning Its Warr On Terror” Peter, a British journalist, reveals that Pakistan – a country known as one of the dangerous countries has been facing an extremely high rate of violence for the past few decades. However, in the past few weeks the country has seen an significant amount of downfall in terms of violence. The works of people like Major Bilal (the Lieutenant General of Pakistan army, who served 28 years for his country) and Altaf Hussain (a Pakistani Politician, who led the Muttahida Qaumi Movement) have helped on clearing out problems the country faced and made it quite clear that not everyone is cut out from the same cloth.  

Hence, it can clearly be seen that Terrorism has become a major threat to the world due to its significant increase over the years. It has spread out all around the world. More so, we now know the major targets of terrorist groups. And why these terrorist groups do all this, how and who they recruit. While working on this research project, I noticed how Muslims as a community and religion was looked down upon by hundreds and thousands of people because it was noticed that terrorists were generally Muslims and, they also claimed do to what they did in the name of their religion. This led to Islamophobia almost everywhere in the world. However, majority of us didn’t realize that Muslims, people in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and other Muslim countries where also being affected by all these attacks. Not only was their religion being frowned upon, people used to be scared when they saw them. This all must’ve been really hard on people who had been innocent all along, to face the wrath of the world. Hence, this research project was a way to help me explain that we humans generalize a lot in our lives. We stereotype. However, this generalization often leads to innocent people taking the brunt of what others do. Moreover, this paper was a way to spread more awareness towards Terrorism and its aspects which sometimes, we tend to overlook. 
