Is Terrorism a Part of Globalization?
Is Terrorism a Part of Globalization? In the world today, there
is a growing trend in violence, both domestically and
internationally, in the form of terrorism. It is present in our
everyday lives and in every part of the world--some more than
others. Terrorism takes on many forms and has had an impact on
all our lives in one way or another. Whether it affected us
directly with the loss of a loved one or an incident we were a
part of, or indirectly by heightened security at the airports
causing delays, sudden drop in a stock values we own, or
emotionally by the countless reports and images displayed by the
media, terrorism has affected us all and shows no signs of going
away anytime soon.
The underlying question then, is what has caused the sudden trend in
terrorism? Has it always been around but just not focused on
by the media, or has something taken place on a global scale
causing the sudden trend? There are many groups and a magnitude
of theories on the sudden trend of terrorism.
Political scientists worldwide are at the forefront of this
investigation. Amongst this group are many differing opinions
and theories. One popular theory used to explain the sudden
trend in terrorism is globalization.
There is another idea that there is an association between
terrorism and globalization - groups which commit terrorism from
areas where little globalization has occurred leading to a third
association between terrorism and globalization, known as a
"North-South" divide. The countries of the North (i.e. United
States, Canada, and Europe) are more developed than those of the
South (i.e. Africa, South America, India) and since 1980 the
economic gap has spread apart tremendously during the
accelerated globalization phase. As this gap has spread,
westernization or forced norms have taken place. This is due to
the fact that organizations, mostly commercial, have moved into
these southern areas for production purposes. Many poorer
nations are now feeling the double punch of a slowing global
economy and political unrest at home. They want rich nations to
open their borders to exports of agricultural commodities,
textiles and steel. But rich nations, including the United
States, aren't in any mood to do this - the best way to fight
terrorism over the long term is to give young people in poorer
nations a reason to believe they can make it in the new global
economy.
Globalization is also creating enormous economic, political, and
cultural losers who have some idea of how the winners are doing
which creates more fertile ground for terrorism by exacerbating
ethnic and cultural conflict.
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