Unlike the 19th and the 20th centuries where the world wars and the Cold War were responsible for insecurity and disruption of peace in various states, the 21st century has woken up to a new menace of terrorism as the main threat after the 1998 attacks on the United States of America. The United States in Unity with other nations have been collaborating to counter the attacks to save the lives of the innocent people. However, the problem that arises is the confusion of what amounts to terrorist activity or group. The need to target a particular group as one of a terrorist nature has to be determined by law, where the crime is defined with ultimate precision. This factor has proven to be difficult especially with the rise of radicalization of the youths. The paper seeks to analyze the elements of terrorism according to Patrick Coaty with a view of exposing the evolution of terrorism after the 1998 attacks on the United States of America.

The Problem of Defining Terrorism

Patrick Coaty, a very renowned political scientist, argues that the fight against terrorism begins by first isolating the characteristics that constitute terrorism. Once this has occurred, it becomes easy to bring a singular suspected group within the definition for combating the unit. However, the fact is that while the world is busy concentrating on eliminating the terrorists like the Al-Qaeda, these groups are spreading across the whole world bearing different names. They champion for extremist ideas to counterattack any state that engages in war with them. Coaty argues further that terrorism can only be defined through a keen examination of the terrorist groups, the public, and the pain caused to the victims. He summarizes the term as a widespread form of violence executed against a civilian population which intention is to cause fear or to harm the civilians and people buy papers on this issue https://cheap-papers.com/buy-term-papers-online.php.

From the definition, one of the elements of terrorism that stand out is the use of violence. Coaty argues that to stop this violence, surveillance is very essential. From the time of the attack on the United States of America, for example, several measures including making planes with detective capabilities have been launched. The U.S., for example, through such efforts managed to kill the Pakistan-based Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden making an action that paralyzed the whole terrorist movement in the world. While the United States of America has managed to beat this menace, its allies not anticipating the attacks and putting in place measures face the attacks. Recently, for example, France which is an ally of the United States of America suffered an attack that left the whole country mourning several deaths and many people with deadly injuries. The attack seems to have shifted focus from the U.S. to the country’s allies and, therefore, necessitated the need from all countries to come up with a counterterrorism plan against the groups.

Secondly, Coaty argues that unlike in the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries where terrorism was defined regarding the states indulging in violence to gain more influence, today, a focus has shifted towards Islamism. First, the Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden got agitated with the manner in which the U.S. intervened in the affairs of Saudi Arabia, a state referred to as a holy nation of Muslims. According to Osama, the U.S. was an infidel in Muslim matters and wanted Saudi Arabia to explore the use of the Afghanistan forces unlike the American military. The move made Osama perceive the operation as an attack on the Muslims and vowed to unite Muslims in the fight against the U.S. Even after the bombing of the U.S., we see the rise of other Muslim extremist groups such as the Islamic state. Al-Shabaab, the Mombasa Republican Council, and many others are Muslim organizations. The fight against terror today, therefore, is viewed from the angle of fighting the Muslim extremist groups.

Thirdly, following the three perspectives offered by Coaty concerning terrorism including the victims, terrorists, and the publics’ perspective, we find that terrorist groups today perceive themselves as legal groups fighting a just cause. Nowadays, these groups are some people who indulge in rebellious acts against the governments over policies that they do not agree. One of the most significant examples is the Mombasa Republican Council which decided to stage acts of violence against Kenya on the grounds of oppression and marginalization. For them, the use of violence is a justified cause according to the Muslim faith. Similarly, Al Shabaab justifies itself as a legal group agitating against the use of violence by the Kenyan and Amison Troops in Somalia against Muslims. Many terrorist groups today start as groups championing a just cause and end up committing violence against civilians later on.

While the civilians deem the terrorists as evil people and criminals, the terrorists view the civilians as misled people and use all means to recruit them. The resentment of the civilians is what then leads to acts of violence. The terrorist groups, therefore, hire very intelligent people today in all sectors to pursue their goals. The clash of their ideologies with the civilians and the governments is what leads to attacks. As an element of terrorism, the use of violence against civilians is meant towards convincing governments to adopt their views but which end as a double damage to the innocent people. In the Middle East, for example, the move by al-Qaida to wage attacks on the U.S. civilians was provoked by the need to maintain the security of Muslims in the Middle East but the ideologies differed from the U.S. The agitation for withdrawal of the American troops from the Middle East the US refused is what is leading to numerous attacks witnessed today.

Another element of terrorism is the use of threats and intimidation against the public to seek a quick solution to their needs. The terrorists inflict fear on the public for them to assist the terrorist groups in championing their needs. For example, the militant Al Shabaab which is a terrorist group has engaged in committing acts of violence against Kenyan civilians and issuing threats of attacks to the government of Kenya for troops to leave Somalia. Al –Qaeda used the similar strategy against the U.S. government. Terrorists have mastered the psychology of the public, and they know by inflicting fear, the civilians will push their government to act.

Lastly, according to Coaty, the terrorist groups indulge in the violent activities as a way of pushing their agendas in politics and religion. In the Middle East, for example, most Islamic states are monarchies that do not ascribe to the democratic principles of the western nations. When the West indulges in affairs to distort their structure of governance, they attack through violence to ensure that their political ideologies prevail. In Kenya, for example, the MRC group was championing for the cessation of Mombasa from Kenya. On the other hand, the Islamic State formed a group and endorsed their leader as a supreme head of all Muslims in a bid to attack Christians to join the Muslim religion. The result of it is violence against both the Islamic groups that refused to join them and the Christian nations. Terrorist groups, therefore, always have an agenda they need to accomplish.

Having explored the elements and concepts of terrorism as it stands today, I will analyze some steps taken by the government of the United States of America and the entire world in general towards combating the menace. After the 1998 attacks, the U.S. intensified the search and identification of the terrorist groups and eradicated them by killing their leaders. In the Middle East, for example, the United States of America eliminated all the Al-Qaeda leaders which paralyzed the movement. The chief person whose killing was a reprieve to the international community was the killing of Osama bin Laden who, until his death, was under the protection of the government of Pakistan. States have also come up with laws that define terrorism and give the police the powers to freeze seize the property of the military groups as well as fight the menace.

Another measure is coordination between countries over security alertness. Any state that detects terrorist activities in its border has an obligation of warning other nations so that precautions may suffice and, if possible, assisting in the combating of the terrorists. Various countries respond by issuing travel advisories to their citizens to avoid a lot of damage. Such measures if as much as they are proving to be useful in some countries, the third world nations who lack proper technologies are still at risk.

In conclusion, the elements of terrorism include the use of violence and threats against the civilian population with the aim of causing harm. Terrorists use such activities to enhance their political and religious agendas. The world has, however, responded to it through surveillance and security alertness since the 1998 bombing in America.