TERRORISM: THE GREATEST PROBLEM IN THE WORLD 1
There are many problems plaguing the world today. Individualcountries face specific problems, including, economic crisis,overpopulation, human rights issues, and illiteracy among others.Most of these challenges are regional, and they do not affect all thecountries with the same magnitude. Terrorism stands out as the worstproblem facing the world. Before 9/11, most of the countries did notconsider extremism as an audacious problem. However, it is notablethat radicalism acts were still pertinent even before 9/11, but theywere mainly carried out in war-torn and hostile areas. Today, most ofthe countries live in fear of being attacked by terrorists. Accordingto Ozer (2016), the problem exacerbates because the perpetrators useguerilla methods as opposed to the conventional war tactics. It,therefore, becomes difficult to monitor and control the movement ofsuspected extremists (Ozer, 2016). Although it is not the onlyproblem in the world, it forms the bulk of the word’s problems forseveral reasons.
First, terrorism results in massive deaths and casualty of innocentand unsuspecting individuals. For example in the 9/11 incident thatshook the world, 3000 innocent civilians lost their lives (Ozer,2016). In 1998, the American embassy in Kenya was attacked byal-Qaida, resulting in the death of more than 200 people and scoresinjured. According to Ozer (2016), between 1980 and 2001, 4,685people lost their lives while more than 8,705 cheated death withmajor injuries. Additionally between 2002 and 2009, more than 1000victims succumbed to injuries inflicted by terrorist acts, and more3000 others were injured (Ozer, 2016).The acts occurred in differentcountries across the world, and they ushered an era of fightingterror.
Consequently, the affected countries set aside exorbitant budgets toupdate their military, intelligence hardware, and skills as apreclusive measure. For example, the United States increased itsmilitary spending to $664 billion as at 2010 to cater for itsactivities locally and in the Middle East (Ozer, 2016). In 2013, 57%of the proposed budget went to military spending (Ozer, 2016). Wereit not for terrorism, the governments could have channeled theresources to other motives that support life, including, health,education, infrastructure, and social support.
Secondly, other major world concerns are a result of terrorism. Forexample, after extremists attack, economies suffer tremendouslacerations. Racial profiling also emanates from such motives. Forexample, individuals of Arab descent are believed to perpetrate mostof the terror campaigns. Therefore, Arabs are treated with contemptand suspicion in some parts of the world, including, the UnitedStates and most of the western countries (Ozer, 2016). The issues ofhuman rights and racial discrimination arise, and they can be tracedto terrorism. Besides, the retaliatory attacks by the aggressedparties result in innocent deaths, displacements, hunger, anddisorganization of the social structures. A prime example is thestate of Syria. France and Russia attacked it, for allegedlyharboring terrorists. The outcome of the violence is thousands ofpeople fleeing the country under deplorable conditions.
The other problems including human rights, population, economicissues, and weapons do not pose a grave problem like terrorism.First, the human population is not a problem of the whole world. Thedeveloped countries are experiencing negative growth pattern. Othercountries have internal mechanisms to control their population. Forexample, China has a one-child policy to curb population. Secondly,countries have internal measures to control the use or arms. Inaddition, the Non-Proliferation Treaty checks nuclear activities inmember countries and weapons are, therefore not a major threat. Also,economic recessions only last a few months. Although their effectscan be far-reaching, countries can correct their balances of paymentsby adjusting internal fiscal policies. The impacts of thesechallenges are meager compared to the effects of terrorism. Also, asingle blow of terrorism can destabilize the structures that counterthese challenges.
In conclusion, the rationale for referring to terrorism as thegravest problem, as opposed to weapons, human rights, and economicissues is because extremism increases their intensity. Individualcountries can deal Human population and economic upheavals throughinternal measures. In addition, economic recession periods do notlast for long. However, terrorism has plagued the world, for the lastfour decades, and its effects expand by the day.
References
Ozer, A. C. (2016). Terrorism in the World. JSocialomics, 5(1),1-2.