Globalisation,Relative Deprivation and Terrorism: An Analysis

1 The globalisation of terror has also changed in character as the world moves away from the state sponsored phenomenon of the 1980s. The statistics tell that from 1968 to 89 the incident rate of terrorism was 1,673 per year. From 1990–96 there was an increase of 162% on the cold war years (4,389 a year). The percentage increase would now be closer to 200% given the escalating number of conflicts since 1996. More alarming is that the new terrorism is primarily conducted against citizens. Fifty thousand people died in terror attacks from 1990 to 96. After 2000, terrorist attacks spanned more areas, with more daring actions and diverse techniques; more dramatic events took place that shocked the conscience of the people of America, Europe, Asia and even the Muslim world. See, Christopher Coker 'Globalization and Terrorism', Paper prepared for a seminar on The Prospects for the Canadian Summit, Ninth Floor, Nippon Press Centre, Tokyo, Japan, June 10, 2002.

2 See Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) 2001, OEA/Ser./L/V/II.114, doc.5 rev., 16 April 2001 [hereinafter Annual Report of the IACHR2001, Chapter IV, Introduction; Resolution of the OAS Permanent Council, Convocation of the 23^rd Meeting of Constitution of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, OEA/Ser.G CP/RES.796 (1293/01) (19 September 2001).

3 Shiva S.K. , Terrorism in the New Millennium, Delhi, Authorspress, 2001, p. 177.

4 Francis Fukuyama , The End of History, National Interest, summer 1989.

5 Francis Fukuyama , The End of History and the Last Man, London, Penguin Books, 1992.

6 Ibid. p. 12.

7 Ibid, pp. 19–22.

8 Samuel P. Huntington , The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, New Delhi, Penguin Books, 1997.

9 John R. Hinnells , Persian Mythology, New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1973, p. 9.

10 Leo Strauss Joseph Cropsey (eds.), History of Political Philosophy, 3rd edn, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1987, pp. 221–224. Farabi was an Iranian who wrote in Persian as well as Arabic.

11 Jan Aart Scholte , Globalization: A Critical Introduction (Second Edition), New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, p. 55.

12 Ibid., pp. 56–57.

13 Ibid., pp. 57–58.

14 Ibid., pp. 58–59.

15 Castells M , The Informational City: Information Technology, Economic Restructuring, and the Urban-Regional Process, Oxford: Blackwell, 1989, p. 348.

16 Auge M. , An anthropology for Contemporaneous Worlds, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994, p. 95.

17 See Thomas W. Simons , Islam in a Globalizing World, Palo Alto, California, Stanford University Press, 2003.

18 Praveen Swamy , 'The Economics of Terror', The Hindu, February 17 2007, Chennai, p.13.

19 Ibid, p. 13.

20 Young P. , Person to Person: The International Impact of the Telephone, Granla, Cambridge, 1991, p. 49.

21 Western government analysts have divided Al-Qaeda into three elements. The first is a “hard-core” of well known leaders such as Osama bin Laden, the second element is the “network of networks”, and the third element is of “AI-Qaeda Mk2”, which is based on ideology. This has mobilised thousands of young Muslim from a wide variety of backgrounds around the world in the last five years. Also see Jason Burke 'Al-Qaeda - the Second Coming', The Hindu, March 12, Chennai, 2007 p. 11.

22 Gupta K.R. , Global Terrorism, Atlantic Publishers, Delhi, 2004 pp. 123–125.

23 The concept of jihad refers to the vocation of Muslims to strive or struggle to realise God's will, to lead a virtuous life. But this includes the universal mission and obligation to spread God's will and rule.

24 Robert K. Merton , “Social Structure and Anomie”, American Sociological Review, 1938, 3, pp. 672–682.

25 The Rajinder Sachar Committee has been appointed by the Prime Minister to evaluate the social, economic and educational status of Muslims. The report notes that Muslim community exhibits “deficits and deprivation” in practically all dimensions of development. “In fact, by and large, Muslims ranks somewhat above the SCs/STs but below Hindu OBCs, Other minorities and Hindu General (mostly upper castes) in almost all indicators considered”. Also see Vidya Subramaniyam, 'Muslim Deprivation Widespread: Sachar Panel', The Hindu 2006, Chennai, p. 1.

26 Ibid., p. 1.

27 Lawrence Wright , The Looming Tower, Knopf, New York, 2006, pp 106–107.

28 PaulPillar , Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy, Brookings, 2001, p. xlvi.

29 Loekman Soetrismo , 'Social Harmony, Stability and Diversity in Globalizing Societies', Paper Presented at the AASSREC Biennial General Conference, Beijing, 1997, pp. 6–7.

30 Oxfam , 'Stitched Up - How Rich Country Protectionism in Textiles and Clothing Prevents Poverty Alleviation', 2Q04. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/whatwedo/issues/trades/downloads/bp60textiles.pdf.

31 WHO (World Health Organisation) 'Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers: Their Significance for Health', Second Synthesis Report, Geneva, 2004.

32 United Nations Development Programme, 'Human Development Report', New York, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 51.

33 F. Stewart/Global Economic Influences and Policies Towards Violent Self-Delermination Movements: An Overview' in FitzGerald V. Stewart F. Venugopal R. (eds), Globalization, Violent Conflict and Self-Determination, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2006, pp. 26–27.

34 Haneef an Indian doctor has been charged by the Australian authority for handing over a SIM card to his cousin. The Australian government said Dr. Haneef has a link with the terror suspects in the U.K. Also see, Thakur R, 'Human Rights, National Security, and Terrorism', the Hindu, July 20,2007, Chennai, p. 10.

35 The Taliban (Students of Islamic Knowledge Movement) ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. They came to power during Afghanistan's long civil war. Although they managed to hold 90% of the country's territory, their policies—including their treatment of women and support of terrorists—alienated them from the world community. The Taliban was ousted from power in December 2001 by the U.S. military and Afghani opposition forces in response to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S.

36 Shiva S.K. , Terrorism in the New Millennium, Authors Press, Delhi, 2001, p. 177.

37 Unscom, which presided over the destruction of much of Iraq's chemical weaponry in 1992, has reported that Iraq's main biological weapons facility Al-Hakam was destroyed in 1996, and has affirmed that previous inspections substantially degraded its nuclear weapons program.

38 The National Energy Policy (or “Cheney”) Report of 2001 projects will raise importation of oil rising from its current level of 50%, to 66% by 2020.

39 Mike Marqusee , 'Crime and Consequence', the Hindu, Chennai, July 15,2007, p. 3 (magazine).

40 There is at present no accepted definition of terrorism under international law. In its broader sense, terrorism is frequently described as the use of violence to generate fear in the in the public in the pursuit of political aims. See, e.g., Declaration of Lima to Prevent, Combat, and Eliminate Terrorism, adopted at the second plenary session of the ministers and heads of delegation of the member states of the OAS for the Inter-American Conference on Terrorism, 26 April 1996, Para. 3 (describing terrorism as a “serious form of organised and systematic violence, which is intended to generate chaos and fear among the population”); UN General Assembly Resolution 51/210, A/RES/51/210 (17 December 19%) “Measures to eliminate International terrorism”, Para 2 (reiterating that “criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstances unjustifiable, whatever considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other nature that may be invoked to justify them.”).

41 The term “terrorism” has also evolved over time. It was first used in a political context during the French Revolution, when it was reserved for accusations against those who, like Robespierre, made use of violence in the name of the state. By the late nineteenth century, however, Russian and French anarchists proudly used the word “terrorism” to describe their violent endeavors against the state. A part of the difficulty in defining terrorism is that there are valid disputes as to which party is a legitimate government. During World War II, for example, the German occupation forces labeled members of the French Resistance terrorists. A range of possible definitions exists. See, V. P. Srivastav, Terrorism: A Global Dimensions, Indian Publishers, 2004, Delhi.

42 League of Nations, Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism, O. J. 19 at 23 (1938), League of Nations Doc. C.546 (I). M. 383 (I). 1937, V (1938), cited in M. Cherif Bassiouni, International Terrorism, in International Criminal Law, Crimes 765 ( Cherif Bassiouni M. , ed., 2nd ed., 1999) [hereinafter Bassiouni, International Terrorism].

43 See UN press release L/2993 of February 1, 2002 on Ad Hoc Committee on Assembly Resolution 51/210,6^∗ Sess., 26^∗ mtg. (1 February 2002) (indicating that the Ad Hoc Committee Established by General Assembly Resolution 51/201 of December 17,1996, which is charged with preparing a comprehensive international treaty on terrorism, had not reached an agreement on a definition of terrorism under article 2 of the draft treaty); Report of the Sixth Committee, UN Doc. 34/786 (December 1979) (indicating that a subject matter oriented approach to preventing, controlling and suppressing terrorism dominated the ad Hoc UN committee on international terrorism in 1973,1977 and 1979 because efforts to develop a comprehensive definition of terrorism proved politically difficult).

44 See, International Convention against the Tackling of Hostages signed at New York on 18 December 1979.

45 See, Convention on offenses and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft September 14, 1963.

46 See, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic agents, opened for signature December 14, 1973.

47 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War entered into force October 21, 1950.

48 See, UN Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism, annexed to UN General Assembly Resolution 49/60, UN Doc. A/RES/49/60 (7 February, 1995), Article 3.

49 The Security Council, Meeting at the Ministerial Level, Recalling its Resolutions 1269 (1999) of 19 October 1999, 1368 (2001) of 12 September 2001 and 1373 (2001) of 28 September 2001.

50 Also see, The Hindu, “UNs Role in Combating Terrorism”, April 14, 2002.

51 On September 28, 2001 the Security Council adopted Resolution 1373. The Resolution, in its operative part, by explicitly invoking the Council's authority under Chapter VII, ordered the Member States to take a series of measures against international terrorism.

52 Declaration on the Issue of Combating Terrorism (S/RES/1377/2001), adopted by the Security Council at its 4413^∗ meeting on 12^th November 2001.

53 Declaration on the Issue of Combating Terrorism (S/RES/1456/2003) adopted by the Security Council at its 4688^∗ meeting on 20^∗ January, 2003.

54 Larry Ray , Globalization and Everyday Life, Routtedge, London, 2007, p 198.