It often seems like the world is in a constant state of panic. Technology has facilitated many everyday activities and has provided immediate information to those seeking it. People are informed about major events in seconds and this, inevitably, causes people to persistently feel alarmed and anxious. Terrorism, or “ the threat or use of violence to change an existing political order” (Chernotsky), is one of the major events shaping the world today and adding to this panic. In 2016, 47 percent of attacks were bombings or explosions, 8,937 people were kidnapped worldwide, 19,461 people were injured from an attack, and there were 18,753 fatalities from terrorist attacks (Statista, 2018). Terrorism is a very complex subject, but it is one that many people should be somewhat informed about. The effects extend past the casualties and destruction; trade, politics, and economics are also affected by terrorism.
People are heavily influenced by the negative outcomes of terrorism. According to Radu, there were over 11,000 terrorist attacks around the world in 2016 which approximately killed 25,600 and injured 34,000 people (Radu, 2018). These numbers are not including the thousands of individuals that were kidnapped or became hostage to terrorists. Additionally, Radu mentions that terrorism “made the news in 104 countries” (Radu, 2018). This continuous exposure to terrorist attacks has caused terrorism to become one of the most important issues for people to discuss around the world. Terrorism is such a relevant subject that, according to the 2018 Best Countries survey and rankings, about 35 percent of 21,000+ individuals taking a global survey preferred the subject of terrorism over others including climate change, immigration, and gender inequality (Radu, 2018).
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People have become so interested in terrorism that schools around the world have begun to incorporate the study of terrorism into their curricula. University professors in Sri Lanka have experienced a higher demand from students to study counterterrorism studies. Additionally, Ion Duvac, a terrorism studies professor in Romania states that people working in careers involving national security, business, law, and journalism are most involved in studying the subject (Radu, 2018). These fields affect multiple types of careers but they also affect the type of training that would be required for different jobs. The increased interest in terrorism has already affected education. In school, individuals are learning the causes and effects of terrorism. Eventually, schools will incorporate ways students should protect themselves in a terrorist attack and theories on how to prevent attacks. However, it is obvious that the upcoming workforce around the world will have new knowledge and skills pertaining to terrorist attacks that the current workforce does not yet have. Since educators are seeing an increased interest in the subject of terrorism, future generations are likely to keep monitoring terrorism closely. Perhaps the increased study of terrorism will bring the world closer to ending terrorism for good.
There have been multiple attacks across the world. On December 16, 2014, a terrorist attack in Pakistan left 145 individuals dead, 132 of them being children. On the very same day, a double bombing attack killed 25 in Yemen (Shelton, 2018). Surprisingly, the day before 185 individuals were kidnapped from a village in Nigeria (Shelton, 2018). Terrorism does not exclusively affect one nation. For this reason, as mentioned before, people are in a constant state of anxiety; no place is safe from terrorism. According to Fitzsimmons, 39 percent of individuals feel anxious about a changing workplace structure, 30 percent about redundancy, 24 percent about broader economic conditions, 18 percent about technological change, and 14 percent about international economic conditions (Fitzsimmons, 2018). These statistics are not taking into consideration the anxiety that individuals must feel from living in a world with continuous unexpected terrorist attacks. Dr. Leahy states that the purpose of terrorism is for terrorist groups to install fear onto a victim to increase the group’s relevance and this may result in an increased level of anxiety (Leahy, 2018). Since attacks happen so frequently and are dispersed, it is no surprise that individuals feel so anxious. However, terrorism not only affects an individual's mental state, but their working capabilities as well. Anxiety in the workforce may result in missed deadlines, higher employee turnover, and damage to the company’s image (Jones, 2018). These effects are very damaging to a workplace in any part of the world.
Unfortunately, the effect of terrorism is beyond the people; additionally, it affects global trade, politics, and the economy. Terrorism has a very sudden impact on trade: terrorism increases uncertainty. Uncertainty in global trade can raise the cost of trade goods which can hurt a country’s economy by depreciating the monetary value. Another effect on trade is the increased cost of doing business by having countries take part in insurance measures and security costs. Terrorism can also slow down the flow of goods and services between nations due to uncertainty (Bandyopadhyay, 2016). Most importantly, terrorism can impact trade severely because some nations might want to steer clear of uncertainty in nations. Trade is most productive when there is political stability and terrorism can disrupt this state.
Politically, terrorism can be a big influence on the outcome of elections. When the 2017 terrorist attack in Paris occurred, the country was going through presidential elections, and the right-wing party looked appealing to a lot of voters (Fisher, 2017). Fisher states that terrorist attacks can alter the way that people vote with studies showing that there is an increase in polarization after an attack. Israel, a country with a “complex multiparty system,” has best demonstrated the effects of terrorism on political elections (Fisher, 2017). According to Claude Berrebi, a 2008 study found that when an area experienced a terrorist attack months away from an election, voters “shifted toward right-wing parties at an average of 1.35 percentage points” (Fisher, 2017). Terrorist attacks cause so much uncertainty that they may influence political elections under the right circumstances.
A country’s economy is heavily disrupted by terrorism. The very first impact of terrorism, besides the casualties, is the destruction caused by the attacks. Depending on the attack, there could be a lot of physical destruction after an attack (Ross, 2016). A building can collapse and cause a lot of damage to its surroundings, as happened during the 9/11 attacks. The World Trade Center was a very important place of business in the United States and they were destroyed in a matter of minutes. This is true for other important locations around the world, whether it be hospitals, churches, or other businesses. Another impact of terrorism on the economy is the probability of war. If a nation is shaken enough, it might decide it is reasonable to go to war over a terrorist attack (Ross, 2016). The U.S. is most famous for doing this after the 9/11 attacks. However, other countries have joined the U.S. in fighting terrorist groups, including ISIS. The U.S. is currently in the war against ISIS and 68 nations have joined the country in this fight (O’Connor, 2017). The nations include Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Italy, and many more. Although the effort has good intentions, it is no secret that funding these wars is expensive. To finance a war, a country may rely on higher taxes, deficits, and inflation (Ross, 2016). Finally, terrorist attacks can bring about skepticism toward foreign nationals (Ross, 2016). Once again, best demonstrated by the United States and the installment of travel bans against countries with terrorist influence. Although the travel bans are debatable, the reaction toward terrorism by the U.S. was a very normal one.
All this said the number of terrorist attacks has statistically fallen. Dudley states that in 2016, the casualties resulting from terrorism fell 13 percent from 2015 and 22 percent from 2014 (Dudley, 2018). Additionally, the 2017 Global Terrorism Index concluded that Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria – four of five countries most affected by terrorism – had a decrease in deaths from terrorism in 2016 (Dudley, 2017). Although this is good news, it does not mean that people should feel relief and assume terrorism is declining indefinitely. The number of deaths may have fallen, but more places around the world were affected by terrorism, with “77 countries [suffering] at least one death from terrorism” in 2016 (Dudley, 2017). While the four previously mentioned countries saw a decrease in casualties, “Europe and other developed countries have seen their situations get worse” (Dudley, 2017). These statistics can be interpreted in a number of ways, however, terrorism is far from being obliterated. What can probably be concluded from the numbers is that terrorist groups have increasingly favored surprise attacks in Western countries since they would be more unexpected and thus, more damaging. Since there is more interest in terrorism subject in schools, perhaps increased awareness and studies will help further decrease these numbers around the world.
All of these effects are significant because every day the world is leaning more toward globalization and terrorism is a threat to it. People are more focused on the destruction occurring around the world that they will be less likely to want to travel and work with other nations.
Terrorism is a complicated subject; yet, its importance is undeniable. People are heavily affected by the attacks and thousands of individuals have died due to attacks. Those that survive may find themselves battling PTSD and those that are viewing the attacks on media can find themselves in a constant state of anxiety as they try to make sense of the world’s current situation. However, The effects of terrorism stretch beyond the people. Terrorism affects trade among nations due to increased uncertainty. Around the world, political elections and laws can be heavily influenced by terrorist attacks. Countries can find themselves in economic turmoil after a terrorist attack due to increased destruction and anger. All of this ends up affecting the global workforce because globalization has caused the world’s nations to be so intertwined that a terrorist attack in one country is really an attack toward world peace.
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