The following essay will critically analyze Pape’s (2003) article from a rationalist, cultural and structural approach. Additionally, it will provide my perspective on some of the controversial topics that the article centers its argument on. Definitely, terrorism and its definition and the strategic logic behind it will be present all along to prove some claims and to discard some others (Pape 2003). Finally, an insight on the future of terrorism as a whole will be offered so if this article makes it to the real world, US policymakers can rely on a wise opinion that could reduce terrorism and the war on terror once and for all. First of all, let’s analyze the rationalist approach together with its implications, consequences and accomplishments.
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According to Pape (2003), two thirds of suicide terrorist attacks can be accounted to religion. Cleary, this factual statistic reveals that there is a strong tie between religion and terrorism. On page 346, Pape (2003) quotes an infamous fatwa signed by Osama Bin Laden that reads: “The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies…, is an individual duty for every Muslim…” (346) Without a doubt, it could be said that a vast majority of religious people of different denominations do not account to the majority of terrorist acts, but must terrorist acts can be accounted to religion as a whole. Also, according to Lim (2010), religion mobilizes and creates a discipline that coerces not only states, but individuals who are not willing to take a bullet for renouncing to an extreme ideology. The cultural approach I present in this analysis centers in religion, but this is not to say that there are no other cultural factors that aggregate to terrorism. Also, as mentioned above, one of the reasons that suicide terrorist attacks are nonstop is because they pay; States do a cost/benefit analysis that most of the times leads to the conclusion that is better give in because the cost is too high to be paid; life itself. Separately, as a consequence of being born to a culture where terrorism is a common practice, individuals do not have much choice but to continue the cycle …show more content…
According to Pape’s (2003) article, “Terrorism involves the use of violence by an organization other than a national government to cause intimidation or fear among a target audience…” To begin with, it could be said that this definition is institutional oriented and blames organization that conform terrorist groups uniquely, but to be realistic not only organizations can be held accountable for acts of terrorism; states too. Separately, the structural approach focuses and is concerned with the question why democratic institutions and governments are the main targets for terrorists (Pape 2003). Arguably, military presence representative of the government of a state is what accounts for and is responsible for the home state being a target (Pape 2003). Now, if such claim is true, then it can be concluded that the 911 attack was a trigger that started a chain reaction among terrorist groups, especially suicide terrorists, since such attacks had great impact in many aspects of our government relations with the middle-east and human behavior as a whole; in other words the attack was a success for the terrorism business. Now, let’s consider some of the consequences that rose as a result of the 911 terrorist attacks on the Trade World Center. First, by using a demonstrative tactic expel out in the article by Pape (2003), terrorists demonstrated that the USA,
According to Pape (2003), two thirds of suicide terrorist attacks can be accounted to religion. Cleary, this factual statistic reveals that there is a strong tie between religion and terrorism. On page 346, Pape (2003) quotes an infamous fatwa signed by Osama Bin Laden that reads: “The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies…, is an individual duty for every Muslim…” (346) Without a doubt, it could be said that a vast majority of religious people of different denominations do not account to the majority of terrorist acts, but must terrorist acts can be accounted to religion as a whole. Also, according to Lim (2010), religion mobilizes and creates a discipline that coerces not only states, but individuals who are not willing to take a bullet for renouncing to an extreme ideology. The cultural approach I present in this analysis centers in religion, but this is not to say that there are no other cultural factors that aggregate to terrorism. Also, as mentioned above, one of the reasons that suicide terrorist attacks are nonstop is because they pay; States do a cost/benefit analysis that most of the times leads to the conclusion that is better give in because the cost is too high to be paid; life itself. Separately, as a consequence of being born to a culture where terrorism is a common practice, individuals do not have much choice but to continue the cycle …show more content…
According to Pape’s (2003) article, “Terrorism involves the use of violence by an organization other than a national government to cause intimidation or fear among a target audience…” To begin with, it could be said that this definition is institutional oriented and blames organization that conform terrorist groups uniquely, but to be realistic not only organizations can be held accountable for acts of terrorism; states too. Separately, the structural approach focuses and is concerned with the question why democratic institutions and governments are the main targets for terrorists (Pape 2003). Arguably, military presence representative of the government of a state is what accounts for and is responsible for the home state being a target (Pape 2003). Now, if such claim is true, then it can be concluded that the 911 attack was a trigger that started a chain reaction among terrorist groups, especially suicide terrorists, since such attacks had great impact in many aspects of our government relations with the middle-east and human behavior as a whole; in other words the attack was a success for the terrorism business. Now, let’s consider some of the consequences that rose as a result of the 911 terrorist attacks on the Trade World Center. First, by using a demonstrative tactic expel out in the article by Pape (2003), terrorists demonstrated that the USA,