Radicalization

After the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, the United States and the international community made a number of drastic improvements to their counter-terrorism strategies. These improvements have not only severely disrupted the lines of communication between terrorist cells and their leaders, they also have severely degraded their ability to travel across international boundaries. As a result, terrorist organizations have been forced to adopt new tactics. One of the latest emerging…

In recent years there has been a new threat developing within the United States. Before, it was mainly assessing threats from external forces. The new threat to be seen is that of lone wolves, and homegrown terrorists. The technical definition of a homegrown terrorist is, “violence that is perpetrated against people or property by their own citizens or permanent residents of a state under jurisdiction of that state in order to promote political, religious, or ideological objectives” (Buetel).…

1. What were the Interests and Conflicts of the First Founding? In Revolutionary America, conflicts arose when people competed over personal ideals and principles. As a result, these economic and political conflicts led to the Constitution and the American Revolution. In colonial politics, there were five sectors of interest: “(1) the New England merchants; (2) the southern planters; (3) the “royalists”—holders of royal lands, offices, and patents (licenses to engage in a profession or…

The Enlightenment, an age of extraordinary philosophical thought, hit Europe by storm in the 18th century after the death of King Louis XIV of France. The ideals stemming from the age ranged from classic liberalism to free market economics from an even wider range of others, a notorious few being Robespierre, John Locke, Adam Smith, etc. Enlightenment ideals lead to many key events such as the American and French Revolution. The American Revolution began as a struggle between British colonist in…

This reading discusses the events leading up to the British Mandate as well as the after effects of its implementation. The Balfour Declaration announced British support of Zionism, provided that no injustice was done to the native Arab population. The Declaration became solidified in international law when the League of Nations wrote it into the British Mandate for Palestine. While Zionist saw this as a long-awaited charter and renewed hope after the brutal years of WWI, Arabs viewed it as…

Islamic Terrorist Camps Terrorist camps in America are becoming a major threat. The United States is trying to be more aware of who and what these camps are, and also what could be watched for with these camps growing in population. Michelle Bachman, a former congress woman, said,”. . . [United States] national law enforcement agencies have a duty to secure the safety of the American people- that is the number one duty of the government” (SCARY). The terrorist camps are becoming a serious…

000 Syrian refugees, but that we should be more cautious than we even planned to be. Over 90% of Syrian refugees have no affiliation or agreement with ISIS whatsoever, so in no way should we automatically assume that they are terrorists, because radicalization does not automatically associate with Muslims or Middle Eastern people. For most of Syria, they are innocently living in a war torn country and have nowhere to go. Though a few Americans claim that it “isn’t our problem” because Syria is…

to their detriment. However, there are few authors that present their cases as clearly as these two historians, and as a result much can be gained by taking a look at an exemplary work by each author. First we will consider Gordon Wood’s The Radicalization of the American Revolution (Random House, 1991). In this award winning synthesis Wood sought to challenge the widely held contention that the American Revolution was a conservative undertaking that was meant to maintain the status qou within…

In Takim’s (2011) article “The Ground Zero Mosque Controversy: Implications for American Islam”, he analyzes the Ground Zero project as well as supplementary evidence to discuss the mistreatment of Muslims in American society and the struggles that they have had to face especially after the events of September 11. To conclude his paper, Takim (2011) discusses the steps that can be taken to ensure American Muslims and the rest of the diverse American population can coexist. I think it would have…

Aims: Committing a violent act is emotionally difficult for an individual. Microsociological analyses of violence have demonstrated that there exists an emotional barrier that inhibits violence. Passage through this emotional barrier is enabled by situational circumstances which serve as enabling factors. While most forms of terrorism have these enabling factors, lone actor terrorism presents a unique challenge for an individual looking to navigate through the emotional barriers and engage in…