TerrorismS18G2

Patrick Dancoes Prof. Shirk POL-357B 1 st Reaction Blog Post 2/25/18 Obedience to Power Why Following Orders Isn't an Excuse During the Second World War, the globe witnessed a radical, militarist, and an expansionist regime that terrorized Europe with acts of mass atrocities and genocide; all under the direction and imposed authority of Adolf Hitler. However, the success of the Nazi occupation was only made possible by the men who carried out those orders and executed that which came down their chain-of-command. From a social phycology standpoint, the observed obedience of the Nazi soldiers suggests that these men were either conforming to the pressures of social influence, meaning they supported the norms and actions of the people around them; or they instead were just obeying their orders, because of the bondage to hierarchical authority. The second case referred to as ‘blind obedience’ was the primary defense for the accused during the Nuremberg Trials, wher...

Erika Dennery Professor Shirk Global Politics of Terrorism February 25th, 2018 Propaganda of The Deed in The Digital Age In the late 19th century propaganda of the deed was a technique introduced by anarchists attempting to promote their cause; fighting against the hierarchy of the government. The anarchists believed that it was actions such as assassinations, bombings, kidnappings, and more, that would trigger a revolution and thus they committed crimes that created mass panic and fear. These acts upset everything from ideas and social relations to property, and this is almost identical to the tactics that Al-Qaeda and ISIS use today by utilizing the media to their advantage in order to creating mass hysteria.             Perhaps the most prominent example of a modern use of propaganda of the deed by Al-Qaeda is the attacks on September 11, 2001. These attacks changed the perception of Islam in an instant and c...

When people think of pirates, they often think of the buccaneers that plundered the seas from roughly 1650 to 1730. This time period is also known as the ‘golden age of piracy’. These pirates included the infamous Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, and Captain Kidd. However, piracy has existed long before these swashbucklers. In Medieval Europe, many towns were terrorized by pirates, but eventually pirates began to be used as mercenaries and privateers. The pirates of the middle ages, and the tactics that they used can be compared and contrasted to the piracy that took place in the late 17th to mid 18th centuries. This comparison is important because it shows how many of the tactics used during the ‘golden age of piracy’ were actually taken from preexisting methods of piracy.             The Middle Ages spanned from the 5th century to the 15th century, and the first acts of piracy that can be seen in this period were the Vikings, who, beg...

Aaron Hillyer Professor Shirk POL 357B: Global Politics of Terrorism Terrorism Defined             Possibly the most pressing issue in the ongoing global fight against terrorism arises from the ambiguity around our understanding of the word ‘terrorism.’ To be able to effectively destroy an enemy, one must first be able to clearly define who that enemy is. What, then, makes someone a ‘terrorist?’ How do we determine what activities, groups, and strategies constitute terrorism? Terror, as it is commonly understood, is the intentional creation of an environment of fear or chaos against a targeted population. Terrorism, therefore, must be the use of terror as a strategy with the purpose of achieving a goal. Modern scholars and politicians typically apply this understanding to a political context and often include violence as a necessary element to the ‘terrorism’ label. So then ‘terrorism’ can logically be defined as: the strat...