Discussion: Developments in travel and communications technologies

Discussion: Developments in travel and communications technologies

In the current globalized political climate, with significant developments in travel and communications technologies and reductions in their cost that make them more easily accessible to individuals all over the world, terrorism is arguably a threat to nearly every country in the world. For this unit, you will be exploring the impact of terrorism or threat thereof on your country, if any such threat exists.

Check the Country Reports on Terrorism (2015), available through the US Department of State (https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/258249.pdf). Once you open the PDF, do a CTRL+F (or equivalent on Mac) to search for your country. It is possible that your country is NOT listed in the report, because it does not suffer from terror attacks and/or does not “export” terrorism to other countries. If so, skip to 2.

If your country is listed in Chapter 2 (the individual country profiles), provide a brief description of the material. Focus, in particular, on the following:

Terrorist threats in that country to the country itself, if any

Terrorist threats in that country to the international community, if any

Efforts to fight terrorism in that country, if any are listed

Check Chapter 5. Is your country listed as a terrorist safe haven? If so, why?

Do this only if Step 1 is inappropriate for your country: Do a Google search for “terrorism x”, where x is the name of your country. Check a few of the links that come up. Generally, these will be related to current events (within the past 2-3 years) or descriptions of laws to combat terrorism (intelligence, anti-money laundering, etc.). Describe some of your findings related to terrorism.

do these questions also:

If your country seems to have a lot of problems with terrorism, why do you think that is the case?

If your country seems to have few or no problems with terrorism, why do you think that is the case?

Some possible ideas to think about:

Colonies and global politics – does the country have any territories, colonies, very close allies, economic interests, etc., in the “terrorist hotbeds” of the world that might make terror groups mad at the country?

Human rights concerns – draw on material you completed from earlier weeks. Does the country have a serious problem with violations of human rights / civil rights at the hands of a repressive government?

Conflict – is your country currently at war, either with another country or with itself?

Strain – is your country fairly poor? Does it suffer from economic inequalities? Do youths feel stressed out or distressed at job prospects and other opportunities?