Understanding Terrorism

Table of content 1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................3 2. How terrorism works..........................................................................................................4 2.1Terrorism and decision making.................................................................................4 2.2 The spring of terrorism.............................................................................................4 3. Consequences of terrorism…...............................................................................................5 4. Political development in the 20th Century........................................................................11 5. How to end terrorism..........................................................................................................13

1. Introduction “In compliance with Allah’s order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies – civilians and military- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the alAqsa Mosque and the holy mosque from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam.1 The above quotation is Usama bin Laden’s declaration of Jihad to the United States of America and marks the beginning of an unprecedented form of global terrorism that has been ever since threatening the world-community. Even though acts of terrorism have been documented since the early 1970s, extremism was only able to reach its present terror through the advent of a global economy that increased the impact an incident in one country can have on many other countries. It has become indispensable to contain the risk of terrorism in any economic interaction, from the booking of an airplane ticket to the expansion of one’s business to another country. Also, any...