Intro to Corrections Unit 2

Terrorism throughout the world has many goals and reasons for its existence, three of the main ones are nationalism, religion, and ethnocentrism. Nationalist terrorism focuses on loyalty to a particular nation, despite who has control. Ireland is a prime example of this struggle with British occupied Northern Ireland and the Real IRA. Religious terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaeda focus on the superiority of their religion and the eradication of all others. The KKK is an American ethnocentric terrorist group that is highly anti-Semitic and dislikes anyone of a different race.

Nationalistic terrorism is loyalty and devotion to a nation and often results in placing one culture above another. A prime example of nationalistic terrorism is the Real Irish Republican or the RIRA, a radical offshoot from the Provisional IRA, with their targets being the English and Irish Protestants (Nugent, 2013). The Irish Republican Army was born of the Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland wanting independence from Britain, but the RIRA and other groups split off in 1998 after a disagreement over a ceasefire (Nugent, 2013). The biggest attack they are credited with was an explosive placed at annual street fair in Omagh, killing 29 people (Nugent, 2013). The last successful bombing the group had was in 2001with various incidents across Great Britain from March to November (Nugent, 2013). Currently, the Real IRA attempts assassinations across the British and Irish Protestant communities, but all major attacks are uncovered before any real harm can come (Nugent, 2013). Nationalistic terrorism walks a thin line with religious terrorism, and can even go hand in hand.

Al-Qaeda was established around 1988 by Osama bin Laden to help finance and recruit troops as part of the Afghan resistance to the Soviet invasion, after they continued their holy war (Al-Qaeda, 2014). The current goal of the group is to establish an Islamic Caliphate throughout the world, working in tandem with other...