UNIT 4: POLITICAL UNREST
THE STUDENT WILL BE ABLE TO…
 Understand the context in which terrorism occurs
TERM RECAP:
Nation: “a group of people who feel that they belong together
as a polity for a number or reasons” (Malinowski, 2014, p. 212)
 Usually a “nation” has shared cultural characteristics i.e.;
language, religion, ideas, etc.
 Loyalty: people are allegiant to it; willing to die
 People want to be their own state, or have self-determination
State: “a type of political unit” or a “country” has sovereignty
Sovereignty: “a particular government has complete control
and jurisdiction over a defined area” and “government is
allowed to determine what goes in its area.”
SOVEREIGNTY CONTINUED…
 Sovereignty is important because it means that other states
recognize you as a state.
 Are you a country if other countries do not recognize you?
 Technically; no.
 What if only a few recognize you?
 Well, it depends on who those “few” are….
 It’s a big deal if the U.S. recognizes you
 It’s a big deal if the U.S. says “we don’t recognize you”
 Difference between involvement in things like U.N. and treaties.
 Not recognized? Then you’re a nation.
 Big issue with Palestine and Israel or Tibet and China
…SO WHAT IF I’M NOT A STATE?
Political power is expressed/defined geographically as control
over people, land, and resources.
The resource thing are a pretty big deal, it also impacts trade,
international aid, and your “right” to do things, like say “yes or
no.”
Sometimes a state will actually look at its central government
a give some power to the nations within the state.
 Devolution: Movement of power from the central government to
regional governments within the state.
DEVOLUTION: LET’S JUST BE ROOMMATES.
An important aspect of devolution; the state is still together.
Devolutionary pressures can cause civil war or the breaking
apart, but devolution only occurs when a state is still together.
 Devolution is about one unit wanting rights and/or
responsibilities.
 In the U.S. the Federal government engages in devolution to by
giving power to the individual U.S. states.
 Examples include state taxes, local police, state governor, state
legislature.
 International examples include: Scotland and it’s own parliament
from U.K. and Basque and their own local government.
IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU... LET’S CALL IT QUITS.
Devolution is a centrifugal force for the state
 Sometimes can result in violence
 Syria is actually an example right now, but we don’t know if the state is
going to end in violence.
 Different nations: Muslim Syrians, Christian Syrians, Kurds, and
Extremist Muslims
 Not uncommon for civil war/civil strife in one state to pull in people who
belong to a nation from a different country
 Sometimes can end peacefully
 Czechoslovakia is now Czech Republic and Slovakia ended in 1993
(Velvet Divorce)
WHERE DOES TERRORISM COME IN?
If no one is willing to recognize you, what’s the best way to get
“noticed” not get sovereignty, but let people know you have
a message?
Make a loud noise hypothetical “loud noise,” think draw
attention to yourself
This attention behavior is going to be terrorism
Terrorism exists in other contexts, but in our class, we’re
focusing a lot on nations and terrorism
TERRORISM DEFINED
Terrorism: “systematic use of violence by a group in order to
intimidate a population or coerce a government into granting
its demands” (Rubeinstein, 2013, p. 290).
 Terror comes from the Latin “to frighten”
 Distinct characteristics include:
 Trying to achieve objective through organized acts that spread fear
and anxiety among a population such as bombing, kidnapping, etc.
 Violence is viewed as a means of bring publicity to goals and
grievances
 Belief in the cause so strongly, there is often a disregard for
personal life.
CONTROLLING THROUGH FEAR…
(YOU’LL DISCUSS THAT LATER IN ENGLISH WITH DYSTOPIAN NOVELS).
 Terrorism: “systematic use of violence by a group in order to
intimidate a population
 Terrorism has become more of the “norm” versus armed conflict
between two state actors. Terrorism involves a non-state actor.
A lot of times there are two sides to terrorism; a group that
thinks it is doing what is “right” and a group that things it’s
“wrong”. Side A views Side A good and side B as bad. Side B
views side A as bad and Side B as good.
 Strong beliefs in a cause (lot’s of talk last night about “selfsacrifice”)
TERRORISM VS. ACTS OF WAR
 It’s typically terrorism if it’s not a government acting (must be state to
be government). In contrast, it’s usually acts of war if it is two states.
 Revolutionary War in America; technically terrorism.
 Terrorism is aimed at ordinary people; whereas war or political
violence is usually aimed at other soldiers or political targets (Lincoln)
 States can support terrorism by giving sanctuary to terrorists or not
pursuing them
 That’s why we engaged Afghanistan
9/11 AS AN EXAMPLE
 September 11, 2001
 Tallest buildings in U.S. had two airplanes flown into them
 Pentagon (military headquarters) also had plan flown into it
 United Airlines Flight 93 (Crashed in PA, brought down by passengers to
stop further killing)
 They knew about other attacks
 All planes that were hijacked were cross-U.S. routes (maximum fuel)
 Hijackers were with a terrorist group al-Qaeda
 “We”  the every day American population had really never heard of
this group prior to that day.
9/11 CONTINUED
-3,000 dead after the attack
-World Trade Towers in New
York
-Pentagon in Washington
D.C.
-Shut-down New York,
closed wall-street
-Created fear of when and
where else
WHY?
 Osama bin Laden, leader of Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for
attacks
 In 1998 he had actually called for a Jihad against the U.S.
 Bin Laden is Muslim, but an extremist (means not necessarily
representative of everyone else)
 Bin Laden and others anti-American
 Culturally anti-Christian, anti-globalization, called U.S. a colonial power;
meaning he felt that the U.S. was taking over other countries
economically
 Big complaint regarding U.S.; recognizing Israel and taking land from
Muslims
 A number of countries in Middle East do not recognize Israel.
 Sees ALL Muslims as a nation (regardless of physical location)
AFTERMATH
 Immediate fear in population
 When and where would it happen next? Constantly watchful
 Crime rates against Arab-Americans/Muslims skyrocketed
 Initially a centripetal force
 U.S. population binds together against “terrorism” at first we go to war with
Iraq
 President Bush’s approval rating skyrocketed
 Went to war with Iraq and then later entered Afghanistan
 Economically hurt the world
 Wall street was closed for a week (after re-opening had huge drop in trading)
 New York city essentially shut-down, financial loss
LONG-TERM
 Security measures
 Office of Homeland Security Established ( reorganized the U.S.’s security)
 Security, security, and more…
 Airport security (before you could go right up to plane)
 Movement of goods/trade is monitored (checking containers)
 Remember; time equals money. Security checkpoints hurt economics
 Big Budget Item for government
 Backlash continues against non-Christian “perceived” minorities
 Psychologically the U.S. was damaged; we know we can be attacked
 Started to question whether or not “fluid” borders, as a result of globalization
were actually good or bad; meaning people can get to us easier.
TERRORISM THROUGH THE UNITS…
Nature and Perspective: A nation or group of people have a
perceptual region. It’s an area defined by people’s feelings,
this motivates them to identify as a nation.
Population & Migration: People move around and take with
them their sense of identity; such as their perceptual region
and culture. Globalization means a higher level of fluidity with
people moving.
Culture: People have with them a set of beliefs; often they feel
that their beliefs maybe superior
 Think religion or language or even how to treat people
TERRORISM
Political Organization of Space: How do we get people to
recognize “us” and our sovereignty or “hear us” and our
message?
Economic Geography: Financially we do not want to be
dependent on others
 Wallerstein’s world system theory is really important here; it’s
sometimes a rebellion against “control” such as dependency on
developed nations (Not just core, semi-periphery, and periphery)