Chris Scheefer
Cbs5150@psu.edu
LAS Capstone – Global Perspective
The dark side of Globalization – A new age of Global Terrorism
The interdependence and interconnectedness of the new world is upon us. This new era Globalization
has brought about many new frontiers and new opportunities; but this interconnectedness has a dark
side. The world is now a mouse click away, with a global exchange of ideas and up to the minute news
from anywhere on the planet. However beneficial, all of these sweeping changes in the technology have
also opened the door for extremists, fundamentalists, and nationalist intent on unspeakable acts of
violence. Gus Martin’s essay, “Globalization and International Terror” describes how Globalization has
created a cultural backlash as a new global identity is rejected, the new profile and operating model for
the new global terrorist, and how we may need to evolve and change our security policies and
procedures to combat this new global threat.
Martin begins by discussing how globalization has brought about more than economic changes but
has also changed the cultural identities of every country in the world and that these identities have
expanded beyond local and nationalism; now inclusive of a global identity that many reject. These new
challenges to identity have created transnational “fault-lines” as predicted by Samuel Huntington in his
article “The Clash of Civilization”. In addition Benjamin Barber in his essay, “Jihad vs McWorld”, also
predicts that “retribalization of humankind by war and bloodshed” will be brought about by
Globalization as these small countries and tribes will driven by parochial hatreds and battle against the
homogenization of their cultures. It is this clash of culture and the rejection of this new global identity
that has caused the growth in terrorism by fundamentalists and nationalists in the globalized world. The
new ideologies of globalization, such as gender equality and freedom of speech”, represent a threat to
these religious fundamentalists. Within Robertson and White’s essay “What is Globalization”, they state
that gender biases and patriachical societies have now been forced to change as women are educated in
massive numbers. Many long held ideals and beliefs will be brought into question as the globalization
carries with it both idealism and individualism which are both in conflict with many collectivistic cultures
and fundamentalists. Robertson and White describe the poly-ethnicity of globalization being self-limiting
since it can homogenize the very cultures and values we cherish. This clash of values and ideologies
creates and fuels the new global terrorists, as religious clerics and leaders build upon nationalistic and
religious pride to recruit and retain followers. Kant in his essay, “Universal History from a Cosmopolitan
view”, might see this strife as both inevitable and as progress to the ultimate universal society. Though I
agree that there will be strife and wars, these new breed of global terrorists seem only to bring about
large scale death and destruction, not the betterment of society or mankind. I wonder how Kant would
view the nation-less fundamentalists who kills women and children in order to make the evening news
as evolutionary in the progression of humanity. It is clear that the new global terrorists are a potential
by-product of globalization as the intrusiveness of global idealisms has created friction in many religious
and fundamentalist countries. The perception that globalization benefits wealthy nations and leaves the
3rd world countries behind is also part of the cultural clash. Many fundamentalist terror groups see these
products and services as pushing Western idealism and therefore contrary to their own beliefs. This lack
of benefit is found in Robert Paarlberg’s essay “The Global Food Fight”, which discusses the many
benefits that genetically manipulated seeds and crops could have on the developing nations. The only
caveat is that the manufacturers are only developing them for the affluent nations who can afford them.
The technological advances that may help these developing nations solve their food problems are not
given as chance due to the lack of perceived profitability. This rejection of the developing nation only
fuels the belief that the globalization is an effort to colonize the developing nations; that they will have
to be subjugated to the wealthier nations. The mass media and internet pushing a global consumer
based society, which often parallels individualism, is in direct conflict with many collectivistic cultures.
Within Martins essay the process of Globalism is defined as “a cultural or economic process that are
unimpeded by national territory or official jurisdictional constraints”, in this same manner so have
terrorist groups evolved. Terrorism once was nationalized and within the confines of the country that
was plagued with so called revolutionaries and insurgents. As the world has gone global, so has
terrorism, with the new Global Terrorists utilizing the technology and the mass media to influence the
international community quickly and cheaply. The new terrorists are also technological savvy and
understand how to utilize the publicity both good and bad to impact the policies of nations and
international groups. A key example is the 3/11 bombing of the Spanish train that killed 191 people and
brought about a negative swing in the public opinion in the war of Iraq and Afghanistan. After that
bombing, the EU countries removed military support and public opinion moved against the occupation
and US led efforts. It is this key example that became a model for Global Terrorists everywhere. The fact
that this bombing directly changed the policies of Spain and led to the removal of support of most EU
nations, was a clear victory on the part of the terrorists. This victory has set Al-Qaeda as the model by
which all new Global terrorists should use when dealing with a globalized enemy. The use of media, the
internet, has given the small most insignificant group an unfiltered voice on the world stage. Much like
Thomas Friedman’s book, “The World is Flat” explains how the global world has leveled the playing field
for small independent journalists, so has it leveled the playing field for terrorist networks and cells to
have instant access to major news and media outlets. Al-Jazeera regularly plays these terrorist messages
to the Arab and Muslim world, further enriching the recruiting power and support for these types of
violent groups. The new model of the Global terrorist is to pick high profile symbolic targets with the aim
of causing massive casualties on civilian populations. They carefully make tapes and filter messages to
the media to claim their involvement and broadcast their fundamentalist anti-western or anti-global
message. This is done for several reasons, the first is publicity and the second is the garner support from
like-minded states and/or religious zealots. The biggest concern the world has for these group,
especially Al-Qaeda, is the use weapons of mass destruction. These radiological, chemical, or biological
weapons used on high-population centers could disrupt the international community and change the
world as we know it. A nuclear or dirty bomb detonated in New York City could have disastrous effects
on the world economy; and the global terrorists know it.
Martin also poses the question “What causes Terrorism”, and profiles the nations that are prone
towards generating and being centers for the development of these groups. As nations are plagued with
poverty and instability (potentially civil wars) without the rule of law these types of groups can be
formed. Skilled workers and the intellectual class leave the country for more opportunities and the
authoritarian regimes can lose control of areas of the country that become centers for terrorists cells to
grow. Another aspect that assists with the formation of terrorism is posed by Durrschmidt and Taylor in
“Urban Worlds and Global cities” where the creation of massive urban slums as globalization forces
manufacturing jobs to leave the cities and countries. These urban slums are ripe grounds for terrorists to
recruit new followers who are disillusioned with the globalized world; blaming the loss of the jobs on the
iniquities of the West or more affluent countries.
At the end of Martin’s essay he starts to the narrative around what the world needs to do to combat
this new global threat. Since these new global terrorists have no conventional military and do not fight
traditional warfare; so we must develop new more clandestine ways to hunt down and eliminate this
threat to globalization and our own society. Fighting a shadow war, as Martin describes it will take new
policies and security measures often at the sake of many civil liberties. An example is the US Patriot Act,
which was passed giving the government the right to wire taps, searches, and taping of cell phone
conversations of its own civilian and domestic population. This is unprecedented legislation in the
United States, as this goes right against many of the ideals and freedoms we in the United States hold
sacred; namely, the right to privacy, due process, and freedom of speech. Though, I think that the
sacrifices of some civil liberties is something we may have to do in the name of securing ourselves
against this immediate threat, I don’t think that Martin goes far enough in his post-script of 9/11 and
3/11. One of the questions we must ask ourselves within the global community is how to repair the
“fault-line” between the Western-Islamic/Arab nations. Is withdrawal of the troops out of pan-Arabic
countries enough to stop the attacks? Are there economic development acts we can do to help bring up
these developing nations into the global community like India has with the outsourcing described within
Friedman’s book? By helping and assisting these nations become global citizens, perhaps we can bridge
some of the hatred and reduce the effectiveness of the fundamentalist groups. The more we connect
these nations and make them interdependent with everyone else, the less likely they will be to engage
or support these types of activities. In my opinion, integration and interdependence are the two great
ways to ensure the peace. China and Japan, in Friedman’s book is a great example, they have become
interconnected and interdependent and though they share long historical hatreds, in the name of
economic prosperity have now started outsourcing jobs from Japan to China in the Dailan province. This
is a great example of how to combat the cultural backlash.
The price of globalization has indeed changed many aspects of the world, as it has created a new type
of warfare and threat to civilized global economic nations everywhere. Globalization, now with the
evolution of global terrorism has also taken a toll on the American ideologies and culture as well. As we
begin to sacrifice our own sacred ideals and civil liberties, like the right to privacy, that our forefathers
fought so hard to give us in order to engage in shadow warfare against sleeper global terrorist cells, all
for the greater good of a highly integrated and interdependent globalized society.