POLSCI 1G06 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Seedbed
19 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Political Science Lecture 8c International terrorism
International terrorism
How should the state respond to acts of international terrorism (where terrorism is
conventionally defined)?
Following 9/11 several possibilities were available:
1. Treat terrorism as a military threat and respond accordingly
This is the response that the United States ultimately took
2. Treat 9/11 as a criminal act rather than a military attack and utilize international and domestic
judicial mechanisms
3. Treat the root causes that led to the hostility in the first place
4. Do nothing – or at least nothing out of the ordinary (See Mueller)
The contemporary fixation on international non-state terrorism assumes that this type of
terrorism is, in fact, a significant security risk
Mueller suggests that the actual security risk posed by international terrorism is far less (at least
in the American context) than is often supposed
Drawing from Mueller, evaluating this policy option (doing nothing) requires that we ask a
number of questions:
A) How pervasive and damaging is international terrorism?
B) What is the probability of terrorists acquiring/using Weapons of Mass Destruction?
C) Are there other (even low probability) security risks that the state should prioritize
instead of terrorism?
D) If a terrorist group does use a Weapon of Mass Destruction, would it represent an
“existential” threat to America?
!1
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Following 9/11 several possibilities were available: treat terrorism as a military threat and respond accordingly. The contemporary xation on international non-state terrorism assumes that this type of terrorism is, in fact, a signi cant security risk. Mueller suggests that the actual security risk posed by international terrorism is far less (at least in the american context) than is often supposed. More americans were killed ghting in iraq and afghanistan than were killed on 9/11. And of course thousands of iraqis and afghanis were also killed as a consequence of the. Undermining long-term international cooperation over anti-terrorist measures: domestically. The targeting of minorities in immigration and investigative policy risks alienating parts of society. The war on terror cost more lives than it had saved. More american lives were lost in a response to terror than actual terrorism. During the war on terror 1. 3 million individuals have been killed in america. Caused more lives to be lost than saved.
