Introduction
Global security is under great threat because of international terrorism. The perspective is changing globally regarding a threat because of terrorism and the tools that are required to avert it. The currently standing institutions and tools are challenged by the terrorist networks because they have unprecedented reach. Even though the big forces of terrorism are encountered, but still the world is still facing many issues to fight with the emerging sources causing challenged globally. Many terrorism networks have evolved in recent years, and now they are moving far away from being dependent on state sponsorship. Some most dangerous groups now hold their operations as nonstate players. Globalization has also provided them with many benefits as they can use the international system that is interconnected regarding transit, finance and communication. Few terrorist groups are focused on national and local political dynamics, while there are also some that have the target of affecting the overall globe. They pose a great threat to the overall security of the world. This security, along with its issues and challenges, will be discussed in this paper.
In the branch of criminology, security is seen as a major theme. It has an impact on increased insecurity in the modern society. To address this issue, the focus should be shifted towards assessing risk in a better way and finding new ways for crime control. Security issues on a global level have raised the concern of the public, especially because of terrorist attacks like 9/11. Now, security has shifted towards the frontline of the agenda of criminology (ZEDNER, 2009). These things indicate that security is a normative idea that must be defended by the side of the state for national security.
Description
The concept of security should be seen from a global perspective. In this age, when everything is easily accessible, global security is the only way to ensure the security of individual areas of the world. There are a lot of threats that the world faces, and they act as the biggest risks from which the world should be protected. Therefore, nations take security as a pursuit rather than an end goal (ZEDNER, 2009). The most prominent aspect of security is fighting terrorism. The headlines are increasing day after day, and this has significantly increased the death rate due to these attacks. It poses a great threat to the overall security of the world. Now, the boundaries of nations have blurred because of globalization. The occurring in one nation has a large impact on other geographical regions as well.
Other than terrorism, another important challenge of security is civil conflict. The civil wars taking place have a great impact on the death count of civilians. The most noteworthy incident is the civil war in Syria, where human rights are obliterated. Organized crime poses a great threat to the global security. Many agencies are especially involved in organized crime. The murder rate in certain areas of the world is increasing day after day. It has increased fear in the general public to visit certain places because they are unsafe. Noncompliance with the justice system also plays a great role in this insecure environment. The criminals are sometimes not arrested, which gives them even more leverage, and human rights are violated.
Gangs act as a great threat to security. It is a global phenomenon that people are fearful because of gang violence. This issue is common in Central America. Many people are killed because of violence that takes place because of gangs. There are also many killings that are caused because of the police responses. Small arms are another threat to the global security. The light weapons used by the general public and small arms pose a great threat. There are terror networks, insurgent groups, gangs, rogue citizens, and organized criminal groups that use these weapons to threaten the public, which in turn raises the threat.
Environmental issues have a great impact on the level of terrorism and security. The technology has changed, and the volatility of biological and nuclear weapons has taken the level of terrorism to a completely new level. Most of the deaths are caused by violence and other changes taking place in the world. Even a small change can have a great impact on the overall global security because people are so interconnected.
On an international level, there are steps taken in response to these activities. However, the major issues are non-compliance with the developed regulations. There are proper laws made to encounter every threat, but unless or until these rules are followed properly, no improvement can be brought.
Security is a vast idea, and it has variable understandings from multiple perspectives. Before jumping into the big talks about terrorism and the ways to encounter it, some of the key concepts should be made very clear for better understanding. First of all, terrorism is referred to as the use of violence unlawfully against civilians. It is done specifically to pursue political, financial, ideological or religious aims. It creates terror in people because this is a war that is carried out against noncombatants. The nature of these terrorist attacks has now changed. Now, they are more individual in nature, where an individual independently carries an attack backed by any terrorist network or agency. The focus has now shifted to targeting these attacks while not neglecting traditional terrorist threats (Spaaij, 2012).
Human trafficking is a common concept associated with terrorism. This trade of humans is made for labor. However, many terrorist agencies do human trafficking to increase the number of their supporters or to gain financial benefits. It is a violation of human rights. The control of this crime is low in some areas, and there are illegal activities carried out for the trafficking of humans. This activity is extended to a few regions because it has huge profits internationally. The increase in this crime has occurred in recent years because of less cooperation among countries and border control (Shelley, 2013). The acts of trafficking, smuggling and organised crime have become common a can be controlled by having cross-border dexterity.
Security is the conception that should be incorporated into overcoming terrorism and human trafficking issues. Security is the freedom from any potential harm that may come from external forces. All social groups and individuals must feel secure to move freely in society. Globalization has brought many new challenges to security. A few years before, security was taken only regarding national and military forces; however, excessive terrorism has raised new challenges for security. Societies have become insecure in the 21st century, and the need for risk assessment has increased to encounter these issues (ZEDNER, 2009). Some of the countries are free from terrorism on their independent level, but the increased interdependence needs to have cooperation on a national level to eradicate this problem from the bud. The methods should be addressed that have a direct contribution to spreading terrorism.
The counterterrorism and security suffer because of multiple factors. The main reason is the lack of worldwide agreement on weakening terrorism. There needs to be a global response for encountering this serious issue. Another problem is that the multilateral actions that are already formulated face non-compliance. There is no enforcement of the existing policies. The third problem is that the initiatives of DE radicalization and counter-radicalization have gained attention, but there is no progress, especially in areas where the expertise and resources are limited.
The concepts of security and terrorism hold different meanings for individual authors and political actors. Individuals see security on a scale that is more personal, where things like the protection of their lives, jobs, and community are the focus. However, when this is seen from a more political perspective, security refers to the national safety where the economy, military and national interest should be protected to have a stable position in the global world. The focus is on creating a central global body for the prevention of terrorism.
Certain criminal justice departments now work to provide justice to criminals, as they are also human. The supporters of criminal justice view the picture of the world from a different perspective. It has an interplay role because, for them, criminals should only be punished according to the crime they have committed. The type of media creates a picture of the world and then that the actions of personal project knowledge. The way through which the criminals and victims are portrayed in media is completely different from the perspective of the criminal justice department. More emphasis is placed on predator and violent crimes, while white-collar crimes and crime victims are deemphasized (SURETTE, 2014).
The focus has shifted to providing more sustainable solutions for criminal justice. Programs like educating the criminals during their time of imprisonment are introduced to make them citizens. It increases the sense of positivity. Most people entering the world of crime belong to the social class where they do not get an education and proper facilities for life. It has a major impact on indulging in criminal activities. The rate of criminals getting an education is increased where these programs are offered. After getting a proper education, they turn out to be better citizens who, in return, serve in the best interest of nations (Carlson, 2001). These criminals are changed into tax-paying citizens after they come out of prison, and this has long-term benefits in making society a better place to live.
The groups of criminal justice work with governments, educational institutes, and authorities of the public sector and conduct criminal justice reforms (Cole, 1999). They have projects worldwide that focus strongly on the victims. This system is made to strengthen the regulation of law. They operate on the main principles of honesty and integrity to ensure that the law enforcement system works in the best interest of society.
When the issues of terrorism and security are seen across borders, they have different dimensions. The way used to respond to them is also different worldwide. The issues that are commonly observed across borders are of a controversial nature. Some of those issues are not even applicable all over the world. The regulations differ in every country, and when the person is within the boundaries of a specific nation, the same rule applies to him. However, few regulations are followed all across the world. They are applied to everyone no matter in which geographical boundary he resides.
The most common issue of the cross-border dimension that has a high influence on global security and terrorism is border security. The threat of terrorism has changed the scenario, and now special security is implanted on borders for protection. Even some of the countries give special authority to their intelligence and police departments. They have the authority to detain and interrogate people who may have any information related to terrorism (Wolfendale, 2007). Some of the countries also focus on identifying the potential fighter terrorists that may come from any foreign country. Terrorists that target global security have focused on more than one nation, and they are found across multiple nationalities. This poses a threat to both national and international security. Therefore, teams are trained in every nation to find these fighter terrorists and conduct necessary actions against them.
Another common and controversial issue is the safety of travel documents. Science has developed so much that the forged documents can be formed easily. These documents have false details about the holder, and by using misrepresentation of identity, people travel to jeopardize the security of travelers. Countries work on improving the systems of identity management. Special steps are also taken to have effective anti-corruption strategies. Many cross-border cases are involved in corruption. If the strategies are made on a global level, this will be helpful in getting away from corruption on the cross-border level. Having different rules and regulations is not only unjust but increases the threat level in areas where anti-corruption standards are not defined.
A major transnational threat is the illegitimate human trafficking. This poses a threat to national security because people do not feel secure. It also gives rise to kidnapping and other inhumane ways (Sanderson, 2004). Innovative ways are now used to address this threat. Terrorist activities are also increased because of no regulation of migration-related issues. Especially the number of immigrants from the areas of Africa and the Middle East has increased, and this poses a great threat to global security. The overall capacity of countries should be increased so that they can launch better information and risk analysis systems.
There have been multiple incidents in the past that made countries even more aware of their transnational security. Focusing on terrorist activities is an issue of priority for leading economies. In the list of transnational crimes, the incident of 9/11 is on priority. This incident happened on September 11, 2001. The extremist group named al-Qaeda attacked four planes, and then suicide attacks were carried out against the target locations in the United States of America. The most prominent hit was in the World Trade Center, where the Twin Towers were targeted. Two planes targeted this location. The third plane had an attack on the Pentagon that was outside Washington. The fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. The number of killings in this attack was almost 3000, which was a big knockout of multiple initiatives taken by the US. This act of brutality was condemned all over the world on a large level.
It was a moment of grief not only for America but also for the whole world because numerous innocent lives were taken. A huge international response followed this transnational crime. It was regarded as the worst day in history. Even days after this attack, many nations around the world gathered in commiseration and solidarity to pray for the lost lives. It was not just about the loss of lives; it was about the loss of security. A threat prevailed all over the world, conveying the message of insecurity. In countries like Korea, China, Cuba, Iran and Turkey, people lit candles. The transport system was shut down all across Europe, and everyone gathered to pray and condemn this act of immorality (Pszczynski, 2003). This tragedy was acknowledged all over the world. In Beijing, China, tens of thousands of people made visits to the American embassy and left cards, handwritten notes, flowers and funeral wreaths. Even in France, a newspaper had the headline of Le Monde that means, “We are all Americans”. The whole world had sympathy with the people who died in this unfortunate attack. Many strategies were developed by the United States to mitigate its effects. The loss was incomparable, but by making new strategies, it was made possible to get away from any future such scenario. These strategic decisions were taken to make the US secure and to avoid any such scenario arising in the future.
There are certain misconceptions about transnational terrorism, which is a hindrance in dealing with it. Few things should be known to boost global efforts so that transnational terrorism can be encountered. The most important thing to know is that all the terrorism agencies belong to different groups. So the security standards should be maintained in a way that no member of any group can pass through it to pose a threat to security. Every group has a unique identity, history, targets and strategies. It is not possible to fit all these groups into one strategy. Tailored strategies should be made according to the changing circumstances. Another important thing is the consideration of foreign fighters. The number of these fighters traveling to Syria and Iraq is increasing every day. They join extremist groups, which is a major threat to the global economy. The resolutions are built among UN members so that no one of them is involved in financing, recruitment and transit of these fighters. They normally travel to these areas because of the poorly developed governance policies, leaky borders, weak regulations and attraction of new recruitment. The third issue is about the countering of violent extremists. Many political figures recognize the importance of removing these increasing extremists; they have drawn special response strategies to counter these terrorist attacks.
Conclusion
Security is one of the basic needs of humans. Globalization has a positive influence on the development of society on hand but also has a negative impact on global security. Even the elections that are held in one geographical area have a great impact all over the globe. It raises the amount of unrest in a society that ultimately leads to unhappy communities. It is the role of governments and security agencies to decrease the level of a threat so that people can have secure lives. Terrorism is a major threat that not only damages the people who are directly affected but also has negative effects on the nerves of other people living in the world. Technology has increased this issue because, with the evolution in expertise, new weapons and strategies are devices. There are two ways of using anything: one is right, and the other is wrong. It depends on the person and how these means are used. It can be used for either destruction or security. Therefore, the increased level of terrorism on an international level poses a great threat to the security of the globe. Countries make efforts to make strategies in response to terrorist activities to reduce these. However, strategies should be made in a way that any threat is encountered before the problem has even been raised. This proactive approach will be helpful in fighting terrorism fast and bringing peace to the world.
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