Domestic Political Instability Foster Terrorism

Munaza Kazmi

Since September 2001, terrorism has been on the red carpet, around the worlds public and private bodies have tried to bring to the light the factors that foster terrorism. Unveiling the root cause and deriving sound policy advice is important as terrorism is a costly business to the affected country. 

Even though if its immediate cost is marginal, however the indirect political, economic and social cost may be substantial. For instance, terrorism may reduce government stability, trade and capital flows, reduction in tourism, economic development and loss of individual and collective life.

Although there seems a numerous reason, including the poor education causing the radical minds, poverty, unemployment, and antigovernment agencies, etc. But all of above domestic political instability ranked the high on fostering terrorist attacks. It is because when a tree’s roots are not secure how it will face the winding storms? Also, it has been observed that countries or geographical regions exhibiting various forms of political unrest will also potentially exhibit greater levels of terrorist acts.

In other words, a political environment marked by instability is likely to include acts of violence, including the worst of all terrorism.

The specific forms of domestic political instability, which can be rank ordered from the least to the most severe: antigovernment demonstrations, general strikes, major government crises, government purges, riots, assassination, guerrilla insurgencies, civil wars, revolutions.

At the most basic level are anti-government demonstrations and general strikes, which capture public dissatisfaction with the government. Next one can explore the government side of the equation, including major government crises that may lead to the downfall of the ruling regime, as well as a government’s more proactive attempt at consolidating power by purging itself of unwanted classes of members. The more violent end of the domestic political instability spectrum begins with riots and assassinations, and subsequently includes guerrilla insurgencies and civil wars. Revolutions, or the complete overthrow of the government represent the most intense dimension of domestic political instability. The assumption, of course, is that each of these forms of domestic political instability will foster terrorist activity, together contributing to what is perhaps best referred to as the “domestic political instability–terrorism nexus.”

The specific causal mechanisms underpinning the domestic political instability terrorism nexus are two folds.

First, domestic political instability, ranging from antigovernment demonstrations to revolutions, is indicative of public disenchantment with a ruling regime that can either spawn or be exploited by domestic terrorist actors in search of additional willing partners.

Second, domestic political instability is also representative of declining regime control, which permits disenchanted, terrorist actors to move more freely within a given country or geographical region. It therefore should be easier for such actors to carry out terrorist attacks.

Moreover, domestic political instability provides the environment necessary to carry out more, and increasingly sophisticated, terrorist attacks. More precisely, the escalation effect posits that the growing intensity of domestic political instability will lead to increasing numbers of terrorist attacks. It also posits that more severe forms of domestic political instability, ranging from anti-government demonstrations to revolutions, should also lead to greater levels of terrorism.

In short, domestic political instability escalates into terrorist attacks. It provides an environment that is conducive for terrorist organizations to organize nationally, regionally, and globally, to accumulate and perfect violent terrorist knowledge, and perhaps most importantly, to recruit the human capital necessary to carry out increasingly sophisticated forms of terrorist attacks. The mere existence of domestic political instability provides the perfect opportunity to recruit terrorists who are both disenchanted with their current socioeconomic and political military situations as well as committed to undertaking violence.

Here I should say, if you have seen the rainbow, consider how many colors are there in it? as such they are seven, but have you noticed how closely attached they are. had they been alone, there would be no such concept of rainbow.  Same is the case with the nation.

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Munaza Kazmi has recently done Master of Philosophy from Bahria University Islamabad. Her debut novel is Unrequited Love.

She’s an author, columnist writing in different newspapers and a researcher having seven publications till yet, she’s been writing since 2016.

You can connect to Kazmi at twitter @munaza_kazmi or on research gate as munaza kazmi.

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