Strategic Economic Influence of a Global Negative Trend of Terrorism and Extremism

Globalization brought the influence of modern Western culture and values to parts of the world with very different cultural and religious traditions. Western values and law often contradict ingrained attitudes toward women’s rights and the law of the dominant religion of the land. A new wave of terrorism and extremism emerged from this clash. Conflicts of this nature are most prevalent in regions where religion has never been separated from the state and inflamed by extremists and exploited by terrorists, who in any country do not represent the general sentiment of the population. There are several other roots of terrorism, the most serious of which are poverty and illegal immigration. Strategic analysis shows that poverty is definitely correlated to levels of education, but strategically it is not true that poverty inevitably leads to terrorism. The roots of terrorism can be found among the wealthy and well educated. Due to the lack of a clear definition of terrorism in conjunction with several other important issues, the legal systems of the overwhelming majority of countries could not effectively prosecute and use force against terrorist organizations. Terrorism has become one of the most important strategic determinants and indicators of strategic political risk of investment. Even the threat of terrorism prevented many potential international transactions. The tourism, transportation (especially the airlines), and insurance industries felt the brunt of terrorism. Strategically terrorism is a social manifestation of evil and requires complete eradication. Humankind needs develop a detailed global antiterrorism strategy, including: first, strategies to prevent terrorism; second, strategies of fighting and prosecuting terrorism and extremism; and third, economic and social-recovery strategies after terrorist attacks, which unfortunately will occur for the foreseeable future.