The Globalization of Terrorism

Ihekwoaba D. Onwudiwe

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138734616
• eBook ISBN: 9781351739306
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

This title was first published in 2001. Terrorism is today a global problem and, as was recently demonstrated in Kenya and Tanzania, no country is immune. Terrorism occurs everywhere (villages and cities), it targets innocent people and terrorists who are ideologically opposed to one country can vent their anger against citizens of another. Addressing this crucial issue, this book examines the future of global terrorism by employing the World System's perspectives in the explanation of terrorism and investigating the etiological determinants of international terrorism. It aims to articulate a theoretical explanation of terrorism which will assist the development of practical policies that are effective in counter-terrorism operations. The main features of the book include World System's Theory (WST), the relevance of WST, factors affecting the definition of terrorism, structural terrorism in the WST, application of Fanon, the political dimension of terrorism ideologies, the disadvantages of ideological labels, measuring WST position and the distribution of terrorism, terrorist incidents by WST position of occurrence and WST position of target, labelling terrorism in context, powerism and anti-powerism, racial terrorism and global apartheid and the criminalization of terrorism.

1. World Systems Theory

Introduction

World Systems Theory (WST) states that the pattern of a nation's development depends on the nation's location in the world economy (Wallerstein, 1979). In recent years, world system theorists (Wallerstein, 1979; Chirot, 1977; Galtung, 1971) have tried to locate countries in different universal divisions of labor, and have applied WST to an increasingly diverse number of social, political and economic problems.

WST has been widely utilized in sociology and political science as an appropriate means for analyzing both international and national problems and relationships. The aim in this section is to apply WST to explain global inequality that in turn, may result in violence, terrorism, and/or crime. WST enriches this book with the possibility of explaining the economic, political, social, and religious relationships among countries. This chapter will cover the following topics:

1. classification of countries in the world economic order;
2. global inequality and WST;
3. the development of underdevelopment;
4. the relevance of WST in comparative study of criminology and terrorism;
5. criticism of WST.

Classifications of Countries in the World Economic Order

WST is a recent theoretical framework developed by Wallerstein in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Wallerstein viewed the world as a system with a single division of labor. He ignored what he called minisystems, an "old world" that had within it a complete division of labor and a single cultural framework. Wallerstein (1974) identified two types of large-scale social systems. The first types are world empires, which emerged from world economies. World empires have a functional division of labor, a strict occupational division of labor, and imperial state control. The second type is world economies. World economies have a multiple political sovereignty with no one domineering imperial state, and a looser "class" division of labor.

According to Wallerstein's (1974) view, China, Egypt and Rome were examples of world empires, within their specific periods in history. Great Britain and France in the nineteenth century are examples of world economies. Wallerstein (1989) argued that world economies are in a better position than world empires to maintain sustained economic development because the market traders have more freedom to engage in market exchange and in the appropriation of surpluses. Such a world economy first emerged in Europe around the sixteenth century and was based on an international differentiated division of labor comprised of three main zones (Wallerstein 1982).

The capitalist world system (WS) emerged during the second half of the fifteenth century when Spain and Portugal engaged in a series of world conquests (Chirot, 1977). West Africa, the Atlantic Islands, the coasts of the Indian Ocean, the Americas, the Philippines and parts of coastal Japan and China were all conquered and linked into a trading network with the western world (Chirot, 1977). The full emergence of the WS in sixteenth century Europe gave rise to the development of market trade. This market economic exchange, known as capitalism, saw the demise of world empires. In Wallerstein's own words "world economies have historically been unstable structures leading either toward disintegration or conquest by one group and hence transformation into a world empire" (Wallerstein, 1974:30).

The modern world is a WS, divided into three tiers as characterized by Chirot (1977: 13).

Core societies: economically diversified ...rich, powerful societies that are relatively independent of outside controls.

Peripheral societies: economically overspecialized, relatively poor and weak societies that are subject to manipulation or direct control by the core powers.

Semi-peripheral societies: societies midway between the core and periphery that are trying to industrialize and diversify their economies. They may be industrializing and rising, "deindustrializing" and pulling into the periphery. (This would occur as the core shifts its economic base or joins alliance against certain nations as in the recent case of Iraq, emphasis not in the original).

Location is important, "a country's position determines its political and economic global influence" (Lynch et al. N.D.). Further, "a nation's location in the world system also accounts for the internal policies of that particular nation. Therefore, it is important to understand the international and national effects of world system location" (Lynch et al. N.D.). The characteristics of nations belonging to different system locations are described in the next sections.

The Core

World system theorists, such as Wallerstein (1979), Evans (1979) and Chirot (1977), have argued that core nations such as the United States, Great Britain, and France dominate the world economy through the provision of managerial expertise and technological innovation and ownership of the primary means of production. The core not only controls the primary means of international production; it determines where production will occur, which nations shall receive new technologies, and which nations shall have their raw materials and labor exploited. The domination of core nations by world capitalism leads to the control and exploitation of peripheral and semiperipheral nations. The core nations use available cheap labor and natural resources of peripheral nations to favor their own economic and political goals.

Core nations control international economic, political, and military power and utilize these advantages to control and dominate the universal modes of production. Core nations determine what happens politically, economically, and militarily in peripheral or third world countries (Lynch et al., N.D.; Evans, 1979), Bollen (1983) asserted that the core's alliance with the "elites" of non-core nations prevents rapid economic development that may encourage democracy in peripheral nations. While the core nations favor democratic systems of government in their own nations, their policies sometimes discourage democratic forms of government in peripheral nations.

Chase-Dunn and Rubinson (1977) claimed that the core nations have a well-integrated domestic economy that is characterized by manufacturing, agriculture, and a high level of productivity and specialization. In core nations, the major pattern of labor exploitation is wage labor and ownership of property. Core countries control the world economy and encourage military cooperation with non-core nations since the core countries control global "means of economic production" (Lynch et al. N.D.; Snyder and Kick, 1979). However, military cooperation with each other (core nations) is paramount, as is the case with NATO. Core nations have less economic dependency than non-core segments of the world (Bollen, 1983). Such a characterization is misleading since core nations depend on the raw materials and cheap labor found in peripheral nations. Thus, WST depicts the world economic order as an interdependent system: each segment in the system is closely connected, and no part of the system could stand on its own.

The Periphery

Peripheral nations have dualistic domestic structures (Chase-Dunn and Rubinson, 1977) with "modern" and "traditional" sectors. The modern sector specializes in mines, plantations, and ports; the traditional sector consists of villages, the bush, and tribal reserves that serve as a labor reserve for the modern sector. ChaseDunn and Robinson (1977) argued that, although the modern sector produces export commodities, its infrastructure is foreign-based and fails to trade with other areas of the periphery. The modern sector of the economy is linked with core nations. The result is a domestic economy that is underdeveloped and dependent on materials imported from and exported to core societies (Chas-Dunn and Rubinson, 1977).

Peripheral nations are the weakest. They possess the least economic, military, and political power. These nations are exploited and dominated by core nations who tap their labor and natural resources for profit. Economic dependency is more obvious in peripheral societies (Bollen, 1983; Evans, 1979; Frank, 1972). The powerful core nations exploit cheaper labor, cheaper raw materials, and unregulated investment opportunities in poor areas (Cardoso and Faletto, 1979; Evans, 1979).

Andre Gunder Frank (1969:7) wrote:

When we examine this metropolis-satellite structure, we find that each of the satellites, including now underdeveloped Spain and Portugal, serves as an instrument to suck capital or economic surplus out of its own satellites and to channel part of this surplus to the world metropolis of which all are satellites. Moreover, each national and local metropolis serves to impose and maintain the metropolistic structure and exploitative relationship of this system as long as it serves the interests of the metropolis which take advantage of this global, national and local structure to promote their own development and the enrichment of their ruling classes.

Peripheral nations do not have the global military strength to overcome such a relationship. They serve as economic reserves for the powerful nations. The exploitation and domination of peripheral nations foster oppressive domestic rule, as well as domestic and external violence. For instance, core societies established a tariffs system that restricted the transportation of economic goods between nations. Core countries monopolized trade and exchange in peripheral colonies and used coerced labor in mines, plantations, and ports in societies like South Africa, Indo-China, and Malasia. Peripheral states and colonies are weak. Their economies focus on imports from the core rather than encourage domestic production (Frank, 1969). The core bourgeoisie had the military power to conquer peripheral nations and subject colonial populations to a position of slavery so as to produce raw materials for export based on low or non-wage coerced labor (Chirot, 1977; Rubinson, 1977). However, this situation is not stagnant. Spain in 1550 was a core society and has subsequently become a peripheral nation while Japan has moved from periphery to core status over the last century (Chirot, 1977).

The Semiperiphery

Finally, according to Wallerstein (1982), semiperipheral nations make up the third structural component of the WS. Wallerstein (1982:41) argued that:

The semiperiphery is needed to make a capitalist world economy run smoothly. Both kinds of world system, the world empire with a redistributive economy and the world economy with a capitalist market economy, involve markedly unequal distribution of rewards.

The semiperiphery nations are intermediate because of their internal structures and functional locations in the WS. The semiperiphery societies engage in business with both the core and the periphery segments of the world (Chase-Dunn and Robinson, 1977).

A semiperipheral society's trading practices rely on a domestic class structure of mixed exploitation that is dependent on whether or not the state is "upwardly or downwardly mobile." Downwardly mobile semiperipheral societies are characterized by "large amounts of fixed capital invested in less competitive industry, political constraints on new investments and high and rigid wage levels" (Chase-Dunn and Robinson, 1977: 457). Upwardly mobile semiperipheral nations "have a wage bill that is relatively low compared to levels of productivity and may engage in mercantile protection of domestic activity and political mobilization of economic development by the state" (Chase-Dunn and Rubinson, 1977: 457).

Semiperipheral nations have particular economic and political roles. The core exploits semiperipheral nations' resources while the semiperiphery, in turn, exploits periphery countries. These intermediate nations are both exploited and exploiters. Wallerstein (1982:43) put it in the following manner:

The existence of the third category means precisely that the upper stratum is not faced with the unified opposition of all the others because the middle stratum is both exploited and exploiter.

Semiperipheral nations have significant ideological roles in the WS. First, core societies need the balance provided by semi-peripheral societies because semiperipheral elites are much more political and nationalistic than peripheral elites. The middle class in semiperiheral societies is not completely under the state structures and is devoted to establishing a traditional or modern domestic economic independence (Chirot, 1977). Second, semiperipheral nations are better organized and aware of their political and economic rights. It is possible for semiperipheral citizens to engage in an outright violent and terroristic conflict against the core. Third, although their governments are exposed to internal disorder, semiperipheral governments participate in the international power game over economic resources and political sovereignty. Since they are taking an active part in the global resources and markets, semiperipheral nations, unlike peripheral societies, serve a very important ideological role in the WS's structure. Perhaps, the Gulf War serves as a good example to demonstrate the interests served by semiperipheral nations. Iraq is generally considered a semiperipheral nation (Snyder and Kick, 1979; Lynch et al. N.D.), while Kuwait is classified as a peripheral nation (Snyder and Kick, 1979; Lynch et al. N.D.). The Gulf War resulted because Iraq (a semiperipheral) acted against the economic, political, military, and ideological interests of the United States, Great Britain, and France (core nations) by conquering Kuwait (peripheral nation). By conquering and occupying Kuwait, Iraq went against the interest of the core. The core, in order to maintain peaceful hegemony among all segments of society, may allow the semiperiphery to exploit the periphery. Iraq, however, overstepped the limits set by the core nations by being overtly greedy in its exploitation of the periphery. The consequence was the bombing of Iraq to demonstrate that the core still determines how much a semiperipheral nation can exploit a peripheral society. The Gulf War supports the WST position that the core nations have military advantages over all the other areas of the globe. This means that both the periphery and semiperiphery are under the domination and control of the economically, militarily, and politically advanced core nations.

Because of this type of situation, it is difficult to have the same degree of democracy that exists in the core and also in the semiperiphery. For a political economy to have "democratic" institutions requires a literate and fairly affluent population with ready access to the opportunity structure. To the extent that a population has limited access to an opportunity structure, they can be controlled. To the extent that core elites collude with peripheral and semiperipheral elites, to maintain control, democratic institutions cannot evolve. Democratic institutions evolve when a large enough segment of a population has sufficient access to the means of political mobilization to obtain power to protect their wealth.

Bollen (1983) suggests that democracy is a rarity outside the core. There is less redistribution of power within semiperipheral nations (Bollen, 1983). The support of elites in the semiperiphery by the core (military, political, economic) inhibits socioeconomic reforms or progress that may lead to a democratic form of government (Bollen, 1983). TTiese countries endeavor to establish a powerful state in order to limit the influence of the core. In the process, the authoritative leaders tend to rule with an iron hand. Draconian types of laws are needed to contain the dominance of the core and also contain internal dissensions (Chirot, 1977; Bollen, 1983).

Closing comments on classifying WS position

Snyder and Kick (1979) asserted that there is no one particular guideline for classifying nations according to core, periphery and semiperiphery or for evaluating temporal changes in a country's position. Chirot (1977) contended that it is difficult to place communist countries in different WS segments. The WS labels adopted in this book to designate different nation's positions in the WS are descriptive in nature. According to Bollen (1983) "they indicate an international division of labor in which the core is linked to the periphery (and semiperiphery) in dynamic and exploitative ways."

Finally, Chirot (1977) suggested that nations are interconnected with each other and that no segment of the WS is a "self-sufficient island." In Chirot's (1977) analysis, a country's position in the WS is not stagnant. It experiences rapid changes from time to time. Therefore, the world balance of political, military, and economic power is in a constant state of flux. For example, a core nation may become a semiperipheral nation and a semi-peripheral society may in turn become a peripheral nation and so on. Chirot (1977) identified Japan as a semiperipheral nation, while Snyder and Kick (1983) put Japan in the core category. Clearly in more recent years, Japan has shed its semiperipheral status, and has moved into the core. Table 1 illustrates the different terminologies that have been used to qualify these nations and their locations in the WS. (All tables appear on Appendix).

Having completed a review of WS classifications and describing the meaning of WS locations, the next section will review concepts and theories that are related to WST. This review is useful because many WS concepts emerge from or have been embellished by theorists who support theoretical perspectives that resemble WST.

Table 1 shows four different theories of comparative development and the ways in which each perspective classifies nations. The terms in this table will be used throughout the next section, and readers should familiarize themselves with these concepts before proceeding.

Related Concepts and Theories

WST is based upon the idea that all nations participate in a world economic order and that each nation is dependent upon other nations. This dependency brings with it different degrees of power, inequality, development and underdevelopment.

Structural Dependency and Underdevelopment

To understand WST, it is also necessary to comprehend the theory of dependence or underdevelopment. Dependency theory is used to explain development and also to provide conceptual clarity for development and underdevelopment theories and WST. This material will be employed in later chapters to discuss terrori...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Tables
• Foreword
• Series Editor's Preface
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1. World Systems Theory
• 2. Terrorism: Definitional Problems
• 3. Terrorism in the World System
• 4. Data Methods
• 5. Analysis of the RAND Chronology of International Terrorism: 1987
• 6. Labeling Terrorism in Context
• 7. Inter-Continental Terrorism
• 8. Summary, Racial and Global Terrorism
• Appendix
• Bibliography