The Social Construction of Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender

Socialization is the unequal distribution of power, wealth, income and social status between individuals and groups. This distribution is not random, it is patterned and structured. Three important axes of global inequality are gender, race and ethnicity, and class. These inequalities are on a global scale and are found in virtually all societies. It wasnt until relatively recently, however, that a caste system developed to include race and ethnicity among class and gender. Since imperialism and the conquest of the Americas, a number of social changes have occurred, and, as a result, the dominant groups today are not only higher in the social order, in terms of rank, but they are considered better as well. According to Winant, there†¦show more content†¦There are social beliefs which are present today that place social stigmas on people who are affiliated with certain ethnicitys. Yen Le Espiritu puts forth the argument that The exercise of political-economic domination by ra cial elites always involves attempts to objectify the subordinate group by branding subordinate groups as alternatively inferior, threatening, or praiseworthy. An example that is taking place today is that cosmetic surgery being performed on Asian-American women, as Eugena Kaw points out in her article. In particular they are making changes to their eyes and noses to look more ideal. Is that okay though? Should one groups sense of ideal be forced upon another group? Many of the Asian-American women surveyed said their reason for undergoing cosmetic surgery was to form their own personal form of beauty. But why then did these women all undergo similar surgeries to ‘correct how they look? Class is the one social construction that has existed since the beginning of history. There have always been those who oppress and those who are oppressed, from the serfs and lords of the middle ages to the bourgeois and proletariat of today (According to Marx). The distinction of class today is different than its been in the past though. It used to be based on your heritage, but today it is based on capital, the more you have the higher and better you are. Many people feel that cultures that veil women, such asShow MoreRelatedEssay about Educational Achievement and Development1338 Words   |  6 Pagesperson’s class, their gender and/or their race and ethnicity; which no child has the ability to change at such a young and impressionable age. The issue of race, ethnicity and gender are essentially a part of a person’s genetic design, which is biologically determined and cannot be changed easily. When a child is born they have no control over the social environment they are born into, it is only in later life that they may have the opportunity to develop and gain a greater chance of social mobilityRead MoreWhat Is Identity? Who Defines Such, And How Is It Constructed?1570 Words   |  7 Pagesto one’s self, a personal identity; but at the same time can also be socially constructed. People have unique identities which may be partly determined by family influences and personal development, but also biological influences such as a sex, ethnicity, age and disability. As far back as 1690 John Locke wrote an essay concerning human understanding, he considered that personal identity was founded on consciousness, going on to state that identity was of the mind and not of the body. John BowlbyRead MoreRace and Ethicity within Sociology959 Words   |  4 PagesWithin the subtopic of race, several areas including our current culture, social psychology and the current format of our social institutions allow for the production and often the reproduction of racial discrimination in our day and age. Throughout this course, the various readings and class lectures have been very beneficial when examining the impact that racial discrimination and inequality has on our society. In this paper, I will delve into the subtopic of race and ethnicity and expound on how itRead MoreGen der Socialization Is The Process Of Learning The Social1326 Words   |  6 PagesGender socialization is the process of learning the social prospects and behaviors connected with one s sex. According to gender socialization there are so many reasons why males and females act in different ways: they learn different social roles. For example, girls learn to do different household chores such as: how to cook, how to clean, how to do sweep, how to take care of family etc and boys learn to work outside, how to earn money, how to rule the world etc. The effect of family, school, mediaRead MoreDifference Between Ethnicity And Class939 Words   |  4 Pagesspeak mostly in ideological terms in order to make a point. Based on the supposition that gender, ethnicity and class are directly experienced, they are not only distinct traits but something which is accomplished in interaction with others who, further, condense these achievements responsible within established settings (West and Fenst ermaker, 1997: 64). According to Collins these contained constructions to difference, ignores the power relations and material disparities that create dominationRead MoreSsci 316 Study Guide Answers Essay978 Words   |  4 Pageswithout an overt or implied status hierarchy, the issues of inequality would not be as important as they are today 2. Are race and ethnicity the only types of inequality in the US today? diversity in US today is not limited to ethnicity, race – other factors: social class (SES or socio-economic status), education, size of group, religion, language As defined in this class what do the terms ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ refer to? (understand that a primary difference is relationship to power; it isRead MoreSymbolic Boundaries Of The Ku Klux Klan1244 Words   |  5 Pagesused symbolic boundaries to distinguish themselves from all â€Å"others†, who they believed as inferior because of their race, ethnicity and religious beliefs. In order to implement their ideals, the KKK used fear tactics to uphold the boundaries between themselves and â€Å"others† while also limiting the capabilities of the â€Å"others†. Class, ethnicity, age, and gender along with other social determinants, alone or together, help society to categorize people and thus, generate expectations for how an individualRead MoreSouthern United States Culture1343 Words   |  5 Pagessee along the side of the road as you drive through this beautiful part of the United States. It has many different characteristics and many different special things that make it unique. Globalization and Identity, Ethnicity, Religion, The Social Construction of Race, Gender Roles, Class, Places and Spaces (Regional Identity) , and Linguistic Diversity in the south are all topics that I will discuss in this essay. While globalization and identity in the south is not as evident as it would be inRead MoreEssay about Construction of the Self1194 Words   |  5 PagesConstruction of the Self How does one create the â€Å"self†? How do we form as individuals? Whether a person is male or female, white or black, rich or poor, tall or short, pretty or ugly, fat or skinny, the most important factor is the development of the â€Å"self†. The self refers to the unique set of traits, behaviors, and attitudes that distinguishes one person from another (Newman 283). To distinguish between oneself from others, one must be able to recognize their unique traits and characteristicsRead MoreI Am A First Generation College Student Essay1618 Words   |  7 PagesI had not direct connection to any ethnicity. When I was in elementary school there where a mixture of Whites, Asians, Latinos, and African Americans ethnicities, grow up in a multicultural area I didn’t think about race or class as much as late in life. Race was a topic that I did not really think and talked about until I was placed into a private school that class was visible, and I began to be more aware or class and race. I would not talk about race or class at school, but I would wait to talk

Similarities Between The Aeneid And The Iliad - 1029 Words

Publius Vergilius Maro, or more commonly known as Virgil, studied the Greek’s most well-known author Homer when he was creating his national epic poem. Virgil’s â€Å"The Aeneid† was written long after the creation of Homer’s â€Å"The Iliad†. However, there are many underlying similarities between the two. Virgil intended for their stories to share similar themes and plots because he truly admired Homer’s works he eventually adopted the Homeric style in his own writing. Despite having great battles and bloodshed, Virgil drew parallels to Homer’s works with the heroes and their fates, the men started wars over a woman, the different prophecies, and other connections between â€Å"The Iliad† and â€Å"The Aeneid.† â€Å"The Aeneid† and â€Å"The Iliad† are relatively†¦show more content†¦In â€Å"The Iliad,† Menelaus and Paris and in â€Å"The Aeneid,† Aeneas and Turnus go head to head in hopes to end the fighting between the armies. Before the wars begin, each hero is gifted with an ekphrasis, or a vivid description, but is more commonly seen as a work of art in some form. Achilles and Aeneas were demigods. Achilles was the son of Thetis and Aeneas was the son of Venus. Their mothers feared for the safety of their sons and as a result they went to Vulcan asking him to create armor for them. The god of fire came back with two shields, one for Achilles and one for Aeneas. In â€Å"The Aeneid,† Aeneas’ shield depicted Rome’s future, which included the founding of Rome and its founder, Romulus. Achilles’ shield displayed what the world was in the present. For example, it depicted the earth, the moon, the cosmos, etc. With their shie lds and armor each of the men went on to fight their battles. As each of the stories begin, there are different prophecies that are told within each epic. In Homer’s â€Å"The Iliad,† Achilles refuses to fight in the war, however, Zeus has a prophecy that Achilles will return to battle once his right-hand man Patroclus fights and kills Hector. It is also prophesied that the Trojans would be defeated in the efforts to win against the Greeks. Achilles receives a prophecy from Zeus asShow MoreRelatedComparative Analysis of the Aeneid, Odyssey, and Iliad Essay962 Words   |  4 PagesComparative Analysis of the Aeneid, Odyssey, and Iliad The Iliad and the Odyssey are two of the best Greek epics written by Homer. Despite their popularity, almost nothing is known about the author beyond the existence of his masterpieces. Surprisingly enough no concrete evidence of his existence is available; not even to confirm the same person created the two works. The authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey were debated even in the times of the ancient Greeks. Many scholars have arguedRead MoreComparing The Iliad And The Aeneid1517 Words   |  7 Pagesphilosopher is establishing is that the source of good and evil are the same while being different. Reminiscent of how The Iliad and the Aeneid are both epic poems that share similarities such as the setting, the reoccurring motif of gods, as well as aspects like the two heroes and the goals to be reached by the plot. When comparing the similarities between the two epics, The Iliad and the Aeneid, one of the most obvious is the setting of which they each take place. They are a part of the same era, one whereRead MoreThe Aeneid Is A Latin Epic Poem Written By Virgil1163 Words   |  5 PagesThe Aeneid is a Latin epic poem written by Virgil. The Aeneid tells a story of Aenes, a Trojan who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the romans. The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem written by Homer. Both the Aeneid and the Iliad are both the same and different at the same time. The Iliad and the Aeneid are both masterworks in epic poetry. Not only do they summon destiny and martial duty, but also heroism. They are both fixated around the Trojan War. In the Iliad it focuses mainlyRead MoreSimilarities Between Paradise Lost And Paradise Lost1239 Words   |  5 Pagesantiquity. The epics are Paradise Lost, Aeneid, The Epic Gilgamesh, and The Iliad. The most obvious difference is era. Paradise Lost is an epic poem from the 17th century and is written in blank verse which is the most modern phrasing method. According to an article on Enotes, out of the other three epics, the Iliad and Aeneid came from the same dactyllic family. (â€Å"Compare Miltons Paradise Lost†). Meanwhile The Epic Gilgamesh is more old-fashioned in its verse Between the four books there are a varietyRead More God and Man in Homer’s Iliad, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Dante’s Inferno1228 Words   |  5 PagesGod and Man in Homer’s Iliad, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Dante’s Inferno The truest of man’s goals is to create art. Art is a by-product of the gift of man over the animals, creativity. Truly, creativity is a replication of God in man and a very possible interpretation of the Genesis 1:27 phrase â€Å"in his own image,† along with others—the possession of an immortal soul or the ability to speak. And creativity’s ultimate end product is art. And art more often than not in the history of man has led manRead MoreSimilarities Between The Iliad And Medea1950 Words   |  8 Pagesbefore the modern use of science and logic. In the Iliad, Aeneid and Medea they all had meaningful similarities but there also were differences. The stories told by these philosophers had a lasting effect on how their citizens acted in the past and even to this day. The myths in these stories have broughten to light what their culture found to be significant in life. Whereas Iliad, Medea and Aeneid are different as Iliad is more about fate, while Aeneid l eaves fate open to debate, and the myth of MedeaRead MoreThe Aeneid And The Odyssey1547 Words   |  7 Pages â€Æ' The Aeneid and The Odyssey The Aeneid and The Odyssey are two of the most famous poems written in their time. While there are other poems that are also notable, these two poems are well known for showing strong battles between mythical creatures and strong heroes. Homer and Virgil have written incredible poems that have stood the test of time. The depth of their vision was beyond their time and is still used around the world thousands of years later to show honest, loyal, strong heroes. The AeneidRead MoreComparing The Underworld Of Homer And Virgil1744 Words   |  7 PagesOdyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid, the heroes make the dauntless adventure into the underworld. Both of theses visits occur around the middle of the stories, and they bring information about the lives of heroes loved ones. The heroes also get very important information from these loved ones; information that they require to continue on their journeys. However these are not the only things that are similar about the heroes visits. The inf luence of the Homeric writings of the Iliad and the Odyssey on Virgil’sRead MoreThe Aeneid By Publius Virgilius Maro1712 Words   |  7 PagesThe Aeneid was written by Publius Virgilius Maro, also referred to as Virgil. He was a Roman man born in northern Italy, in around 70 B.C.E. Virgil, who known for his poetry, especially his earliest work, wrote The Aeneid which was known as his greatest work. His gained his knowledge from studying Greek and Roman authors. Although Virgil studied both cultures his work was more so influenced by the Greek culture, his work was written with the use of common themes that Greek writers used for so manyRead MoreThe Aeneid, The Iliad and the Odyssey653 Words   |  3 Pages Practically thousands of years after they were thought of and written, the Aeneid, The Iliad and the Odyssey continue to be three of the most renowned and broadly read stories ever told. The Aeneid is an epic poem written in 12 books and is modeled in part on the great Greek epic poems, on Homers Iliad and Odyssey. Odysseus is trying to get back to the home, Aeneas is seeking the new In the Aeneid the first six books were in correspondence to the Odyssey because they illustrated Aeneas hunt for

Unit 2 Cache Level 2 Coursework Free Essays

Shalini Karsan 10/680 846 Unit 2- The developing child. D1- Describe the expected stage of social development of the children aged 4 years. The child at 4 years will start to develop a knowledge about different genders e. We will write a custom essay sample on Unit 2 Cache Level 2 Coursework or any similar topic only for you Order Now g. females and males. They can make friends, and they are also interested in having them. This age group, should know how negotiate, and to give and take objects. D2- Describe the expected stage of social development of the children aged 5 years. They can help and take responsibility of other children, for example helping them out in the setting. Most 5 year old children like working in groups, with others as this will let them interact amongst each other. At this age friends are important, they are independent. When playing games in the setting they can understand the rules of the game. D3- Describe one suitable method of observing and recording the social development of children aged 5 years. The suitable method of observing children at the age of 5 years, at the social development stage, is to record it by a narrative observation. It can be used to record social development. A narrative ‘observation is a detailed account of everything that you see the child doing’ (Thornes. N, 2009) When doing observations in the setting, the child’s name should not be included because of confidentiality. The children should be named as ‘A’ and ‘B’ instead of the name. ‘You should record the date you made your observation. ’(Thornes. N, 2009) D4- Explain one advantage and one disadvantage of this method of observing children. The advantages of this observation are so that practitioners understand the child as individuals, and their likes and dislikes. They can collect relevant information about the children or child. They can also know what development stage the child at. The disadvantage of this observation is that it could interfere with confidentiality. The teachers may not want this information to be observed, as it can be passed around to other people. D5- Identify the main influences that may affect the social development of children. Children’s social development can be affected by negative influences such as, speech and language, money problems, English as a second language, violence abuse, disability, family break ups, and moving house. It can also be affected by positive influences such as children making new friends in their new setting, they have started. D6- Describe how snack and mealtimes can support the social development of children. Snack and mealtimes can support social development by the children washing their hands before eating their snack in the setting, or meal in their home; they can talk amongst each other, and the teacher’s this will allow the children to socialise freely. They can be taught how to share and wait for their turns to take their meal or snack, they can serve themselves at the table, this will give them a choice to pick what they would like to eat. Table manners can be involved because it teaches the child to do things independently. D7- Show an understanding of diversity and inclusive practice. As a practitioner we should encourage a child to explore. Practitioners can show an understanding of diversity and inclusive practice, by mixing all the genders together when the children are doing their activity. All children should be treated equally, despite of their ethnicity, ability, religion and needs. ‘A stereotype is a fixed image of a group of people’ (Tassoni. P 2007). Stereotyping, should not be shown, as children may get the wrong idea of the opposite sex. Children with (SEN) Special Education Needs will need extra support in the activities, played in the setting. How to cite Unit 2 Cache Level 2 Coursework, Essay examples

Management Systems Strategy and Implementation

Question: Discuss about the Management Systems for Strategy and Implementation. Answer: Introduction: The main objective of this report is to analyze the case study of StayTogether hotel chain and suggest suitable recommendations for mitigating the management issues of the company. Ten different hotel chains have decided to merge together to form a single large hotel chain. The main objective of this merger is to operate as a single chain and use only one specific website for online booking purposes. The instant online booking websites provide rooms to the customers at a much cheaper rate. As a result, although the customer count in the hotels is increasing, there are losses in the service expenses and hence, the corporate images of the hotels are slowly getting watered down (Kappelman et al., 2013). In order to solve the issue, the merger hotel chain looks to implement its own suitable policies and guidelines. In this report, the new proposed policies of the company have been analysed and recommendations have been provided for maximizing the benefits from these policies for the company. Case Study Analysis: StayTogether Hotel Chain With the recent development of websites and mobile apps for booking hotels instantly like booking.com, hotels.com and others, the hotel business is getting significantly less amount of actual profits. The instant online booking websites provide rooms to the customers at a much cheaper rate (McKeen, Smith, 2015). As a result, although the customer count in the hotels is increasing, there are losses in the service expenses and hence, the corporate images of the hotels are slowly getting watered down. Hence, ten popular hotel chains have decided to merge into a single chain named StayTogether. Another main agenda of this merger is to operate as a single chain and use only one specific website for online booking purposes. However, in order to ensure the chain does not suffer any losses, the management team has decided with introduction of some specific policies regarding the use of the online website. These policies are as follows. Online booking for rooms in this chain can be done from this website only. There will be a dedicated mobile app (Android, iOS) for the online booking system. The room prices will be fixed throughout the year. During peak months, the prices of the rooms will be higher than usual. Analysis of the New Policies According to the policies, there will be only one online booking website and there will be fixed prices all the year round. However, the problem with these policies is that there are no particular benefits for the customers (Zardini, Rossignoli Ricciardi, 2016). Moreover, due to fixed prices of the rooms, there will be no discounts for the customers. On the other hand, the customers seek rooms with special discounts or low prices. Hence, the management team has decided to implement four new services that will benefit the customers who will book rooms in the StayTogether hotel. The new services are as follows. Customer Loyalty Scheme The management team has planned this scheme in order to earn loyalty from the customers i.e. provide special services to customers so that they will avail their services again in the future. According to this scheme, if some customers visit this hotel chain on a regular basis, they will be offered with free transportation from the airport or railway station. Moreover, if these customers prefer to bring their own cars, they will be provided with free parking spaces. Finally, these customers can also receive free nights at the hotel based on loyalty points gathered by them. These offers will encourage the customers to book rooms in this hotel chain more frequently. Buffet Meal System The management team has also decided to change the existing restaurant model to reduce extra expenses, gain more profit and provide a more convenient system for the customers. In the existing restaurant system, the company has to recruit waiters to serve the dishes to the customers. As a result, the payments to the waiters are extra expenses for the company. Moreover, there is a huge wastage of food as many customers are unable to complete the dishes served to them. Hence, the new plan is to implement buffet meal system for the customers. In this system, customers will be able to choose their preferred dishes and can take only that quantity that they will be able to eat without wastage of food. Moreover, there will be no waiters required for serving the dishes. Another benefit of this system will be integration of the food prices along with the room prices. Hence, the customers will not be required to pay further for the food. However, for those who do not prefer buffet system, there will be exclusive on-site restaurant and the charges for eating in this restaurant will be extra. Special Rebates for Airline Passengers Another change the management team is eager to implement is offering certain rebates to the customers if they avail services of some particular airlines. The company is interested is forming partnerships with these airlines where both parties can benefit from increasing amount of the passengers / customers. According to the proposed plan, if a customer avails the service of one of the selected airlines, he will receive a rebate voucher for StayTogether hotel chain, which he can use for obtaining rebates in room fare or meal price. It is expected that this will increase the passengers in these airlines as well as customers in the hotel chain. Charity Events The company is also planning to donate money some charity events nominated by the customers themselves. According to this plan, a regular customer will be able to nominate a charity to which, StayTogether will pay 1% of the total billable amount. With increasing number of customers, there will be more nominations and the interested customers will avail the services of the hotel more frequently in order to grant donations to their selected charity events. Probable Issues Related to Information System and Technology Used From the analysis of the proposed system, it can be said that there may be several IT and IS issues that the company may face. Some of these issues are discussed as follows. Internet Security Cyber security will be critical test for the organization once the proposed app turns out to be completely operational. For booking purposes, the clients should enter their personal data in the application and subsequently, the application will be the easy target for various hackers and unethical programmers (Gattorna, 2015). Consequently, the protection of the clients data will be lost unless adequate cyber safety efforts are taken. App Developmental Stage According to the proposed arrange, the organization will build up a web based booking application for Android and iOS clients. In any case, advancement of an application is not a simple assignment because of the way that the improvement requires development of various stages of a software development life cycle including -version, -version, demo version and others (Ferrero Sison, 2014). Indeed, even after the full form is finished, there stay a few bugs and mistakes that are to be expelled utilizing new fixes. Once more, the UI must be appealing and straightforward for the clients. Henceforth, the organization will confront critical test in building up the proposed new application. Customer Service (Information System) The organization will likewise confront noteworthy test if there is no customer service administration to address the inquiries of the client. A decent client service administration is a fundamental segment of an effective information system framework. Management of Data and Information There may be a few issues emerging in information administration if there is no appropriate information management framework. With expanding clients, there will be convergence of an enormous measure of information. Manual operations will not have the capacity to deal with every one of the information precisely (Kock, 2014). Henceforth, a computerized information administration framework is vital or the organization will confront critical test in dealing with all the client data. New Business Opportunities With the proposed new technical setup, the company can venture into new business opportunities as well. The possible business opportunities are the following. New Restaurant Chain StayTogether hotel chain can open a new restaurant chain that can be an additional source of revenue for the company. The hotel chain already has restaurants attached to the hotel apartments. However, there can be a new chain for exclusively restaurants where customers can get fast food as well as casual and full meals. The restaurant chain can be made specialized like Italian restaurant chain, Chinese restaurant chain, Mexican restaurant chain and others. With sufficient brand value, there will be no time till influx of customers start in the restaurant chain. Personalized Automated Tour Guide The company can also venture into business of personalized automated tour guide in order to benefit the tourists that avail the services of the hotel chain. This can be another source of income for the company as significant revenues can be generated from the sale of the automated tour guides to the tourists. Conclusion In this report, the new proposed policies of the company have been analysed and recommendations have been provided for maximizing the benefits from these policies for the company. According to the new proposed policies of the management team, there will be only one online booking website and there will be fixed prices all the year round. However, the problem with these policies is that there are no particular benefits for the customers. Moreover, due to fixed prices of the rooms, there will be no discounts for the customers. On the other hand, the customers seek rooms with special discounts or low prices. Hence, the management team has decided to implement four new services that will benefit the customers who will book rooms in the StayTogether hotel. The management team has planned a customer loyalty scheme in order to earn loyalty from the customers i.e. provide special services to customers so that they will avail their services again in the future. The management team has also de cided to change the existing restaurant model to reduce extra expenses, gain more profit and provide a more convenient system for the customers. Another change the management team is eager to implement is offering certain rebates to the customers if they avail services of some particular airlines. The company is interested is forming partnerships with these airlines where both parties can benefit from increasing amount of the passengers / customers. Finally, the company is also planning to donate money some charity events nominated by the customers themselves. According to this plan, a regular customer will be able to nominate a charity to which, StayTogether will pay 1% of the total billable amount. Recommendations Based on the analysis of the companys new schemes, the following recommendations can be provided. Customer Benefit The company must provide certain benefits to the customers in order to earn their trust and loyalty. According to the new policies of the company, there will be only one online booking website and there will be fixed prices all the year round. However, the problem with these policies is that there are no particular benefits for the customers. Moreover, due to fixed prices of the rooms, there will be no discounts for the customers. Hence, the company must emphasize on providing other benefits to the customers. Strict Policy In the case of revenue and profit, company must be strict with their policies without harming the customers interests in any way. It is a habit of most of the customers to bargain with the service provider and lower the actual prices of the services. As a result, if the prices are actually lowered, the company will encounter significant losses in the business. Hence, the company should implement strict pricing policy that can only be lowered for some loyal customers based on their loyalty points or some event specific discounts. Cyber Security Appropriate cyber safety efforts must be taken to protect the personal data of the clients. Cyber security will be critical test for the organization once the proposed application turns out to be completely operational. For booking purposes, the clients should enter their personal data in the application and subsequently, the application will be the easy target for various hackers and unethical programmers. Consequently, the protection of the clients data will be lost unless adequate cyber safety efforts are taken. References Botha, A., Kourie, D., Snyman, R. (2014).Coping with continuous change in the business environment: Knowledge management and knowledge management technology. Elsevier. Bui, Q. N., Markus, M., Newell, S. (2015). Alternative Designs in Widespread Innovation Adoption: Empirical Evidence from Enterprise Architecture Implementation in US State Governments. Ceptureanu, E. G. (2015). Research regarding change management tools on EU SMEs.Business Excellence and Management Review,5(2), 28-32. Chang, J. F. (2016).Business process management systems: strategy and implementation. CRC Press. Dahlberg, T., Kivijrvi, H., Saarinen, T. (2016). IT Investment Consistency and Other Factors Influencing the Success of IT Performance.Strategic IT Governance and Alignment in Business Settings, 176. Denford, J., Dawson, G., Desouza, K. (2017, January). Exploring IT-Enabled Public Sector Innovation in US States. InProceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Du, K., Tanriverdi, H. (2014). Managing Information Technology under Extreme Organizational Disequilibrium: the Case of Corporate Spinoffs. Eikey, E. V., Murphy, A. R., Reddy, M. C., Xu, H. (2015). Designing for privacy management in hospitals: Understanding the gap between user activities and IT staffs understandings.International journal of medical informatics,84(12), 1065-1075. Ferrero, I., Sison, A. J. G. (2014). A quantitative analysis of authors, schools and themes in virtue ethics articles in business ethics and management journals (19802011).Business Ethics: A European Review,23(4), 375-400. Figliola, P. M., Fischer, E. A. (2015). Overview and issues for implementation of the federal cloud computing initiative: Implications for federal information technology reform management.US Congressional Research Service (CRS),1. Gattorna, J. (2015).Dynamic supply chains. Pearson Education Limited. Jeston, J., Nelis, J. (2014).Business process management. Routledge. Kappelman, L., McLean, E., Luftman, J., Johnson, V. (2013). Key Issues of IT Organizations and Their Leadership: The 2013 SIM IT Trends Study.MIS Quarterly Executive,12(4). Kock, N. (2014). Advanced mediating effects tests, multi-group analyses, and measurement model assessments in PLS-based SEM.International Journal of e-Collaboration (IJeC),10(1), 1-13. Lee, W. T., Hung, S. Y., Chau, P. Y. (2013). Influence of knowledge management infrastructure on innovative business processes and market-interrelationship performance: An empirical study of hospitals in Taiwan. InGlobal Diffusion and Adoption of Technologies for Knowledge and Information Sharing(pp. 152-175). IGI Global. McKeen, J. D., Smith, H. A. (2015).IT strategy: Issues and practices. Pearson. Zardini, A., Rossignoli, C., Ricciardi, F. (2016). A bottom-up path for IT management success: From infrastructure quality to competitive excellence.Journal of Business Research,69(5), 1747-1752.

All Churhes Are Cults Essays - Cult, Pejoratives, French Law

All Churhes Are Cults Most people go to church to maintain their faith in God; for me, going to church made me loose mine. The church I attended was called Faith Baptist. It was a small, shabby, old church, not an exceedingly old church with stunning architecture, but a plain, modern church that had grown old and run down. The building consisted of a square gymnasium with worn tape marks on the floor, about five or six tiny classrooms, a nursery, a chapel, and of course, the sanctuary, lined with rows and rows of wooden pews facing towards a wooden cross stretching form the floor to the ceiling. Every Sunday I would walk into the church across the worn brown carpet and up the stairs to the musty room where my Sunday school class met. Every week the teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Sweet, would present to us unusual ideas and unbelievable stories from the bible and try to scare us into believing whatever they told us. They would tell us about the ?Rapture?, which most simply states that one day Jesus will come back to earth and kill everyone that doesn't believe in him. They told us how abortion is wrong; it's the same as killing someone. They told us how homosexuals will go to hell because they are horrible sinners. They told us how Jesus died and ?rose again?, and most importantly, they told us how God is the only one who could judge us. I always listened to them, and I thought that I believed, but something was never quite right. As time progressed, the thing that wasn't right became very clear. So many of the things they had taught us contradicted each other, like ?You don't need money to worship God?, yet they passed around an offering plate. The contradiction that bothered me the most was that they said God was the only one who could judge people, and they judged people all the time. They judged people who were homosexual, people who were divorced, people who had abortions, and people who had a different religion. This contradiction led me into the experience that finally pushed me over the edge. It was when Mr. and Mrs. Sweet decided to do a study of ?cults? during Sunday school class. They came prepared with pamphlets and printed information from books about other religions. They gave each of us a forest green folder and a copy of the information for each religion, so we could save it because it was so important. Then, each week we would take out our folder and Mr. and Mrs. Sweet would give us a new cult religion to put in it. We started out with Buddhism and Muslim religions, which were so different from baptism that calling them cults didn't seem too unreasonable. However, after that, we moved on to Mormon and Catholics religions, and I could see no way in which they could be called cults. Mr. and Mrs. Sweet came up with a way to show that every religion besides baptism was a cult. But it didn't even stop there; Mrs. Sweet told us that The Lion King, yes, Disney's The Lion King was a ?cult ic movie? and she regretted every letting her grandchildren watch it. She said because the movie talked about the circle of life that it was about reincarnation, something Baptists don't believe in, thus making it cultic. When she said this to us I had to hold my mouth shut so I wouldn't laugh in her face. That was and still is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. After those eight weeks of ?cult? study I could no longer comprehend how people could go to church and listen to and believe anything that was said there. I realized that those people and their beliefs were insane, unfounded, and of no use to me, so I quit going to church. I quit forcing myself to believe in something that didn't make any sense, and had no proof or logic behind it just because I was scared of what would happen to me when I die. I still don't know what will happen to me, and I'm still scared, but I

Blissful Quotes About Love

Blissful Quotes About Love Have you ever noticed that when you are in love, you always go around with a smile on your face? Indeed, love brings immense happiness to the lives of those who are experiencing it. The following happy love quotes talk about the bliss that those in love experience. Jennifer Aniston True love brings up everything - youre allowing a mirror to be held up to you daily. John Sheffield Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive. Nora Roberts Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice. Teilhard de Chardin The day will come when, after harnessing the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. Erica Jong Love is everything it is cracked up to be. Thats why people are so cynical about it... It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you dont risk anything, you risk even more. Helen Keller The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched; they must be felt with the heart. George Elliot I like not only to be loved, but to be told that I am loved. Leo Buscaglia The life and love we create is the life and love we live. Barbara De Angelis Love is a choice you make from moment to moment. Joseph Conrad Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love - and to put its trust in life. Michael Dorrius Love transforms; it simultaneously makes us larger and limits our possibilities. It changes our history even as it breaks a new path through the present. Saint Jerome The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart. Karr Love is the only passion which includes in its dreams the happiness of someone else. T. S. Eliot Love is most nearly itself when here and now cease to matter.

Human Recources about Rewards and recognition Essay

Human Recources about Rewards and recognition - Essay Example This paper discusses strategies that can be employed in business to improve the system of reward and recognition both for the staff and the customers. Increased action may not be the necessary outcome of reward. The quality of work is more important than the quantity of work. Some managers give equal importance to both. Therefore, reward should encourage the employee to increase both the quality and the quantity of work. The difficulty with a standardized reward and recognition program is that it is a completely impersonal process. Instead of thinking about the specific people involved, the company provides the same generic rewards to everyone. But when an element of fun and play is added to a financial reward or bonus, the experience becomes personalized and much more memorable for the award recipient. (Weinstein, 1997). The approach to reward and recognition proposed by Zigon is consistent with Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory according to which, different employees have different likes and dislikes so standardizing a set of rewards and patterns of recognition may not work for all. Managers’ efforts should be directed at aligning the rewards with the interests of individual employees (University of Minnesota, 2010). In her article, Ryan (n.d.) has evaluated the effectiveness of the non-monetary incentives in comparison to the monetary incentives. Ryan (n.d.) expresses that she could not find any strong empirical evidence to say whether the non-monetary incentives work. However, objective empirical evidence elaborating the strength of the non-monetary incentives is there. Malotte, Hollingstead, and Rhodes (1999) found that the non-monetary incentives like grocery store coupons were 86 per cent effective in returning the patients for the skin test reading whereas efficiency of the monet ary incentive of $10 was 95 per cent. While it is important to take measures to enhance the productivity of the staff, it is equally important to do the needful

Mind the Gap Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Mind the Gap - Essay Example Table of contents Abstract 1. Introduction 2. ‘The Small and Medium- sized Enterprises’ 3. Financial crisis on SMEs’ capital structure 4. Sovereign debt crisis which affects the bank’s credit standards, credit margin, and funding conditions 5. Regulatory changes on policies that deal with bank lending activities 6. â€Å"The Federation of small Businesses† 7. Recommendation 1) Introduction â€Å"The Small and Medium- sized Enterprises† abbreviated as SMEs is defined by the European Commission as â€Å"an enterprise employing not more than 250 employees; having an annual turnover of not more than â‚ ¬50m and balance sheet assets of â‚ ¬43m; and that has less than 25 per cent of its capital.† However, SMEs are defined using three concepts and they include small, local, and single. They are small in nature when considering the number of employees, capital and assets, and turnover. They are also owned by a single owner who could only be the sole employee. SMEs are also local in nature because their markets are usually based on local areas or places of residence (Fielden, 2003). In the European Union, Small and Medium- sized Enterprises faces a number of issues in term of financing. These issues include effects of financial crisis on SMEs’ capital structure; the sovereign debt crisis impacts on bank’s credit standards, credit margin, and funding conditions; and the effects caused by comprehensive regulatory changes on policies dealing with bank lending activities. However, â€Å"The Federation of small Businesses† abbreviated as FSB, has come to rescue these SMEs by representing them in the issues for financial market (Ministry of defence, 2013). Its functions revolve around practices dealing with financial lending â€Å"of the small and medium-sized Enterprises.† 2) â€Å"The Small and Medium- sized Enterprises† The SMEs have been recognized as the key contributors of the econo my in the European Union, due to the way they have changed the union into a market oriented economy. Currently, statistics shows that 96% of the registered firms are recognized â€Å"as small and medium sized firms,† with SMEs accounting for approximately 82%. These small businesses actively contribute to 25% of the annual Global Domestic Product of the European Union (Villa, 2011). Despite their great contribution, SMEs are faced with financial crisis, cause by various factors hence affecting the capital structure. The financial sector within the European Union is characterized by a system based bank where SOCBs or state owned commercial banks play an important role. SOCBs provide 78 % of the overall loans in the economy, with half of its credits being channeled into SOEs. This, therefore, makes it difficult â€Å"for the small and medium size enterprises† to access bank loans. 3) Financial crisis on SMEs’ capital structure However, there are a number of factor s which leads to financial crisis that affects the SMEs capital structure. The first one is firm growth. It is suggested that firm’s growth is relatively negative to its capital structure. A SMEs’ information asymmetry may demand an extra premium for it to raise external funds, despite the true

Management and Labour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management and Labour - Essay Example They can either make or break it. Thus, cooperation between the two, working as one unified body towards the goal of the organisation, is crucial, especially so that what brings profit to the organisation is no other than employee’s productivity. Yet, the source of strength of any organisation is also its weakest point because the required unity between management and labour is something elusive to achieve. Worse, it is oftentimes the source of hostility that usually brings the organisation down. As management represents the interest of the capital – gaining super-profit at the expense of exploiting labour – to achieve employee’s trust and full-cooperation for utmost productivity is a century-old challenge to management. This inherent contradiction between management and labour is seen as the usual reason why do employees restrict the level of their output. But as organisational relationships evolve in the course of time, giving more attention on human relations, and as technology displaces labour giving more leverage to management, problems of lessened employee productivity is no longer attributed to labour exploitation but to poor management. Labour is the most productive force of production because no else has the power to produce but the worker’s productivity. Even with the modernisation of technology, the crucial role of labour in capitalist production remains. Thus, ensuring worker’s high performance rate is key function of management, because anything that may cause reduction in the worker’s level of output is detrimental to the interest of the capitalist. But what makes employee restrict their output level –is it the management or the worker’s exploited working condition? To answer this question, it would be best to understand first man’s concept of work. What is work to man? What makes man work? What discourages man to work? Man works not simply to work

The Relationship Between Terrorism and Religion

The Relationship Between Terrorism and Religion RELIGIOUS TERRORISM IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN ISLAM AND TERRORISM Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.† George W. Bush Address to the US after hijack attacks on the US World Trade Centre and Pentagon, September 11, 2001 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1. When the terrorists attacked the United States on the morning of September 11, 2001, they set in motion a sequence of events that demonstrated unequivocally the power and influence ofterrorism. Less than two hours of unimaginable violence by nineteen terrorists led to repercussions felt around the world. â€Å"Beyond the death and destruction that the terrorists caused more than 3,000 people were killed in the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They also inflicted a deep psychological wound upon United States and the rest of the world†.[1] 2. Although the United States had experienced major terrorist attacks on its soil in the past, including the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the September 11 attacks were beyond most peoples worst nightmare. Hijacked planes crashing into U.S. landmarks and live television coverage of the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsing images that will likely be etched in ones mind forever. 3. The tragedy of September 11, 2001, has revealed the roots of deep planetary contradictions that threaten the world community and indeed life itself on planet Earth. This act of unprecedented terror against thousands of innocent people ought, at last, to start humanity thinking about the stark incompatibility of modern achievements in the areas of scientific knowledge, human rights, and the establishment of human moral standards with ideological, nationalistic, or religiousfanaticism in any form. 4. Lately, most of the terrorismseems to be about Islam, and it all seems to be the same. By all accounts the specter of jihadism looms large. Even if we suspend the belief for a moment and simply cast aside all those terrorist groups that clearly have nothing at all to do with the Islamic religionthe Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, the FARC in Colombia and the IRA in Ireland (to name but a few)we are still left with a slew of seemingly similar groups all motivated by and distorting Islam to suit their own ends[2]. The anatomy of propaganda 5. The document found in a suitcase belonging to leading September 11, 2001, terrorist Muhammed Atta further strengthens this belief. The suitcase document is reproduced below and analysed in the ensuing paragraph: â€Å"Pray during the previous night. Remember God frequently and with complete serenity. Visualize how you will respond if you get into trouble. Read verses of the Quran into your hands and rub them over your luggage, knife, and all your papers. Check your weapons, perform ablution before you leave your apartment, and remember God constantly while riding to the airport. Take courage and remember the rewards which God has promised for the martyrs†. [3] 6. The suitcase document is remarkable for four reasons. First, it embodies a classic ascetical strategy for applying formulaic principles to intended actions. Second, it shares much in common with repetitive techniques for self-hypnosis. Third, it bears a striking resemblance to mainstream traditions such as Catholicism in ascetical manuals like The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola or The Rule of St. Benedict that says, keep death daily before ones eyes. Whether or not such manuals threaten human freedom depends, of course, on the various contexts in which they have been presented. If in the wrong hands they can function as formulas and meditations both for indoctrination and for fighting holy wars. Fourth, the document from the suitcase directly connectsreligiousformulas and meditations with intentions to perpetrate mass murder. Practical checklists of objectives, terrifying in magnitude, are interwoven withreligiousstatements and then repeated and applied as mantras o f self-indoctrination. Religion — The Terrorists Best Weapon 7. Whileterrorism even in the form of suicide attacks is not an Islamic phenomenon by definition, it cannot be ignored that the lions share of terrorist acts and the most devastating of them in recent years have been perpetrated in the name of Islam. This fact has sparked a fundamental debate both in the West and within the Muslim world regarding the link between these acts and the teachings of Islam. Most Western analysts are hesitant to identify such acts with the bona fide teachings of one of the worlds great religions and prefer to view them as a perversion of a religion that is essentially peace-loving and tolerant. Western leaders such as George W. Bush and Tony Blair have reiterated time and again that the war againstterrorismhas nothing to do with Islam. It is a war against evil[4]. 8. Modern International Islamistterrorismis a natural offshoot of twentieth-century Islamic fundamentalism. The Islamic Movement emerged in the Arab world and British-ruled India as a response to the dismal state of Muslim society in those countries: social injustice, rejection of traditional mores, acceptance of foreign domination and culture. It perceives the malaise of modern Muslim societies as having strayed from the straight path (as-sirat al-mustaqim) and the solution to all ills in a return to the original mores of Islam. The problems addressed may be social or political: inequality, corruption, and oppression. But in traditional Islamand certainly in the worldview of the Islamic fundamentalistthere is no separation between the political and thereligious. Islam is, in essence, both religion and regime (din wa-dawla) and no area of human activity is outside its remit. Be the nature of the problem as it may, Islam is the solution.[5] 9. The role of religion of Islam needs closer examination since the majority of terrorists of contemporary times are practising the religion of Islam. One of the enduring questions is what religion of Islam has to do with this. Put simply, does religion of Islam cause terrorism? Could these violent acts be the fault of religion—the result of a dark strain of religious thinking that leads to absolutism and violence? Is religion the problem or the victim? 10. When one looks outside ones faith it is easier to blame religion. In the current climate of Muslim political violence, a significant sector of the American and European public assumes that Islam is part of the problem. The implication of this point of view is the unfortunate notion that the whole of Islam has supported acts of terrorism. 11. Most Muslims refused to believe that fellow members of their faith could have been responsible for anything as atrocious as they September 11 attacks—and hence the popular conspiracy theory in the Muslim world that somehow Israeli secret police had plotted the terrible deed. 12. Recently, however, â€Å"Islam† and â€Å"fundamentalism† are tied together so frequently in public conversation that the term has become a way of condemning all of Islam as a deviant branch of religion. But even in this case the use of the term â€Å"fundamentalism† allows for the defenders of other religions to take comfort in the notion that their kind of non-fundamentalist religion is exempt from violence or other extreme forms of public behaviour.[6] CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY Statement of Problem 1. Terrorism has been a persistent feature of warfare and the international security environment for centuries. The magnitude and impact of terrorism has not remained consistent but rather has ebbed and flowed over the course of time. Today terrorism has emerged as one of the most significant international and regional security issues. 2. The terror attacks of Sep 11 have brought about a lasting change in the way contemporary society perceives the religion of Islam. The perception of the people all across the globe has been that Islam is source of violence. Scope 3. Islam is a vast religion and consists of various facets. The dissertation would aim to study the historical perspective of terrorism, conceptualise terrorism and then determine how religion is used as a motivator for terrorism before studying the Quranic interpretations associated with the violence and finally aim to answer the question â€Å"Is there a link between Terrorism and Islam†. 4. The scope does not cover the causes and motivators of terrorism like cultural conflict, globalisation, and economic disparity e.t.c. but is limited to investigate the general belief that Islam is associated with the terrorism. Methods of Data Collection 5. Data for this research has been collected from the following sources: (a) Books, journals, periodicals and studies on the subject. (b) Authenticated information from selected web sites. 6. A bibliography of the books, periodicals and web sites referred to is appended at the end of text. Organisation Of The Dissertation 7. Topic is intended to be dealt in the sequence enumerated below: (a) Introduction (b) Methodology (c) The Genesis of Terrorism A historical perspective. (d) Conceptualising terrorism Definitions. (e) How religion is used as a motivator for terrorism. (f) Interpretations of Quran and Terrorism. (g) Conclusion Is there a link between Islam and terrorism? CHAPTER III THE GENESIS OF TERRORISM A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Introduction 1. Terrorism is as old as the human civilization and the use of violence has been integral to the human beings in the entire process of evolution. This chapter aims at tracing the genesis of terrorism to arrive at the roots of contemporary terrorism. 1st -14th Century AD[7] 2. Zealots of Judea. The earliest known organization that exhibited aspects of a modern terrorist organization was the Zealots of Judea. Known to the Romans as sicarii, or dagger-men, they carried on an underground campaign of assassination of Roman occupation forces, as well as any Jews they felt had collaborated with the Romans. Eventually, the Zealot revolt became open, and they were finally besieged and committed mass suicide at Masada fortress. 3. The Assassins. The Assassins were the next group to show recognisable characteristics of terrorism, as we know it today. A breakaway faction of Shia Islam called the Nizari Ismalis adopted the tactic of assassination of enemy leaders because the cults limited manpower prevented open combat. Their leader, Hassam-I Sabbah, based the cult in the mountains of Northern Iran. Their tactic of sending a lone assassin to successfully kill a key enemy leader at the certain sacrifice of his own life (the killers waited next to their victims to be killed or captured) inspired fearful awe in their enemies. 4. The Zealots of Judea and the Assassins were forerunners of modern terrorists in aspects of motivation, organisation, targeting, and goals. Although both were ultimate failures, the fact that they are remembered hundreds of years later, demonstrates the deep psychological impact they caused. 14th -18th Century 5. The period between 14th and 18th century was of relative calm. From the time of the Assassins (late 13th century) to the1700s, terror and barbarism were widely used in warfare and conflict, but key ingredients for terrorism were lacking. Until the rise of the modern nation state after the Treaty of Westphalia[8] in 1648, the sort of central authority and cohesive society that terrorism attempts to influence barely existed. 6. Communications were inadequate and controlled, and the causes that might inspire terrorism (religious schism, insurrection, ethnic strife) typically led to open warfare. By the time kingdoms and principalities became nations, they had sufficient means to enforce their authority and suppress activities such as terrorism. 7. The French Revolution. The French Revolution provided the first uses of the words Terrorist and Terrorism. Use of the word terrorism began in 1795 in reference to the Reign of Terror initiated by the Revolutionary government. The agents of the Committee of Public Safety and the National Convention that enforced the policies of The Terror were referred to as Terrorists. The French Revolution provided an example to future states in oppressing their populations. It also inspired a reaction by royalists and other opponents of the Revolution who employed terrorist tactics such as assassination and intimidation in resistance to the Revolutionary agents. The Parisian mobs played a critical role at key points before, during, and after the Revolution. Such extra-legal activities as killing prominent officials and aristocrats in gruesome spectacles started long before the guillotine was first used. The 19th Century 8. Narodnya Volya. The terrorist group from this period that serves as a model in many ways for what was to come was the Russian Narodnya Volya (Peoples Will). They differed in some ways from modern terrorists, especially in that they would sometimes call off attacks that might endanger individuals other than their intended target. Other than this, they showed many of the traits of terrorism for the first time. These traits included clandestine tactics, cellular organisation, impatience and inability for the task of organising the constituents they claim to represent and a tendency to increase the level of violence as pressures on the group mount. Internationalisation of Terrorism 9. Modern Terrorism. The age of modern terrorism might be said to have begun in 1968 when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked an El Al airliner en route from Tel Aviv to Rome. While hijackings of airliners had occurred before, this was the first time that the nationality of the carrier (Israeli) and its symbolic value was a specific operational aim. Also a first was the deliberate use of the passengers as hostages for demands made publicly against the Israeli government. The combination of these unique events, added to the international scope of the operation, gained significant media attention. The founder of PFLP, Dr. George Habash observed that the level of coverage was tremendously greater than battles with Israeli soldiers in their previous area of operations. At least the world is talking about us now.[9] 10. Cooperation. Another aspect of this internationalisation is the cooperation between extremist organizations in conducting terrorist operations. Cooperative training between Palestinian groups and European radicals started as early as 1970, and joint operations between the PFLP and the Japanese Red Army (JRA) began in 1974. Since then international terrorist cooperation in training, operations, and support has continued to grow, and continues to this day. Motives range from the ideological, such as the 1980s alliance of the Western European Marxist-oriented groups, to financial, as when the IRA exported its expertise in bomb making as far afield as Colombia[10]. Current State of Terrorism 11. The roots of todays terrorism began to grow in 1990s. The largest act of international terrorism occurred on September 11, 2001 in set of coordinated attacks on the United States of America where Islamic terrorists hijacked civilian airliners and used them to attack the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. After September 11, it is very easy to be nostalgic about the 1990s. In fact, the post Cold War decade was a very chaotic period. Americans were absorbed by domestic issues and lulled by the fact that the Cold War was over[11]. Summary 12. There were two great forces at work through the 1990s. First, there were the forces of integration, including global economic growth, cross-border development, the communications revolution and the spreading of democracy. The power of these forces was captured in the popular phrase, â€Å"The End of History.† Thats what seemed to be happening after the fall of the Berlin Wall and all of the other great events that were affecting world history. But there was also a second set of equally powerful forces—the forces of disintegration—including religious and ethnic conflict, an ever-widening North-South gap, religious fundamentalism (Islamic and otherwise) and terrorism. The power of these forces was captured in the phrase, the â€Å"Clash of Civilizations.† While I disagree with the ultimate conclusion of Samuel Huntington, the author of that phrase, that the clash is inevitable, Huntingtons words nonetheless capture the import of the forces that were prod ucing post-Cold War conflicts CHAPTER IV CONCEPTUALISING TERRORISM 1. A few terms that are important to the study of violence in Islam are: terrorism, religious terrorism and Islamic terrorism. A discussion of these terms will permit a comprehensive analysis on the way in which the use of violence sanctioned by the Quran and its interpretations amounts to Islamic terrorism. Terrorism 2. Terrorism is a non-political act of aggression in which the extent of violence used is â€Å"outside the realm of normative behavior[12]†. Terrorists use or threaten to use this violence against combatants and non-combatants to achieve political, social, economical or religious change within a given community. These reforms appeal to the terrorists and do not represent popular opinion of the society from which terrorism arises and â€Å"terrorists are no respecters of borders[13]†. 3. Thus Omar Abdullah, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir says that â€Å"there are no well defined or internationally accepted criteria to designate †¦an organization as ‘terrorist. However the UN Security Council has, on occasion, adopted resolutions putting in place specific sanctions and measures against individual countries or†¦certain terrorist organizations[14]†. 4. According to Kofi Annan the Ex Secretary General of the United Nations, the manifestations of terrorism are limitless. The â€Å"only common denominator among different variants of terrorism is the calculated use of deadly violence against civilians[15]†. 5. Terrorists are those who violate the â€Å"right to life, liberty and security[16]† vested in each civilian by the UNs Universal Declaration of Human Rights Resolution: 217 A (III). Thus the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the United Kingdom defines terrorism as a movement in which terrorists â€Å"directly challenge the authority of democratically elected governments to manage their countrys affairs peacefully, according to the rule of law and internationally accepted fundamentals of human rights[17]†, to satisfy their own liking. Religious Terrorism 6. Religious terrorism occurs when the use of terrorism is systematized by an ideological and fanatical interpretation of a religious text. Religious terrorist groups functioning in the absence of this pretext, create â€Å"junk terrorism[18]†. 7. According to Charles Kimball, religious terrorism functions on the basis of five essential principles. These are: means justify the end, holy war, blind obedience, absolute truth claims and the ideal times. Kimball explains that ‘truth claims are essential points in a religion â€Å"at which divergent interpretations arise[19]†. Extreme interpretations of ‘truth claims provoke the ideology upon which religious terrorism is based. However the â€Å"authentic religious truth claims are never as inflexible and exclusive as zealous adherents insist[20]†. The staunch ‘truth claims professed by religious terrorists, allow them to use â€Å"religious structures and doctrines†¦almost like weapons[21]† for their movement. 8. In the process, â€Å"religious convictions that become locked into absolute truths can easily lead people to see themselves as Gods agents. People so emboldened are capable of violent and destructive behaviour in the name of religion[22]†. This conviction creates fanatical interpretations and ideologies that give rise to religious terrorism. Nancy Connors Biggos[23], states that foreign observers are unfamiliar with the extreme interpretations of religious terrorists. Thus scholars often dismiss the rhetoric of religious terrorism as one that is devoid of any strategic motivation. This creates a dearth of quantifiable data that can be used to assess religious terrorism. However Biggo explains that the lack of understanding or data cannot dismiss the fact that religious terrorism is systematized by extreme interpretations of a religious text. Therefore Wener Ruf, states, â€Å"where God was pronounced dead all notions of morality have been turned into nihilism[24]†. Islamic Terrorism 9. Islamic terrorism is a movement in which the violence caused by terrorism is derived from and used to preserve extreme interpretations of the Quran, in an Islamic community. An in-depth discussion of the how Islamic terrorism is invoked from the Quran, will be discussed in a separate chapter. However, preliminarily speaking Islamic terrorism exists where there is â€Å"a controversy over sacred space[25]†or a Kuranic tenet has been violated. Participants of this movement call for â€Å"unquestioned devotion †¦ and blind obedience[26]† to the word of God in order to ameliorate un-Islamic conditions. 9. Islamic terrorism is itself a controversial phrase, although its usage is widespread throughout the English-speaking world. Ordinary Muslims who have nothing to do with terrorism find it reprehensible because it forces upon them a label simply because they, too, are believers of Islam. In fact, the common Muslim believes that you are making him a racial hate target by using the word Islam with terrorism. Bernard Lewisbelieves that the phrase Islamic terrorism is apt, because although Islam, as a religion is not particularly conducive to terrorism or even tolerant of terrorism. In his own words: â€Å"Islam has had an essentially political character from its very foundation to the present day. An intimate association between religion and politics, between power and cult, marks a principal distinction between Islam and other religions. In traditional Islam and therefore also in resurgent fundamentalist Islam, God is the sole source of sovereignty. God is the head of the state. The state is Gods state. The army is Gods army. The treasury is Gods treasury, and the enemy, of course, is Gods enemy.† CHAPTER V RELIGION AS A MOTIVATOR FOR TERRORISM One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter.[27] 1. Introduction. The dynamics whereby religion becomes a motivator for terrorism is complex but highly understandable. What terrorists groups using this dynamic have begun to understand is that most ordinary citizens are not highly interested in politics nor dedicated to working for social change. Many ordinary citizens are however interested in religion as it relates to their personal lives and morals and because of this they can be emotionally manipulated when they learn of social injustices particularly if they view them through the lens of religious rhetoric. This is specifically true in todays world of instantaneous news coverage where it is possible to whip up political and religious outrage over events that are seen to be bordering on religious threshold. This is certainly true in the case of al Qaeda and its loosely affiliated groups within what is now commonly referred to as the global salafi jihadist movement[28]. 2. Religious Brainwash. Following the Afghan war in which Islamic peoples from many nations came together to successfully throw out the Russian â€Å"infidel†, Osama bin Laden and similar groups have successfully managed to continue to widen their global appeal by showcasing social injustices against Muslims. This helps to create within a wide group of otherwise less connected Muslim ethnic groups identification with the victims and with each other as a caring and responsive community for their â€Å"Muslim brothers.† Typically, these groups make use of the human rights abuses occurring within the Israeli/Palestinian and Russian/Chechen conflicts and now also include the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. 3. The making of a Terrorist. While instantaneous and repetitive satellite coverage of worldwide events is enough to show injustices and to even create identification with victims sharing similar ethnic or religious backgrounds it is not sufficiently enough to fuel terrorism. However, with the addition of religious rhetoric it is transformed into a potent mix. This transformation is achieved via the following means:- (a) Great Moral Wrong. First the event is presented as a great moral wrong, a threat to religious morality or purity and as one that must be corrected. The message, which is crafted for unhappy persons, social outcasts or those who are already suffering from religious guilt, is framed as one of good and evil and the listener is admonished to be on the side of good. (b) Mind of God. The second tactic in which religion is used to motivate terrorism is convincing the person that it is possible to know the mind of God. For this purpose scriptures are used, and misused, to clearly identify the social wrongs as evil, immoral or impure. Once identified as threats to morality, this tactic is used to take it a step further with additional scriptures that are used to justify violence in order to destroy the evil. In this way religion is co-opted as the means to morally justify violence in the pursuit of social change. While the world debated about the first strike in the Iraq War (to be carried out by the U.S., Great Britain and their coalition forces), moralists all over the world debated about the doctrine of â€Å"just wars†, thereby holding forth about the â€Å"mind of God† on these matters. (c) Overcoming Guilt. Thirdly, because nearly all religions hold human life as sacred and forbid murder the scriptures are used to break down these prohibitions against taking innocent human lives. Islamic rhetoric for example refers to the infidels, nonbelievers, defiled, impure, outsiders, and sinners. In this manner the intended terrorist act in ways that take innocent human lives without suffering guilt for having done so. (d) Common Cause Fourthly, by using religion as a motivator the terrorist group creates a sense of cohesion and belonging to a higher cause. They prey upon individuals who are alienated and disenfranchised. When these individuals find a cause to belong to, especially when it espouses religious rhetoric of brotherhood, love and hope for the future life they can become powerfully motivated to act in behalf of the group simply for the sense of identity.[29] (e) Heroic Martyrdom. The One of the ultimate uses of religion to motivate terrorism is to hold forth a view of the afterlife, promising rewards in the hereafter for sacrificing oneself in the here and now. This is a particularly potent tactic used with those who feel guilty about their actions in this life and uncertain of their standing with God, and with those marginal members of society who suddenly find themselves centered in a group with a purpose. The Muslim interpretation of afterlife while dying for jihad states that the â€Å"Prophet will be waiting to welcome the martyr with thousands of virgins lined up for his pleasure†. Referring to afterlife one martyr also states, â€Å"I will have God welcome me with open arms. I will be a true hero in the sky.†[30] 4. Between the two recent wars in Chechnya (1994-96 and 1999) similar means were used to convince vulnerable Chechen individuals to sign on the â€Å"new Chechen jihad† which began making use of suicide terrorism in 2000. During this time period terrorist sponsored schools used were opened in the capital Grozny which recruited young boys and girls who lost their fathers in the Russian/Chechen conflicts promising their widowed mothers a good education for their sons and daughters. Unknown to their families these vulnerable young students were indoctrinated into militant Islamic ideas foreign to Chechen experiences of Sufi Islam and some became convinced that the price of belonging to higher glory is to be willing to sacrifice oneself for the group. In the words of a hostage who conversed with one of the Chechen terrorists :- â€Å"He explained to me that while his greatest dream was to continue his education and go to university and that while he wished to live, even more important for him was to die a martyr. He had become totally convinced that martyrdom was his highest calling in life†.[31] 5. Conclusion. Religion has always been used as a means of constructing social justice, expiating wrongdoing or â€Å"sins†, and of modulating emotional states. These means however can also be used to manipulate vulnerable individuals into taking social actions that they might otherwise never have considered or consented to take part in. For instance a colleague in Chechnya reports that the children who attended terrorist based schools were taught to rock and chant repeating Koranic verses that invoke jihad, ideas that their masters consider important to instil. This practice can easily make use of inducing a suggestive hypnotic state; a light trance in which susceptible children who have already reason to want to avenge a murdered parent might be induced to do so. People interacting with such persons mentioned that â€Å"these young terrorists were â€Å"brainwashed†, rocking, singing and praying often, and readily embracing death†.[32] CHAPTER VI QURANIC INTERPRETATIONS AND TERRORISM 1. Approximately fourteen hundred years ago, Prophet Muhammad, the last in the line of the prophets of Islam, received revelation from God known as the Quran, which is the Final Testament. He came with a message of peace and reconciliation, mercy and compassion. Yet, ever since the beginning of the call of Islam, its image and that of Muslims has been subject to distortion, misconceptions, and misinterpretations. This chapter aims at establishing the link between Quran and the distortions in its interpretation which has manifested itself in the form of jihad or the holy-war. Quran and Sanction of Violence 2. The Quran permits violence as an act of defence waged to protect the Shariat in an Islamic community. The Shariat can be explained as a system of ordinances outlined in the Quran and Hadis[33] through which â€Å"God lays down for mankind the rules of conduct[34]†. The Shariat is the â€Å"guidance for all walks of life individual and social, material and moral, economic and political, legal and cultural, national and international[35]†. 3. Muslims are advised to closely follow the Shariat to acquire the well being that God has envisioned for the Islamic community. Preservation of the Shariat is an â€Å"obligation of every able-bodied individual[36]†. â€Å"Oppression, despotism, injustice and criminal abuse of power[37]† of the Shariat by Muslims or non-Muslims[38], must be punished. Quran and Jihad 4. The Quran identifies three main kinds of Jihad that can be used for the punishment of oppression and injustice. These are: internal[39], external[40] and inter-communal[41]. The Quran permits the use of violence as an optional method for all three forms of Jihad but it limits the use of violence in ‘internal[42] and ‘external Jihad. It expands on its doctrine of Jihad and violence, mainly in the context of ‘inter-communal conflicts. In these cases, Muslims can individually determine the nature and extent of Jihad based on the ‘freedom of interpretations, and the geopolitical conditions in which the conflict arises. However the most essential prerequisite in the Qurans discourse on violence is that, forc The Relationship Between Terrorism and Religion The Relationship Between Terrorism and Religion RELIGIOUS TERRORISM IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN ISLAM AND TERRORISM Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.† George W. Bush Address to the US after hijack attacks on the US World Trade Centre and Pentagon, September 11, 2001 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1. When the terrorists attacked the United States on the morning of September 11, 2001, they set in motion a sequence of events that demonstrated unequivocally the power and influence ofterrorism. Less than two hours of unimaginable violence by nineteen terrorists led to repercussions felt around the world. â€Å"Beyond the death and destruction that the terrorists caused more than 3,000 people were killed in the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They also inflicted a deep psychological wound upon United States and the rest of the world†.[1] 2. Although the United States had experienced major terrorist attacks on its soil in the past, including the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the September 11 attacks were beyond most peoples worst nightmare. Hijacked planes crashing into U.S. landmarks and live television coverage of the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsing images that will likely be etched in ones mind forever. 3. The tragedy of September 11, 2001, has revealed the roots of deep planetary contradictions that threaten the world community and indeed life itself on planet Earth. This act of unprecedented terror against thousands of innocent people ought, at last, to start humanity thinking about the stark incompatibility of modern achievements in the areas of scientific knowledge, human rights, and the establishment of human moral standards with ideological, nationalistic, or religiousfanaticism in any form. 4. Lately, most of the terrorismseems to be about Islam, and it all seems to be the same. By all accounts the specter of jihadism looms large. Even if we suspend the belief for a moment and simply cast aside all those terrorist groups that clearly have nothing at all to do with the Islamic religionthe Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, the FARC in Colombia and the IRA in Ireland (to name but a few)we are still left with a slew of seemingly similar groups all motivated by and distorting Islam to suit their own ends[2]. The anatomy of propaganda 5. The document found in a suitcase belonging to leading September 11, 2001, terrorist Muhammed Atta further strengthens this belief. The suitcase document is reproduced below and analysed in the ensuing paragraph: â€Å"Pray during the previous night. Remember God frequently and with complete serenity. Visualize how you will respond if you get into trouble. Read verses of the Quran into your hands and rub them over your luggage, knife, and all your papers. Check your weapons, perform ablution before you leave your apartment, and remember God constantly while riding to the airport. Take courage and remember the rewards which God has promised for the martyrs†. [3] 6. The suitcase document is remarkable for four reasons. First, it embodies a classic ascetical strategy for applying formulaic principles to intended actions. Second, it shares much in common with repetitive techniques for self-hypnosis. Third, it bears a striking resemblance to mainstream traditions such as Catholicism in ascetical manuals like The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola or The Rule of St. Benedict that says, keep death daily before ones eyes. Whether or not such manuals threaten human freedom depends, of course, on the various contexts in which they have been presented. If in the wrong hands they can function as formulas and meditations both for indoctrination and for fighting holy wars. Fourth, the document from the suitcase directly connectsreligiousformulas and meditations with intentions to perpetrate mass murder. Practical checklists of objectives, terrifying in magnitude, are interwoven withreligiousstatements and then repeated and applied as mantras o f self-indoctrination. Religion — The Terrorists Best Weapon 7. Whileterrorism even in the form of suicide attacks is not an Islamic phenomenon by definition, it cannot be ignored that the lions share of terrorist acts and the most devastating of them in recent years have been perpetrated in the name of Islam. This fact has sparked a fundamental debate both in the West and within the Muslim world regarding the link between these acts and the teachings of Islam. Most Western analysts are hesitant to identify such acts with the bona fide teachings of one of the worlds great religions and prefer to view them as a perversion of a religion that is essentially peace-loving and tolerant. Western leaders such as George W. Bush and Tony Blair have reiterated time and again that the war againstterrorismhas nothing to do with Islam. It is a war against evil[4]. 8. Modern International Islamistterrorismis a natural offshoot of twentieth-century Islamic fundamentalism. The Islamic Movement emerged in the Arab world and British-ruled India as a response to the dismal state of Muslim society in those countries: social injustice, rejection of traditional mores, acceptance of foreign domination and culture. It perceives the malaise of modern Muslim societies as having strayed from the straight path (as-sirat al-mustaqim) and the solution to all ills in a return to the original mores of Islam. The problems addressed may be social or political: inequality, corruption, and oppression. But in traditional Islamand certainly in the worldview of the Islamic fundamentalistthere is no separation between the political and thereligious. Islam is, in essence, both religion and regime (din wa-dawla) and no area of human activity is outside its remit. Be the nature of the problem as it may, Islam is the solution.[5] 9. The role of religion of Islam needs closer examination since the majority of terrorists of contemporary times are practising the religion of Islam. One of the enduring questions is what religion of Islam has to do with this. Put simply, does religion of Islam cause terrorism? Could these violent acts be the fault of religion—the result of a dark strain of religious thinking that leads to absolutism and violence? Is religion the problem or the victim? 10. When one looks outside ones faith it is easier to blame religion. In the current climate of Muslim political violence, a significant sector of the American and European public assumes that Islam is part of the problem. The implication of this point of view is the unfortunate notion that the whole of Islam has supported acts of terrorism. 11. Most Muslims refused to believe that fellow members of their faith could have been responsible for anything as atrocious as they September 11 attacks—and hence the popular conspiracy theory in the Muslim world that somehow Israeli secret police had plotted the terrible deed. 12. Recently, however, â€Å"Islam† and â€Å"fundamentalism† are tied together so frequently in public conversation that the term has become a way of condemning all of Islam as a deviant branch of religion. But even in this case the use of the term â€Å"fundamentalism† allows for the defenders of other religions to take comfort in the notion that their kind of non-fundamentalist religion is exempt from violence or other extreme forms of public behaviour.[6] CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY Statement of Problem 1. Terrorism has been a persistent feature of warfare and the international security environment for centuries. The magnitude and impact of terrorism has not remained consistent but rather has ebbed and flowed over the course of time. Today terrorism has emerged as one of the most significant international and regional security issues. 2. The terror attacks of Sep 11 have brought about a lasting change in the way contemporary society perceives the religion of Islam. The perception of the people all across the globe has been that Islam is source of violence. Scope 3. Islam is a vast religion and consists of various facets. The dissertation would aim to study the historical perspective of terrorism, conceptualise terrorism and then determine how religion is used as a motivator for terrorism before studying the Quranic interpretations associated with the violence and finally aim to answer the question â€Å"Is there a link between Terrorism and Islam†. 4. The scope does not cover the causes and motivators of terrorism like cultural conflict, globalisation, and economic disparity e.t.c. but is limited to investigate the general belief that Islam is associated with the terrorism. Methods of Data Collection 5. Data for this research has been collected from the following sources: (a) Books, journals, periodicals and studies on the subject. (b) Authenticated information from selected web sites. 6. A bibliography of the books, periodicals and web sites referred to is appended at the end of text. Organisation Of The Dissertation 7. Topic is intended to be dealt in the sequence enumerated below: (a) Introduction (b) Methodology (c) The Genesis of Terrorism A historical perspective. (d) Conceptualising terrorism Definitions. (e) How religion is used as a motivator for terrorism. (f) Interpretations of Quran and Terrorism. (g) Conclusion Is there a link between Islam and terrorism? CHAPTER III THE GENESIS OF TERRORISM A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Introduction 1. Terrorism is as old as the human civilization and the use of violence has been integral to the human beings in the entire process of evolution. This chapter aims at tracing the genesis of terrorism to arrive at the roots of contemporary terrorism. 1st -14th Century AD[7] 2. Zealots of Judea. The earliest known organization that exhibited aspects of a modern terrorist organization was the Zealots of Judea. Known to the Romans as sicarii, or dagger-men, they carried on an underground campaign of assassination of Roman occupation forces, as well as any Jews they felt had collaborated with the Romans. Eventually, the Zealot revolt became open, and they were finally besieged and committed mass suicide at Masada fortress. 3. The Assassins. The Assassins were the next group to show recognisable characteristics of terrorism, as we know it today. A breakaway faction of Shia Islam called the Nizari Ismalis adopted the tactic of assassination of enemy leaders because the cults limited manpower prevented open combat. Their leader, Hassam-I Sabbah, based the cult in the mountains of Northern Iran. Their tactic of sending a lone assassin to successfully kill a key enemy leader at the certain sacrifice of his own life (the killers waited next to their victims to be killed or captured) inspired fearful awe in their enemies. 4. The Zealots of Judea and the Assassins were forerunners of modern terrorists in aspects of motivation, organisation, targeting, and goals. Although both were ultimate failures, the fact that they are remembered hundreds of years later, demonstrates the deep psychological impact they caused. 14th -18th Century 5. The period between 14th and 18th century was of relative calm. From the time of the Assassins (late 13th century) to the1700s, terror and barbarism were widely used in warfare and conflict, but key ingredients for terrorism were lacking. Until the rise of the modern nation state after the Treaty of Westphalia[8] in 1648, the sort of central authority and cohesive society that terrorism attempts to influence barely existed. 6. Communications were inadequate and controlled, and the causes that might inspire terrorism (religious schism, insurrection, ethnic strife) typically led to open warfare. By the time kingdoms and principalities became nations, they had sufficient means to enforce their authority and suppress activities such as terrorism. 7. The French Revolution. The French Revolution provided the first uses of the words Terrorist and Terrorism. Use of the word terrorism began in 1795 in reference to the Reign of Terror initiated by the Revolutionary government. The agents of the Committee of Public Safety and the National Convention that enforced the policies of The Terror were referred to as Terrorists. The French Revolution provided an example to future states in oppressing their populations. It also inspired a reaction by royalists and other opponents of the Revolution who employed terrorist tactics such as assassination and intimidation in resistance to the Revolutionary agents. The Parisian mobs played a critical role at key points before, during, and after the Revolution. Such extra-legal activities as killing prominent officials and aristocrats in gruesome spectacles started long before the guillotine was first used. The 19th Century 8. Narodnya Volya. The terrorist group from this period that serves as a model in many ways for what was to come was the Russian Narodnya Volya (Peoples Will). They differed in some ways from modern terrorists, especially in that they would sometimes call off attacks that might endanger individuals other than their intended target. Other than this, they showed many of the traits of terrorism for the first time. These traits included clandestine tactics, cellular organisation, impatience and inability for the task of organising the constituents they claim to represent and a tendency to increase the level of violence as pressures on the group mount. Internationalisation of Terrorism 9. Modern Terrorism. The age of modern terrorism might be said to have begun in 1968 when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked an El Al airliner en route from Tel Aviv to Rome. While hijackings of airliners had occurred before, this was the first time that the nationality of the carrier (Israeli) and its symbolic value was a specific operational aim. Also a first was the deliberate use of the passengers as hostages for demands made publicly against the Israeli government. The combination of these unique events, added to the international scope of the operation, gained significant media attention. The founder of PFLP, Dr. George Habash observed that the level of coverage was tremendously greater than battles with Israeli soldiers in their previous area of operations. At least the world is talking about us now.[9] 10. Cooperation. Another aspect of this internationalisation is the cooperation between extremist organizations in conducting terrorist operations. Cooperative training between Palestinian groups and European radicals started as early as 1970, and joint operations between the PFLP and the Japanese Red Army (JRA) began in 1974. Since then international terrorist cooperation in training, operations, and support has continued to grow, and continues to this day. Motives range from the ideological, such as the 1980s alliance of the Western European Marxist-oriented groups, to financial, as when the IRA exported its expertise in bomb making as far afield as Colombia[10]. Current State of Terrorism 11. The roots of todays terrorism began to grow in 1990s. The largest act of international terrorism occurred on September 11, 2001 in set of coordinated attacks on the United States of America where Islamic terrorists hijacked civilian airliners and used them to attack the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. After September 11, it is very easy to be nostalgic about the 1990s. In fact, the post Cold War decade was a very chaotic period. Americans were absorbed by domestic issues and lulled by the fact that the Cold War was over[11]. Summary 12. There were two great forces at work through the 1990s. First, there were the forces of integration, including global economic growth, cross-border development, the communications revolution and the spreading of democracy. The power of these forces was captured in the popular phrase, â€Å"The End of History.† Thats what seemed to be happening after the fall of the Berlin Wall and all of the other great events that were affecting world history. But there was also a second set of equally powerful forces—the forces of disintegration—including religious and ethnic conflict, an ever-widening North-South gap, religious fundamentalism (Islamic and otherwise) and terrorism. The power of these forces was captured in the phrase, the â€Å"Clash of Civilizations.† While I disagree with the ultimate conclusion of Samuel Huntington, the author of that phrase, that the clash is inevitable, Huntingtons words nonetheless capture the import of the forces that were prod ucing post-Cold War conflicts CHAPTER IV CONCEPTUALISING TERRORISM 1. A few terms that are important to the study of violence in Islam are: terrorism, religious terrorism and Islamic terrorism. A discussion of these terms will permit a comprehensive analysis on the way in which the use of violence sanctioned by the Quran and its interpretations amounts to Islamic terrorism. Terrorism 2. Terrorism is a non-political act of aggression in which the extent of violence used is â€Å"outside the realm of normative behavior[12]†. Terrorists use or threaten to use this violence against combatants and non-combatants to achieve political, social, economical or religious change within a given community. These reforms appeal to the terrorists and do not represent popular opinion of the society from which terrorism arises and â€Å"terrorists are no respecters of borders[13]†. 3. Thus Omar Abdullah, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir says that â€Å"there are no well defined or internationally accepted criteria to designate †¦an organization as ‘terrorist. However the UN Security Council has, on occasion, adopted resolutions putting in place specific sanctions and measures against individual countries or†¦certain terrorist organizations[14]†. 4. According to Kofi Annan the Ex Secretary General of the United Nations, the manifestations of terrorism are limitless. The â€Å"only common denominator among different variants of terrorism is the calculated use of deadly violence against civilians[15]†. 5. Terrorists are those who violate the â€Å"right to life, liberty and security[16]† vested in each civilian by the UNs Universal Declaration of Human Rights Resolution: 217 A (III). Thus the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the United Kingdom defines terrorism as a movement in which terrorists â€Å"directly challenge the authority of democratically elected governments to manage their countrys affairs peacefully, according to the rule of law and internationally accepted fundamentals of human rights[17]†, to satisfy their own liking. Religious Terrorism 6. Religious terrorism occurs when the use of terrorism is systematized by an ideological and fanatical interpretation of a religious text. Religious terrorist groups functioning in the absence of this pretext, create â€Å"junk terrorism[18]†. 7. According to Charles Kimball, religious terrorism functions on the basis of five essential principles. These are: means justify the end, holy war, blind obedience, absolute truth claims and the ideal times. Kimball explains that ‘truth claims are essential points in a religion â€Å"at which divergent interpretations arise[19]†. Extreme interpretations of ‘truth claims provoke the ideology upon which religious terrorism is based. However the â€Å"authentic religious truth claims are never as inflexible and exclusive as zealous adherents insist[20]†. The staunch ‘truth claims professed by religious terrorists, allow them to use â€Å"religious structures and doctrines†¦almost like weapons[21]† for their movement. 8. In the process, â€Å"religious convictions that become locked into absolute truths can easily lead people to see themselves as Gods agents. People so emboldened are capable of violent and destructive behaviour in the name of religion[22]†. This conviction creates fanatical interpretations and ideologies that give rise to religious terrorism. Nancy Connors Biggos[23], states that foreign observers are unfamiliar with the extreme interpretations of religious terrorists. Thus scholars often dismiss the rhetoric of religious terrorism as one that is devoid of any strategic motivation. This creates a dearth of quantifiable data that can be used to assess religious terrorism. However Biggo explains that the lack of understanding or data cannot dismiss the fact that religious terrorism is systematized by extreme interpretations of a religious text. Therefore Wener Ruf, states, â€Å"where God was pronounced dead all notions of morality have been turned into nihilism[24]†. Islamic Terrorism 9. Islamic terrorism is a movement in which the violence caused by terrorism is derived from and used to preserve extreme interpretations of the Quran, in an Islamic community. An in-depth discussion of the how Islamic terrorism is invoked from the Quran, will be discussed in a separate chapter. However, preliminarily speaking Islamic terrorism exists where there is â€Å"a controversy over sacred space[25]†or a Kuranic tenet has been violated. Participants of this movement call for â€Å"unquestioned devotion †¦ and blind obedience[26]† to the word of God in order to ameliorate un-Islamic conditions. 9. Islamic terrorism is itself a controversial phrase, although its usage is widespread throughout the English-speaking world. Ordinary Muslims who have nothing to do with terrorism find it reprehensible because it forces upon them a label simply because they, too, are believers of Islam. In fact, the common Muslim believes that you are making him a racial hate target by using the word Islam with terrorism. Bernard Lewisbelieves that the phrase Islamic terrorism is apt, because although Islam, as a religion is not particularly conducive to terrorism or even tolerant of terrorism. In his own words: â€Å"Islam has had an essentially political character from its very foundation to the present day. An intimate association between religion and politics, between power and cult, marks a principal distinction between Islam and other religions. In traditional Islam and therefore also in resurgent fundamentalist Islam, God is the sole source of sovereignty. God is the head of the state. The state is Gods state. The army is Gods army. The treasury is Gods treasury, and the enemy, of course, is Gods enemy.† CHAPTER V RELIGION AS A MOTIVATOR FOR TERRORISM One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter.[27] 1. Introduction. The dynamics whereby religion becomes a motivator for terrorism is complex but highly understandable. What terrorists groups using this dynamic have begun to understand is that most ordinary citizens are not highly interested in politics nor dedicated to working for social change. Many ordinary citizens are however interested in religion as it relates to their personal lives and morals and because of this they can be emotionally manipulated when they learn of social injustices particularly if they view them through the lens of religious rhetoric. This is specifically true in todays world of instantaneous news coverage where it is possible to whip up political and religious outrage over events that are seen to be bordering on religious threshold. This is certainly true in the case of al Qaeda and its loosely affiliated groups within what is now commonly referred to as the global salafi jihadist movement[28]. 2. Religious Brainwash. Following the Afghan war in which Islamic peoples from many nations came together to successfully throw out the Russian â€Å"infidel†, Osama bin Laden and similar groups have successfully managed to continue to widen their global appeal by showcasing social injustices against Muslims. This helps to create within a wide group of otherwise less connected Muslim ethnic groups identification with the victims and with each other as a caring and responsive community for their â€Å"Muslim brothers.† Typically, these groups make use of the human rights abuses occurring within the Israeli/Palestinian and Russian/Chechen conflicts and now also include the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. 3. The making of a Terrorist. While instantaneous and repetitive satellite coverage of worldwide events is enough to show injustices and to even create identification with victims sharing similar ethnic or religious backgrounds it is not sufficiently enough to fuel terrorism. However, with the addition of religious rhetoric it is transformed into a potent mix. This transformation is achieved via the following means:- (a) Great Moral Wrong. First the event is presented as a great moral wrong, a threat to religious morality or purity and as one that must be corrected. The message, which is crafted for unhappy persons, social outcasts or those who are already suffering from religious guilt, is framed as one of good and evil and the listener is admonished to be on the side of good. (b) Mind of God. The second tactic in which religion is used to motivate terrorism is convincing the person that it is possible to know the mind of God. For this purpose scriptures are used, and misused, to clearly identify the social wrongs as evil, immoral or impure. Once identified as threats to morality, this tactic is used to take it a step further with additional scriptures that are used to justify violence in order to destroy the evil. In this way religion is co-opted as the means to morally justify violence in the pursuit of social change. While the world debated about the first strike in the Iraq War (to be carried out by the U.S., Great Britain and their coalition forces), moralists all over the world debated about the doctrine of â€Å"just wars†, thereby holding forth about the â€Å"mind of God† on these matters. (c) Overcoming Guilt. Thirdly, because nearly all religions hold human life as sacred and forbid murder the scriptures are used to break down these prohibitions against taking innocent human lives. Islamic rhetoric for example refers to the infidels, nonbelievers, defiled, impure, outsiders, and sinners. In this manner the intended terrorist act in ways that take innocent human lives without suffering guilt for having done so. (d) Common Cause Fourthly, by using religion as a motivator the terrorist group creates a sense of cohesion and belonging to a higher cause. They prey upon individuals who are alienated and disenfranchised. When these individuals find a cause to belong to, especially when it espouses religious rhetoric of brotherhood, love and hope for the future life they can become powerfully motivated to act in behalf of the group simply for the sense of identity.[29] (e) Heroic Martyrdom. The One of the ultimate uses of religion to motivate terrorism is to hold forth a view of the afterlife, promising rewards in the hereafter for sacrificing oneself in the here and now. This is a particularly potent tactic used with those who feel guilty about their actions in this life and uncertain of their standing with God, and with those marginal members of society who suddenly find themselves centered in a group with a purpose. The Muslim interpretation of afterlife while dying for jihad states that the â€Å"Prophet will be waiting to welcome the martyr with thousands of virgins lined up for his pleasure†. Referring to afterlife one martyr also states, â€Å"I will have God welcome me with open arms. I will be a true hero in the sky.†[30] 4. Between the two recent wars in Chechnya (1994-96 and 1999) similar means were used to convince vulnerable Chechen individuals to sign on the â€Å"new Chechen jihad† which began making use of suicide terrorism in 2000. During this time period terrorist sponsored schools used were opened in the capital Grozny which recruited young boys and girls who lost their fathers in the Russian/Chechen conflicts promising their widowed mothers a good education for their sons and daughters. Unknown to their families these vulnerable young students were indoctrinated into militant Islamic ideas foreign to Chechen experiences of Sufi Islam and some became convinced that the price of belonging to higher glory is to be willing to sacrifice oneself for the group. In the words of a hostage who conversed with one of the Chechen terrorists :- â€Å"He explained to me that while his greatest dream was to continue his education and go to university and that while he wished to live, even more important for him was to die a martyr. He had become totally convinced that martyrdom was his highest calling in life†.[31] 5. Conclusion. Religion has always been used as a means of constructing social justice, expiating wrongdoing or â€Å"sins†, and of modulating emotional states. These means however can also be used to manipulate vulnerable individuals into taking social actions that they might otherwise never have considered or consented to take part in. For instance a colleague in Chechnya reports that the children who attended terrorist based schools were taught to rock and chant repeating Koranic verses that invoke jihad, ideas that their masters consider important to instil. This practice can easily make use of inducing a suggestive hypnotic state; a light trance in which susceptible children who have already reason to want to avenge a murdered parent might be induced to do so. People interacting with such persons mentioned that â€Å"these young terrorists were â€Å"brainwashed†, rocking, singing and praying often, and readily embracing death†.[32] CHAPTER VI QURANIC INTERPRETATIONS AND TERRORISM 1. Approximately fourteen hundred years ago, Prophet Muhammad, the last in the line of the prophets of Islam, received revelation from God known as the Quran, which is the Final Testament. He came with a message of peace and reconciliation, mercy and compassion. Yet, ever since the beginning of the call of Islam, its image and that of Muslims has been subject to distortion, misconceptions, and misinterpretations. This chapter aims at establishing the link between Quran and the distortions in its interpretation which has manifested itself in the form of jihad or the holy-war. Quran and Sanction of Violence 2. The Quran permits violence as an act of defence waged to protect the Shariat in an Islamic community. The Shariat can be explained as a system of ordinances outlined in the Quran and Hadis[33] through which â€Å"God lays down for mankind the rules of conduct[34]†. The Shariat is the â€Å"guidance for all walks of life individual and social, material and moral, economic and political, legal and cultural, national and international[35]†. 3. Muslims are advised to closely follow the Shariat to acquire the well being that God has envisioned for the Islamic community. Preservation of the Shariat is an â€Å"obligation of every able-bodied individual[36]†. â€Å"Oppression, despotism, injustice and criminal abuse of power[37]† of the Shariat by Muslims or non-Muslims[38], must be punished. Quran and Jihad 4. The Quran identifies three main kinds of Jihad that can be used for the punishment of oppression and injustice. These are: internal[39], external[40] and inter-communal[41]. The Quran permits the use of violence as an optional method for all three forms of Jihad but it limits the use of violence in ‘internal[42] and ‘external Jihad. It expands on its doctrine of Jihad and violence, mainly in the context of ‘inter-communal conflicts. In these cases, Muslims can individually determine the nature and extent of Jihad based on the ‘freedom of interpretations, and the geopolitical conditions in which the conflict arises. However the most essential prerequisite in the Qurans discourse on violence is that, forc