Ken del Rosario(2015-13109)

Polsc 110 Tth 4-5:30

Prof. Nelson

Review of Related Literature:

Terrorism has gained much recent traction over the years due to the general
strengthening of non-state actors and due to globalization, which basically levelled
the playing field regardless of state capability. This fact is important as it highlights
the importance of examining how it really operates and under what factors does it
become something that can pose as something that is salient for states and
individuals alike to consider.
One aspect that we can zero in about terrorism is on how it could affect a state’s
economic growth and stability. The articles “causality between terrorism and
economic growth” and “terrorism and the economics of trust” basically lay down the
groundwork on how terrorism directly/indirectly affects the economic stability of a
certain state. The highlighting of how terrorism and its dangers aren’t homogenous
in nature is important as it helps to shine light on the fact that there are certain
country-specific factors to consider when looking at the grand scheme of things. This
is what differentiated these articles from the other literature as they acknowledged
the context of the periods they were examining at rather than looking at it from a
uni-linear perspective. A shift in the geopolitical landscape sets the stage for future
researches on this topic as “with the end of the cold war (associated with structural
and geographical changes in terrorism), the effect on growth on terrorism
diminishes, whereas the effect of terrorism on growth increase.” This reorientation
after the post-cold war is due to the new rise of nationalist and religious driven
terrorism rather than the old economic grievances driven movement. Basically, one
has to acknowledge that in this day and age with the shift in orientation of terrorist
groups, less politically stable and mature states will struggle heavily with dealing
with the shocks of the costs of terrorism.
The remaining three articles are basically a indepth application of what both of
those articles laid out. The case study on India confirms the fact that terrorism has
indeed a negative effect and a safeguard to this is to ensure economic expansion in
order to reduce grievances and to open up non-violent avenues for groups to
participate in. On the other hand, the case sudy of Africa shows the fact that there
are indeed country-specific factors that matter when taking a look at the terrorism-
economic growth causal relationship. An interesting finding as well is the fact that
it seems that domestic terrorism in terms of its detriments to income per capita
growth virtually pales in comparison to transnational terrorism which helps gives us
an idea about how to orient our state policies in order to better handle the terrorist
threat.
Lapses though of course exists as there needs to be more examination of those
specific factors that make states vulnerable. Due to the heterogenous causal nature
of the terrorism-economic growth relationship, a more indepth examination such as
the Africa and India case studies helps put into perspective the differences that each
and every state has.