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Research Proposal on Strategies to Counter Terrorism Aziz ELHajjami American Military University Introduction Terrorism may be perceived as an act of denying people their democracy and their individual human rights which majority of countries have now embraced. The US along with its allies continue to face an environment that is laced with terror since 2001 and in many ways the danger has gone beyond 2001 to date. The country is now safer against 9/11 style terrors style due to many security improvements, but the terrorist organizations have upped their game. What happens in the present age is that terrorist organizations are actually outsourcing violence and making use of small terror cells or independent followers to advance their causes. What has also been witnessed is the use of social media and the internet to advance their ideals while making use of advanced and also secure communications that are encrypted to hide their intentions. Further, terrorists have also thrived due to the decline in US leadership in the global scene and the fact that new power vacuums are emerging. What has now been seen is a surge in unprecedented terror and the emergence of safe havens used by terrorists than any that has ever been seen before. This research proposal offers strategies on countering this terrorism menace that is now escalating at a high rate. Background Statement Terrorism is essentially some kind of violence that is politically motivated which is aimed at coercing individuals and the government of the day. However, the threat that is there nowadays is actually more specific. The danger has been traced specifically to terrorists with Islamic origin. Their aim is to come up with a totalitarian empire that does not have an economic, political and religious freedom. In order to attain their goal, they make use of terrorism as a way of starting war against those who impede their agenda. Those who are their perceived enemies are labeled as unbelievers and this group includes Jews, Christians, Hindus and even those Muslims who go against their cause. They are working hard to undermine what they call apostate governments so that they start a global caliphate. The Islamic terror group movement is fast increasing and does not show any signs of subsiding. Coming with the rise is a high level of plotting against Western Civilizations. The major group that is behind the terrorism is ISIS which are much radicalized. This organization has set ground in the whole of Middle East and North Africa. It has subsequently recruited over 10,000 fighters coming from more than 120 countries who help it in advancing its agenda. In less than 2 years, ISIS the group has been connected to over 100 terrorist incidents in Western countries and they have ended up killing thousands of people in the process. The group is currently engaged in the sending of fighters into Western countries so that they may continue with their radicalization process and in the process, cause more terror attacks. Nevertheless, Al-Qaida is also another major terrorist threat and it goes on to plot against the United States and other Western countries. The al-Qaida group has gone on to expand its area of operation by being present in many locations and having affiliates and followers in close to 12 countries. Consequently, it has gained more strength in terms of force as well as increased its territory as compared to the case 15 years ago. In fact, al Qaeda has become successful in endearing itself in local populations and it has even sidelined other Islamic terror groups so that it becomes the best option among the terror groups. Much as al Qaeda shows a lot of strategic patience than the Islamic States group, they do have the same objectives which is to overthrow governments which are in the Muslim world and then impose religious ideology on the areas that they have managed to successfully conquer, go on to unite the Muslim community and then start a confrontation with the Western world for world dominance. Purpose Statement The many terrorist attacks and various foiled plots of terrorism on the Western soil have significantly reinforced the knowledge of how vulnerable countries are with respect to terrorism incidents. The mere fact that the attacks have followed each other and some of them have short intervals and that they are unique in a way have greatly hampered the progress on combatting terrorism. The way of operation of these terrorist groups are quite diverse and this is really giving security agencies a headache when it comes to the fight against terrorism. This calls for adequate policies and strategies that will help in bringing to a close the many terrorism incident. This is the main aim of this research proposal. Literature Review The Terrorism Threat The world is filled with terrorist groups. Much as the list of terrorist groups in the State Department comprises of many well-known ones many of them are still left out because of the process of designation. However, of the many terrorist groups, there are two notorious ones that are giving the US a real headache. They are the ISIS and al Qaeda. The al Qaeda falls under this category since it is one of the terrorist organizations that has too much ambition as well as ability to cause very catastrophic damage and which may be known as attacks that may paralyze American institutions. It can cause significant damage to the most important strategic goals in the U.S. It actually did threaten to so together with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The evidence adduced by September 11, 2001 is enough to show that the capabilities of the group are just too much, and this also demonstrates its determination to really cause a lot of damage and harm. Different from majority terrorist groups, it is made happy by incremental gains and does not seek any part of the process of negotiation but will only want to realize its primary ends and this includes mobilizing a great number of Muslims by being violent even to the Muslims. It, however, should not be confused that other terrorist organizations may get to develop capabilities that are comparable to that of al Qaeda. Hezbollah, for instance, may be able to carry out attacks that are as grave as those occasioned by al Qaeda and even mightier ones in the event they are activated by their masters found in Tehran. This is a possibility that may occur in the event that the United States attacked Iran. Similarly, people should not rule out the emergence of apocalyptic cults which are known to be more effective and serious when carrying out mass killing. Looking at The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, it is another significant terrorist organization that has forced the most powerful military on Earth into action. It is quite strong to cause many divisions among the army while in war and they are also known to be very rich and hence can carry out their operations at the pace that they want. The ISIS has been estimated by the Central Intelligence Agency to have more than 31,000 fighters and is hence quite dangerous and powerful. It has single-handedly managed to sweep across the Middle East. It was also able to capture the second-largest city in Iraq, Mosul and this showed its might. What it means to beat terrorism The end of the game for the strategy that the country has for counterterrorism ought to be straight forward. It should be anchored on defending the homeland, defeating the terrorist groups and ensuring that the extremist organizations do not have the opportunity to gather again to occasion an attack. Much as it is impossible to fully eliminate the ideology of terrorism at the place where it started, it is possible to break the global movement that is responsible for passing the ideology across countries and then come up with conditions that may hamper its reconstitution. This would mean that Islamist terrorists ought to be rolled back and even prevented from finding a comfortable place to reconstitute so that the places that it has taken center stage at are replaced by good governance and stability. In the end, the victory will bring about a new world where terror by Islamist groups is not a major threat to the United States affecting national security. Success would also mean that those who live by the terrorist ideology are localized and are derived of the power to coordinate themselves in order to conduct any attacks. As it is now, the government and responsible agencies ought to reject the issue that pervasive terrorism is a normal thing that Western countries have to accept. It is not possible to be complacent with this issue as it is but just to fight it. America Improving its Image abroad as a strategy to fight terrorism The United States must take three major efforts so that it regains the least level of trust that it requires to redeem its image, counter the narrative that has been fronted by jihadists and then follow through a policy which will likely lead to positive change in the sphere of fighting terrorism. Taking Iraq as an example, the US has done the right thing in withdrawing its forces from Iraq. The fact that she was seen as an occupier, then any kind of fruitful engagement with majority of Muslim societies was quite difficult. The departure process was not to be precipitous, yet the country would also not be seen as complacent when there were small fluctuations in the rate of violence. The country also needs to fully withdraw from Iraq and the withdrawals must be done in a broader political agreement that involves the countries in the war and the neighbors of Iraq. Even more having a limited troop presence in Iraq that has the mission of engaging in counterterrorism operations as long as the Iraq government agrees to the same is just acceptable. The second effort is advancing the Middle East Peace Process and also supporting Palestinians. The country has to launch an aggressive effort aimed at restarting the Middle East peace process with the aim of uplifting the standards of living of the Palestinians. There is no single matter that has been prioritized by Muslims and the fact that America has all along neglected the peace process has done much harm to its image in the region. Looking at the serious decay in the socio-economic standing in the Palestinian Territories will warrant much to be done. The fact that the area is controlled by Hamas makes matters worse and the US has to work hard in order to change the perception that it does not care about the suffering of Palestinians. The last one is about revalidating the moral character of Americans. The international community and mostly Muslims do require that Americans revalidate their moral character. It is important that before any form of engagement is carried out, those countries that are not sure about the commitment of the US and its role have to be totally convinced that the U.S has not left the rule of law. This would mean the US has not made torture along with other human rights violations its agenda when dealing with terrorism. This would require a declaration by a high standing leader of the US that the country does not torture but depends on investigations so that they may clarify what was done. Further actions such as the closing of Guantanamo military prison as well as any black sites that may have been remaining would mean the right policy on compensation and rendition to the people who may have been mistreated. Theoretical Framework/Approach The terrorist menace has seriously changed over time and it will likely continue to change. The exact nature of the terrorist threat that is being faced today emanates to a large extent from the successes that have been made in the past. For instance, in 1970s and 1980s, the US and its friends fought generally secular and also nationalist groups majority of whom were sponsored by the states or even people who were aligned to individual countries. Much as the issue of state sponsorship is still prevalent, the years that have been spent on counterterrorism efforts and which include diplomatic and economic isolation have made governments to control or even leave their support towards terrorism activities. The fact that the Soviet Union collapsed, and it generally offered significant state sponsors, made a huge impact on the issue of state sponsorship. Consequently, majority of terrorist organizations were rightly destroyed or even neutralized and among the ones that were affected included the Direct Action, Red Army Faction and Communist Combatant Cells that were located in the middle of Europe. This same fate should befall the terrorist organizations that are found in the Middle East and the Northern Parts of Africa. Methodology This part of the research proposal offers an outline of the methods that were used in data collection, assembly and analysis. It has subsequently been divided into research design, the data collection phase and lastly how it was analyzed. The research question for this study that it will seek to answer will be about whether the old strategies that have been adopted in combatting terrorism have been working what are the new strategies that ought to be adopted in the fight against terrorism Research Design This research will adopt the survey type of design and which is concerned with finding out where, what and how of the phenomenon being studied. It will make use of a cross-sectional descriptive design style and the information that will be collected will be done so using questionnaires, observation techniques and literature review and searches. The descriptive study will be done so that it will be ascertained and also described the characteristics of the interest situation and the variables under study. The descriptive research will also try to collect the data from among the population so as to assist in the research and also in getting the existing phenomena even as individuals are asked their perceptions, values, attitudes and behavior. Study Population The study population will include about forty respondents who will be distributed across various states. This is to get a general feel of the extent and level of strategy that has been utilized in making sure that terrorism is fought and defeated. The research will seek to ask questions bordering on what they feel the strategies that have thus been used in fighting terrorism have been successful or not and what their general recommendations as regards the same are. The respondents will also be allowed to give their input and suggestion as to what the best strategies they feel should be included in the war against terrorism are. Sampling method The research will make use of purposive sampling in the process of selecting respondents for the survey that will be conducted and mostly a structured questionnaire will be adopted. The study will majorly target students at colleges and universities across various states as students are representative enough and knowledgeable about issues affecting the country. Data Collection Methods The primary data will mostly be collected through questionnaires that will be semi-structured and having both closed questions and open-ended ones. The closed ended questions will give the interviewer some control over the type of data as well as information that they seek to collect from the respondents while the open-ended ones will fasten the process of data collection and will also provide the respondents with the freedom to express their views. The secondary data collection will entail a review of past books, journals, periodicals and government documents to inform the findings of the research. Data Analysis The study will make use of both quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis. The quantitative methods will help the researcher in getting to know how social situation gets to help in the study. On the other hand, the qualitative analysis method will offer a description of the scenario of the research study and it will also present any variations that will be existing at the time. Conclusion Political violence may be increasing today, but it is not possible to tolerate the fact that terrorism is advancing and that terrorist groups are adopting new methods to help in advancing their agenda. The war against terrorism is therefore not a simple task but it entails series of coordinated efforts that comes from governments, agencies and even the people. This research proposal seeks to uncover the strategies that will be helpful in combatting the issue of terrorism or bring it to a level where terrorists are not able to gather so as to cause sustained threats. Bibliography Hall V, Harold.Terrorism. Routledge, 2013. Hibbert, Adam.Terrorism. North Mankato, Minn. Smart Apple Media, 2004. Makarychev, A. S, and Robert W Orttung.National Counter-Terrorism Strategies. Amsterdam IOS Press, 2006. Puri, Samir.Pakistans War On Terrorism. Place of publication not identified Routledge, 2013. Harold Hall V,Terrorism(Routledge, 2013). Belloc, Hilaire.On. Freeport, N.Y. Books for Libraries Press, 1967. Ibid. PAGE MERGEFORMAT 13 Y, B8L 1(IzZYrH9pd4n(KgVB,lDAeX)Ly5ot ebW3gp j/gQjZTae9i5j5 fE514g7vnO( ,jV9kvvadVoTAn7jahy@ARhW.GMuO /e5sZWfPtfkA0zUw@tAm4T2j 6Q
Literature Review Assignment

Literature Review Assignment

Question # 00632751 Posted By: wolfthunderkick2 Updated on: 01/01/2018 11:27 PM Due on: 01/02/2018
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Hi, attached is a research proposal for a topic titled:" Strategies to Counter Terrorism". Please use it to build on the below assignment. Need a Literature Review paper for the same topic.


Literature Review Assignment

The Literature Review assignment is the second in a series of sequenced assignments that will help you engage in academic writing. The purpose of this assignment is to provide you experience with designing a literature review that supports the research proposal you submitted in the previous weeks.

Literature reviews are designed to: 1) give your readers an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic or idea and 2) demonstrate how your research fits into the larger field of study, in this case, intelligence. 3) (and probably most importantly) give your reader and idea of how you will USE the other researchers in your own unique research. Remember, the lit review is NOT the answer to the research quiesiton AND you CANNOT reuse the information from the lit review in the data section. 4) define the variables that you will use in the data section using the literature from other scholars.

Unlike annotated bibliographies, which are lists of references arranged alphabetically that include the bibliographic citation and a paragraph summary and critique for each source, literature reviews can be incorporated into a research paper or manuscript. You may quote or paraphrase from the sources, and all references to sources should include in-text citations with a reference list at the end of the document. (Note: Do not confuse the two and turn in an annotated bibliography! This will result in a grade letter penalty!)

American Military University uses the Turabian/Chicago Manual of Style citation and reference styles. For questions on proper citation, consult Kate L. Turabian's Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7th Edition. You can also consult online resources such as the Purdue Online Writing Lab's section on Chicago Style available at: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/1/, the Chicago Manual of Style Online Quick Guide, available at: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html, or the Turabian Quick Guide available at: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/turabian/turabian_citationguide.html.

Remember to choose a variety of articles that relate to your subject, even if they do not directly answer your research question. You may find articles that loosely relate to the topic, rather than articles that you find using an exact keyword search. At first, you may need to cast a wide net when searching for sources. Your literature review should have between 8 and 10 or more sources.

For example: If your research question focuses on recent trends in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for collection, you may be able to find some articles that address this specific question. You may also find literature regarding ISR dynamic tasking of UAV assets or the use of UAV's from aircraft carrier platforms.

Remember to select the most relevant information from the articles as it pertains to your subject and your purpose; it does not not have to be the most current information. If the literature is helpful to you, use it. This is not a current events paper. We are not reviewing what's going on in order to inform our readers as if we are writing a lengthy magazine article. Remember, the purpose of the literature review is to demonstrate how your research question fits into a larger field of study.

Remember to critically examine the articles. Look at methodology, statistics, results, theoretical framework, the author's purpose, etc. Include controversies when they appear in the articles.

For example: You should look for the strengths and weaknesses of how the author conducted the study. You can also decide whether or not the study is generalizable to other settings or whether the findings relate only to the specific setting of the study. Ask yourself why the author conducted the study and what he/she hoped to gain from the study. Look for inconsistencies in the results, as well. BUT do NOT write an annotated bibliography.

Remember to crganize your information in the way that makes most sense. Some literature reviews may begin with a definition or general overview of the topic. Others may focus on another aspect of your topic. Look for themes in the literature or organize by types of study.

For example: Group case studies together, especially if all the case studies have related findings, research questions, or other similarities. But remember that this is not your data. Your data MUST be distinct from the data that you use in the lit review. You CANNOT double dip; do not derive a hypothesis from the same data that you then test it in.

Please Check to see that you have done more than simply summarize your sources. Your literature review should include a critical assessment of those sources. For more information, see #4 above or read the Writing a Literature Review website at Empire State College, available at http://www.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/library.nsf/3cc42a422514347a8525671d0049f395/46c31e3773d8747b852570ad00700699?OpenDocument for questions to think about when reading sources and sample papers.

Please also be sure to develop questions for further research. Again, you are not simply regurgitating information, but you are assessing and leading your reader to questions of your own, questions and ideas that haven't been explored yet or haven't been addressed in detail by the literature in the field.

Your paper should be typed (12 point font), 8 to 10 pages, double spaced and include a title page. Be sure to proof read carefully, as graduate students are expected to submit papers free of spelling and grammar errors. NOTE: The title page and bibliography are not counted in the page count total.

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