Since 9/11 it has been argued that the significance of international terrorism has increased, with some claiming that it would define global politics in the 21st century, citing the advent of the war on terror as evidence for this. It is argued that there are two ways in which terrorism has become more significant: due to its new global reach and that its potential for destruction has increased.
Global reach
Terrorism having international reach is not a new concept and can be traced back to the advent of airplane hijackings in the 60s by groups such as the PLO. However since the advance of globalisation it could be argued that terrorism has gained a genuinely transnational, if not global character. This has been made easier by a growth in political militancy as a result of globalisation - backlash against cultural globalisation and the spread of western values has encouraged international and not merely domestic terrorism. However globalisation is not the only reason for the increasingly international character of terrorism - for example Islamist or jihadist terrorism has largely been the result of Muslim states experiencing a crisis in governmental legitimacy. There was a growing religious movement to remove 'apostate' leaders in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Terrorism is therefore a violent response to political conditions that has been expressed in politico-religious ideology. However when these apostate regimes proved more stable than estimated Islamist groups turned their attention to the west, especially US policy in the Middle East. This was when al-Qaeda emerged as the clearest example of global terrorism. It had transnational goals and sought to purify the Muslim world by overthrowing apostate leaders and expelling western influence. Al-Qaeda was involved in terrorist attacks in varying states such as Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, the USA, Spain and the UK, meaning terrorism now had an international reach.
However the global character of terrorism may be overstated in that although terrorism has affected many countries, the majority of attacks take place in a small number of the countries such as Israel, Afghanistan and Algeria leaving much of the world relatively unaffected by terrorism. Additionally the establishment of a 'war on terror' may have created the idea that there is such a thing as global terrorism - rather than being due to increasing terrorist attacks, the idea that international terrorism is becoming increasingly significant may stem from the fact others have overreacted to attacks.
Increased potential for destruction
Terrorism is also thought to have increased in significance due to its increasing impact. 3000 people died as a result of 9/11, making it the most costly terrorist attack in history. However the scale of death was relatively low compared to other forms of warfare, for example 1.5 million soldiers were killed on the battle of the Somme and 200,000 died as a result of the Hiroshima attack. Nevertheless 9/11 was significant in that it highlighted the potential destruction and death that international terrorism could cause. The notion of nuclear terrorism is no longer dismissed - whereas MAD prevented nuclear war between states it does not apply to terrorist networks whose identities are unknown. Terrorists have access to WMD and a greater willingness to use them compared with states and so the significance of international terrorism has increased in that terrorists are more likely to use WMD than ever before.
However the threat of new terrorism has been overstated in some cases - the number of casualties from terrorist attacks is usually small compared to warfare, with only 20 attacks since 1968 having resulted in more than 100 casualties. Terrorism cannot overthrow a government or destroy a society, and fears about a civilisational conflict between Islam and the west are misplaced because Jihadist groups are a perversion of orthodox Islam and their actions can not be used to justify the idea of a conflict between Islam and the west. Critical theorists have argued the war on terror rhetoric is used to legitimise the US' attempts to maintain its global hegemony and to justify its presence in the oil rich Middle East.
Overall
The significance of international terrorism has increased in the last century as terrorism has spread and in some cases adopted a global nature, as well as due to its increased potential for destruction as terrorists have access to more destructive weapons. However its increased significance should not be overstated as its global reach is limited and attack to not often result in many casualties, especially when compared to the casualties of WWII. It has been argued that the rhetoric of a 'war on terror' has been used by western states to create internal cohesion in societies no longer afraid of communists. In this view, the elites consolidate their position by creating myths about a threatening or hostile other, in this case, terrorists.
