What is the significance of international terrorism?

It is widely believed that 9/11 bought about the shift in the significance of terrorism. The threat of
terrorism suddenly rose in the eyes of western countries and  9/11 became a defining moment in 21st century history. The war on terror was launched shortly after the events of 9/11, which had a huge impact. But has the significance of terrorism really increased? has terrorism acquired a global reach? and has its destructive potential increased?

Terrorism goes global

The development of terrorism into a transnational phenomena is often associated with globalization. Increased cross boarder flow of people, goods, money, technology and ideas have generally benefitted non-state actors aye the expense of states and terrorist groups have proved to be particularly capable of exploiting this hyper mobility. Globalization has caused a backlash due to the increased spread of western goods, ideas and values and a consequence of the global capitalist system that has weakened and destabilised the global south.      

Catastrophic Terrorism

Terrorism is often thought to have become a more significant security threat because its impact has greatly increased. September 11 is usually sited in defense of this view. There is no doubt that the terrorist attacks on the USA in September 2001 were events of great significance. The assaults on the world trade center, the pentagon and the crash of the united airplanes flight 93 which is believed to of been heading to the white house, resulted in the deaths of round 3000 people, making this the most costly terror attack in history. Its impact was made greater by the fact that its targets were respectively symbols of global financial power, global military power and global political power. The emotional impact of September 11 on the USA has only been matched with pearl harbor in 1941, both incidents destroying the myth of US invincibility. However September 11 does not in itself demonstrate the global significance of terrorism. The scale of death for example was relatively small compared to other forums of warfare , For example about 1.5 million soldiers were killed the battle of Somme in July and August 1916, and 200, 000 died as a result of Hiroshima atomic attack in August 1945. The significance of September 11, therefore, is that it highlighted the emergence of  an almost uncontrollable security threat, one that has the potential to wreck untold death and devastation and is extremely difficult to protect against.