What are the benefits and drawback of thinking of terrorism in terms of waves?
Response to the same question by another student
Terrorism has evolved over many years and has undergone many cycles in its evolution. The term terrorism is commonly used to describe actions which are violence based and are used to promote fear within people. Rapoport (2004) came up with a way of describing the fluctuations over time of terrorism. He separated and described four distinct periods of time which he referred to as "waves of terrorism." The "waves" are used as markers in which an understanding can be viewed of how terrorism goes through changes or cycles. Most acts of violence are deliberate, targeted and serve a purpose for the groups goals.(Kydd & Walters 2006) In this sense waves of terrorism can be seen as a type of revolution where there is an uprising against the political state of the time. (Rapoport 2004) Whilst terrorism has existed throughout history and has employed violent methods to achieve their aims and objectives it can also be seen that terrorism follows distinct patterns. These patterns occur in cycles which were identified by Rapoport and are referred to as waves. International crime have become more and more of a recent phenomenon. Its continuing presence for many decades mean that it is rooted in important features of our world. Technology and doctrine have played vital roles together with democratic ideas and modern life. It was the failure of a democratic reform program that inspired the first wave which made the main theme of the second, national self-determination. A major benefit to these waves are that we are always upgrading and learning more, which in the end will help the safety of everyone.