Terrorism in Western Europe That Terrorism, Be Essay

Terrorism in Western Europe

That terrorism, be it transnational or domestic, impacts negatively on the overall well-being of economies is a well-known fact. With that in mind, governments have overtime embraced numerous counterterrorism measures in an attempt to mitigate the adverse effects of terrorist activities. In this text, I concern myself with terrorism in Western Europe. In so doing, I will limit my discussion to two countries in Western Europe where I will explore the history of terrorism and the various counterterrorism efforts being undertaken by law enforcement.

Terrorism in Western Europe: An Overview

To a keen analyst, Western Europe remains one of the most developed regions in the world today in terms of democracy and freedom. Further, most of the countries in this region are relatively wealthy and provide their citizens with significant rights and privileges (Engene, 2004). However, though Western European countries have relatively responsible governments in comparison to other countries across the world, the region has had its share of terrorist activities. This is more so the case should one take into consideration terrorism in the region from the historical perspective - especially post World War II. Further, most of the acts of terrorism affecting this region are perpetrated by internal actors.

Terrorism in Spain

According to Engene (2004) the civil war that rocked Spain in the late 30s is what informed the republic's downfall and in its place came in an oppressive and intolerant regime.The regime under General Franco - a military dictator, was also against communist views and more or less tolerant to catholic conservatism. Devolution of powers across the regions was also suppressed and with this, centralist lines were used as a basis of the State's organization. Those whose views were contrary to those of the regime were oppressed and any form of political opposition was stifled. According to Engene (2004), the terrorism tone in Spain was largely set by these and other oppressive tendencies. This is indeed what informed the formation of a number of domestic terrorist outfits some of which originated from oppressed minorities who chose to push for liberation. It can also be noted that a significant portion of terrorist activities in Spain over time have been inspired by regional conflicts i.e. The Basque conflict. Initially, terrorist outfits like ETA used assassination plots to launch their agenda. Other terrorist formations that shot to prominence later on include the right wing terrorist groups like AAA and GCR. In the recent past, most terrorist activities by ETA have revolved against what adherents call Basque liberation. However, Spain has also fallen victim to Islamic militants who are widely believed to have been behind the Madrid bombings in the year 2004 (Kearns & Weber, 2010).

Most of Spain's counterterrorism measures have been undertaken in an attempt to contain the spite of violent attacks mostly perpetrated by the….....