Impact on countries and their government

Question 1

Poverty

Answer 1

• Due to violence in Iraq since 2003, the economic performance and quality of life in Iraq has greatly plummeted
• For example, before the 2003 war, Iraq’s GDP stood at $81.8 billion but by 2018, it had dropped to $0.6 billion
• However, countries where there is a diverse economy tend to survive one-off acts of terrorism fairly well
• For example, a study by Sandler and Endels found that rich and diversified economies survive the effects of terrorism better than small, poor and more specialised economies do
• Examples of these countries are the USA, France and the UK

Question 2

Tourism

Answer 2

• People like to visit countries where they feel safe
• Number of tourists in Egypt dropped to 9.3 million in 2015 compared to 14 million in 2010, this dropped again by 40% after the downing of a Russian aircraft
• There was also a large decrease in France with a 30% decline in visitors after the Nice attacks
• The World Travel and Tourism Council reported that tourism typically suffers for 13 to 21 months after a terrorist attack, this led to mass unemployment in Tunisia and the government had to bail out major hotel companies
• However, Professor Marakbatti says “So long as the attacks are a one off, the impact tends to be small.”
• This shows that any economic or tourism decline from terrorism is usually short lived

Question 3

Divides society

Answer 3

• There was a rally on St Kilda Beach in 2019 where an anti immigration and an anti racist group clashed
• This brings division and conflict to a country where everyone is supposed to be connected
• International terrorist incidents can cause a swift increase in racial tension within communities where tension already exists
• Australia has a high level of supporters for the far right compared to most other western communities
• The division can lead to more radical views developing and lead to a greater terror threat
• For example, Brenton Tarrant, a 28 year old man from Australia, committed what is called the Christchurch massacre where he killed 51 people and attempted to murder another 40
• It is the job of government to attempt to quell and reduce social division but this is a costly and difficult process, money needs to be diverted from other areas
• New Zealand and Norway are the third and eight least racist countries in the world

Question 4

Security measures

Answer 4

• Terrorism and conflict can also have huge financial costs in the repairing and rebuilding efforts such as rebuilding infrastructure after a terrorist attack
• In total, the world spend $117 billion on anti terrorism
• US security agencies spend 44% of their budget just on terrorism
• UK Police anti-terror budget is £757 million per year
• The consequences of war and terrorism for countries is that it requires them to significantly increase spending on counter-terrorism and defence measures
• The cost of providing safety and security as well as rebuilding can be too great for developing nations
• As a result of this, the cost will be too great to effectively provide security or to rebuild and this will have a long lasting effect on the country and its people