Social Studies Essays Part 1

CONTENT | KEY EVIDENCE | CAUSE AND EFFECT | ST LT IMPACT | LINK COLOUR CODING CONTENT | KEY EVIDENCE | CAUSE AND EFFECT | ST LT IMPACT | LINK Evaluation  Causes o Necessary vs. sufficient o Trigger, contributing, underlying/root  Consequences / impacts o Severity, scale, immediacy, duration, permanence  Responses/solutions o Effectiveness, efficiency, feasibility Structure 1. Introduction, 3 points, evaluation 2. Introduction, 2 para (1 support, 1 opposing), evaluation

CONTENT | KEY EVIDENCE | CAUSE AND EFFECT | ST LT IMPACT | LINK VIOLENT EXTREMISM IMPACT: “The most harmful impact of violent extremism is the social division it causes.” How far do you agree with the statement? Explain your answer. Mistrust and increased tension between religions groups Evidence: Paris: Sharp rise in hate crimes and bias incidents against Muslims Indonesia: Discrimination towards ethnic minorities and immigrants (sikhs) Anti-muslim hate crimes increased by 67%, sikhs more visible due to their long beard Cause: The goal of a radicalized group is to cause division between religious groups of the society. Hence, they claim to take on similar religious beliefs of other groups of the society. As a result, actions by the radicalised few will be associated with a particular religion, not to that radical party, causing the society to view everyone of that religion to be a terrorist, creating mistrust and tension between groups of the society. These increased tensions are reflected by negative stereotypes, misunderstandings, intolerance, and discrimination on specific religious groups. For example, after the Paris bombings, there was a sharp rise in hate crimes and bias incidents against Muslims because the terrorist claimed to be a Muslim. This reflects how violent extremism creates a ripple-effect, where act of violence by a radicalised individual will result in more violence among non-radicalised individuals, creating a vicious cycle of discrimination against one particular religion that results in social division. Negative stereotypes that lead to misunderstandings, intolerance, discrimination and even hate crimes in society Effect: Results in higher chances of terrorist recruitment as marginalised communities that feels marginalised and discriminated is most susceptible to radicalisation LINK: Vicious cycle that brings more attacks and instability to country Economic impact Damage and loss of private and public property 2016: Cost of terrorist acts reached $90 billion World Trade Centre bombings of 2001: Billions of dollars lost, services and goods destroyed Productive resources that could have been focused on other development projects like transport infrastructure must be allocated to rebuilding damaged properties and strengthening internal security, marginalising productivity Tourism France: tourism accounts for 8% of GDP, terrorist attacks in 2015 and 2016 resulted in a loss of up to 70% in revenue in various sectors like hotels and restaurants Terrorist attacks Terrorist acts sabotage image of peace and security of country, discourage tourists Decline in international trade and FDI Singapore is an offshore city state, lack of raw resources, heavily depend on FDI to sustain economy USA financial markets shut down after 2001 attacks, did not fully recover until 2 years later Attacks increases foreign scepticism on country’s ability to maintain stable economy  Lower trade volume and investments Decline in FDI and trade will reduce tax incentives and creation of jobs, reducing employment opportunities and government revenue that could have been spent on other sectors

CONTENT | KEY EVIDENCE | CAUSE AND EFFECT | ST LT IMPACT | LINK Political impact: Rise of nationalistic and ethnic supremacist groups After 2015 Paris shootings and Belgian attacks that were organised by ISIS, far-right political group called PEGIDA was formed and started to hold rallies and protests to call for enforcement of laws to control Muslim immigration Terrorism increases public concern and confidence about government’s security measures, undermines support for government, hence rise in nationalist or ethnic supremacist groups and movements Increased political tension and satisfaction between public and government, increased political instability, hate speech against government Evaluation: Mistrust and increased tension between religions groups most severe as it is the most permanent of all impacts Hard to erase racial stigma, will always be instilled in one’s mind set, such that in a case of similar terrorist attacks, such discriminative feelings will arise again, catalysing further political and social division Other 2 impacts non-permanent Political groups can be suppressed through political force and stricter legislation against formation of groups that discriminate religions Economic situation can improve faster through international cooperation

CONTENT | KEY EVIDENCE | CAUSE AND EFFECT | ST LT IMPACT | LINK SOLUTIONS: To what extent can the challenges posed by globalisation be addressed by the international community? International community Prevention and protection: Building common accurate databases, sending out alerts and warnings as soon as possible Prevent terrorist attacks at international level by cooperatively investigating suspected terrorist organizations and attacks and analyzing the information they gather worldwide United Nations: UN Security Council Resolution 1373 passed after 9/11 attacks Interpol: Counter-Terrorism Committee made up of officers from 160 countries SUCCESS: Collaboration between Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesian security forces led to the capture of Singapore’s most wanted terrorist, Mas Selamat, who was the head of Singapore’s leading terrorist organization who had connections with Al Qaeda Terrorist organizations’ goals is to inculcate fear in the public and governments and spread their political, religious, and ideological goals as broadly as possible. Hence, these acts of violence is not limited to one country, as their goal is to achieve worldwide attention. Hence, international cooperation is necessary in suppressing their acts by preventing attacks and eradicating such organizations Response team: Provision of humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts as well as training Exchanging trained personnel, conducting joint training and operations ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting: multinational counter-terrorism exercise where armies from Indonesia, USA and Singapore participated in joint 5-day exercise and shared best counter-terrorism practices Linked terrorist attacks can occur in different countries, headed by a singular party or person. Hence, countries must work collectively to remove that organization or person that was once out of their judicial control in order to ensure collective security Government Response: Strengthening emergency response units to effectively suppress terrorist threats Singapore Special Operations task Force: Draws top-notch personnel from Naval and Land army units, uses new counter-terrorism weapons and formations Strengthening first responders to terrorist threats by allowing deployment units to arrive faster at location under attack by using higher firepower and expertise will reduce casualties Response: Frequency counter-terrorism exercises through the devotion of time, money and resources to more frequent counter-terrorism exercises Exercise Heartbeat: Annual counter-terrorism exercise conducted by Singapore Police Force and Singapore Civil Defense Force  Simulated attacks in Central Business District, MRT stations, where high-value targets such as the Esplanade will attract terrorist attackers Give counter-terrorist units and the government more experience and confidence to deal with different kinds of terrorist attacks Prevention: Surveillance systems and infrastructure In