Terrorism and the Effects on Security Policies Essay -- Terrorism

â€Å"No state responds to a terrorist campaign without changing its institutions and hence society itself, even if only slightly,† Stephen Sobieck states in his chapter on Democratic Responses to International Terrorism in Germany. Politically motivated terrorism struck the heart of both Germany and Italy in the 1970’s and 1980’s causing each state to do exactly what Sobieck stated. Both countries, unfortunately, suffered severe casualties, infrastructure damage, and threats from right and left wing terrorist organizations triggering these countries to adopt policy changes. This included a restructured legislation, the addition of new laws, and the modification current laws. Both countries political agendas and perceptions caused significant complications affecting each state’s ability to handle the rising threat. Germany’s political setting suffered intense rivalry between the two levels of government: the Bund (national government) and the La nder (states). Italy had similar political struggles on the perception and ideology of terrorism impacting the country. The dominated Christian Democratic Party (DC), whose primary goal was to pleas the public opinion, viewed terrorism based off political interests. The two rival parties, whose strength grew towards the end of the 1970s, included the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and the Movimento Sociale Italaino party (MSI). It took the Italian political classes five years to alert themselves seriously to the problem of terrorism. With the issues facing the political parties, both countries inappropriately utilized their security forces. Each state had qualified and effective security units that were essentially ineffective to the political agendas faced within the country. The GSG... ...changing their societies. Works Cited Stephen M. Sobieck, â€Å"Democratic Responses to International Terrorism in Germany,† in David A. Charters (ed.), The Deadly Sin of Terrorism: Its Effect on Democracy and Civil Liberties in Six Countries, 66. Luciana Stortoni-Wortmann, â€Å"The Police Response to Terrorism in Italy from 1969 to 1983,† in Reinares (ed.), European Democracies Against Terrorism, 148. Donatella della Porta, â€Å"Institutional Responses to Terrorism: The Italian Case,† Terrorism and Political Violence, 4: 4, 1992, 156-158. John E. Finn, Constitutions in Crisis. Political Violence and the Rule of Law, 211. Sobieck, â€Å"Democratic Responses to International Terrorism in Germany,† 53. Stortoni-Wortmann, â€Å"The Police Response to Terrorism,† 151. Ibid., 156-157. Sobieck, â€Å"Democratic Responses to International Terrorism in Germany,† 60-61.