Ebook: Political Violence, Organized Crimes, Terrorism and Youth

I am trained as a medical doctor and have been working as a surgeon for almost 30 years. However, as a person who is used to seeing blood and witnessed pain of people suffering from the loss of a part of their body, devastating mood switches of people who have been traumatized both psychologically and physically, I am still deeply affected by the children who are victims of war in Iraq, Palestine or Sudan or any other part of the world, as well as the ever increasing number of our children and teenagers who are involved in crime of all kinds and of which most are drug addicts, and every time I see them in the media or on the internet I cannot help questioning myself on these issues. We, those who live on this side of that world, have tried to provide the best health services for our own children, to send them to the best schools, have introduced them all state-of-the-art products of technology, and tried to equip them with the best skills and abilities for many years, in our quest to secure a better future for our children. We have allocated all the savings we could make, for their future. But, in this world of globalization, we closed our eyes to the other world that we have to live together whether we desire to do so or not. We may have provided our own children with many things and may have left them many valuable assets, however we cannot say that we are leaving them a safe environment or a secure future.

The twentieth century will be remembered as a century marked by violence. It burdens us with its legacy of mass destruction, of violence inflicted on a scale never seen and never possible before in human history. Violence pervades the lives of many people around the world and touches all of us in some away. No country, no city, no community is immune. And unfortunately, the young people are the most suffering victims either they are involved in as a victim or an offender. All over the world young people are witnessing, experiencing and participating in acts of violence perpetrated by one set on one people upon another.

More badly, the growing engagement of young people in organized crimes, political violence and terrorism is becoming more common in all around of the world. This engagement not only threatens the communities and destroys the infrastructures of the societies that may be exposed to the violence, but harms the young people, effects their development, well-being, and annihilates their future. Of course, as a consequence this means that the futures of societies are stolen.

Hence, we must address the root causes and consequences of violence. And then, we need to understand when, how and why young people are deciding to participate in organized violence.

Although, there have been many studies for a long time about the relationships between youth and violence, political violence phenomenon that is created and is legitimized by human beings and is involving its main dynamics in itself, is not paid attention very much until recent time. I hope this workshop makes a major contribution to our understanding of violence and its impact on societies and illuminates the different faces of violence, from the side of the most.

I would like to express my deep greetings and to thank to all our guests who have put all their efforts to participate in this workshop and gathered here for this purpose.

Prof. Dr. Tunçalp Özgen, Rector, Hacettepe University, ANKARA

Youth violence, increasing all over the world, has become an important issue both socially and psychologically. The consequences of youth violence are much traumatic both for themselves and for the victims and their families. The involvement of youth in political violence especially requires special attention. It is crucial to identify the youth under risk of getting involved in violent acts and develop preventive programs. This paper presents the psychological characteristics of youth and risk factors which make them available for becoming involved in violent acts and discusses the protective and preventive measures to be taken for the prevention of youth violence.

This presentation will discuss the psychological origins of violent behavior among youth. Because youth are increasingly involved in and affected by violence it is thought that there may be some developmental characteristics which are contributing to this phenomemon. Violent behavior among human beings will be examined in terms basic human needs for power, dominance, and control as well as from a developmental perspective and and in terms of other enviromental realities which may contribute to increased risk of violent behavior. It is important to explore other contributing events including politics, economics, religion, and even love as factors which may contribute to violent behavior among young people. To begin to identify the contributing factors to this ever increasing and destructive pattern of behavior may provide clues to finding ways to intervene and reduce violence. Understanding these complex psycho-sociological reasons for violence is the foundation upon which future prevention policies can be successfully created.

In this paper, we outline the significant progress that has been made by researchers using contact theory to combat the worst effects of prejudice and group based feelings amongst young people. We argue that the emergence of segregated areas in western societies, with members of religious or ethnic groups living largely in isolation from other groups, provides a breeding ground for group discontent and terrorist recruitment. We outline research suggesting that the group perceptions which underpin extreme group attitudes and terrorism in young people can be changed through contact with other group members. We discuss new evidence suggesting that young people's attitudes in segregated environments can be moderated through intergroup contacts. Using Moghaddam's conceptual exploration of steps toward terrorism as a framework, we discuss how cross group contacts may help to counter terrorism at different levels in his hypothetical staircase. Intergroup contacts we suggest can play an important role in both combating categorical “them versus us” thinking and when combined with new technology may help interrupt the circle of isolation that is central to terrorist recruitment via the internet.

Each day children are exposed to death and trauma as the result of war, terror, crime and disease resulting from political and social events over which they have no possible control. This presentation will review the various categories of psychological trauma and loss and the common responses to that trauma by children and youth at different developmental levels. Psychological trauma will be described and discussed as an understandable and very predictable reaction to a sudden, unexpected, and intense event that taxes individuals beyond their usual capacity to cope. These events will be discussed in terms of intensity and duration. Even for adults with years of life experience, a fine education, and well developed coping mechanisms trauma and the resulting loss, grief, and stress can be overwhelming at times but for children with much less power and control, it is no less real and full of pain.

Typical patterns of childhood response to violence will be described from both psychological and behavioral perspectives. Normal and abnormal responses to psychological trauma will be described as well as the typical patterns of recovery and the psychological and environmental components affecting that recovery. Specific problematic responses including post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression, phobias, substance abuse, etc. will be described. Specific recommendations will be made with regard to effective and age appropriate interventions to identify both normal and abnormal reactions to stress, grief and loss resulting from traumatic exposure to violence and terror as well as for assisting children and youth to recover and minimize the long term psychological effects of trauma.

The aim of the current study was to analyze the social and psychological consequences of ongoing political violence. We predicted an association between exposure to politically violent events with self-reporting psychological symptoms, domestic violence and school violence. We further hypothesized that adolescents reporting good economic status will have less psychological symptomathology and will report less domestic violence in comparison to those reporting moderate to very bad family status. Results also found associations between family violence, family economic status, and psychological symptomatology. Respondents reported low levels of family functioning.

Northern Ireland has endured a turbulent violent history since its inception, with the last 40 years being characterised by ethnic conflict and a fledging peace process. This chapter explores the findings from a series of interviews with individuals who had used violence during the conflict to pursue political goals. The focus is on the processes involved in deciding to join Loyalist or Republican paramilitary groups and employ violence to bring about political change and also on how they view the current peace process in Northern Ireland. The interviewees' accounts echo features identified by other researchers as being antecedent to paramilitary membership, such as having the support of the immediate community, or the involvement of prior family members (see Crawford, 2003; Post, Sprinzak & Denny, 2003). However, the rational decisions revealed in these accounts demonstrate that the interviewees engaged in rational decision making as opposed to either being mindlessly stimulated into membership in response to an environmental stimulus, or joining an armed group due to some underlying personality characteristic. These results highlight the degree to which individuals bear, and accept, personal responsibility for joining a paramilitary group (as opposed to membership simply being stimulated by uncontrollable dispositional or situational forces).

It is our intention in this paper to discuss two major contentions: One concerns reasons for the precarious mental health of youth in post-war Kosova, and the second concerning what should have been done and should be done as an intervention strategy. We argue that the issues in adolescent mental health in Kosova have become steadily worse over the past twenty years due to a worrisome social, cultural and political context not solved by UN [predicament has been well-intentioned but seriously faulted intervention by the international humanitarian community, which continues to this day.

In the era of the globalization, undesired human trafficking emerged as the one of global problem although it facilitate to becoming the nations closer each other. In 2006 the Bureau of the International Organization for Migration in the Russian Federation (RF), with the support of the European Commission, began a large-scale comprehensive research on migration and human trafficking in Russia. The research which will be argued was part of the bigger project carried out in three pilot regions: Moscow, Astrakhan region, and the Republic of Karelia. The overall goal of the research – analysis of the causes and risks of human trafficking, especially within the main “at-risk” groups, and developing a set of recommendations for all parties involved for countering the spread of human trafficking.

The phenomenon of youth involvement in crime and terrorism is understudied. Youth commit crimes many facilitating activities for terrorism because juvenile arouse less suspicion and have diminished responsibility if arrested. Youth under 25 are involved in many of the criminal activities that facilitate terrorism including participating in the drug trade, acting as couriers and developing the websites that facilitate youth recruitment to terrorism. The links between youth criminal involvement and terrorism deserves more attention that presently exists. This paper which provides an introduction to this subject focuses on the recruitment of youth and the activities they commit for terrorist organizations.

While in the last decade the number of Islamist terrorist attacks in Europe was very small, post-9/11, small violent Islamist cells caused and aim at mass casualties. While autonomous and self-generating, they pursue transnational agenda, blurring the distinction between internal and external security, and are viewed by European states and agencies as the most serious terrorist threat, in terms of its destabilizing political effects. Terrorism, however, is hardly the main manifestation of Muslim radicalization in Europe—a process that takes many forms and may be more likely to transform to peaceful protest and forms of violence other than terrorism, ranging from delinquency, vandalism and hate crimes in “failed suburbs” to public disorders and riots. Any links between religious awakening and socio-political radicalization of Muslim youth in Europe and the rise of Islamist terrorism should be treated with caution and are mostly indirect and non-binding: while the main age category for Islamist terrorism suspects is young adults, Muslims are generally younger in Europe than the rest of the population; younger people are deeper affected by moral outrage at the “injustices” against Muslims at levels from local to global and more likely to seek glory through direct violent action.

This study constitutes of four main headings. First the “Profiles of the Militants Active in PKK” is addressed and then the “Correlation between the Youth and Terrorism” is discussed. This is followed by some attempts to explain the “Youth Organisations of PKK” and “The Methods PKK uses to Recruit the Youth”. In the conclusion, some suggestions and solutions are given on the precautions that should be taken to prevent the recruitment of terrorists groups are given.

The paper analyzes criminal networks in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, the structure and activities of these networks trying to explain the involvement of young male sportsmen in organized crime groups. It is argued that lack of opportunities during post-Soviet transition, instability on the political scene, importance of physical force for crime groups, social role of criminals and cultural factors, among other variables contribute to the engagement of sportsmen in criminal groups.

This paper demonstrates the institutional approach to drugs and drug related problems as well as drug prevention methods in Turkey. Drug related problems have many dimensions and each could affect and trigger each other. From production to trafficking, street level drug selling to drug usage, and narco-terror, drugs pose a significant threat to societies. Institutions play an important role to cope with those problems; however, different dimensions could be related to the responsibilities of different institutions. Institutional cooperation at the national and international level is an important way to overcome those problems. In the second part, this paper presents an example of national and international cooperation to reduce the problem of drugs in the society.

Undoubtly, globalization has been one of the most hotly-debated topics over the past few decay. Globalization broadly refers to the expansion of global linkages, the organization of social life on a global scale, and the growth of a global consciousness, hence to the consolidation of world society. Such an ecumenical definition captures much of what the term commonly means, but its meaning is disputed. It encompasses several large processes; hence,definitions differ in what they emphasize. Globalization is historically complex; definitions vary in the particular driving force they identify. The meaning of the term is itself a topic in global discussion. The current article tries to study on a subject that was not searched very much previously in terms of its severity. This study on the basis of the theories of basic human needs, social construction and human development, scrutinizes globalization as a process through which Money has become a deity on the throne of technology and as a consequence human beeings are becoming isolated by means of destroying ecology of human development. The result of this is violence and historical collapse. And unfortunately, the front victims of this process are the children and the young people.