Ending terrorism; is nationbuilding the answer?

Summary: Terrorism, in all its horrifying forms, has been in use for ages and counter-terrorism measures have existed nearly as long. From brutal repression to negotiating and from bombing to buying them off, anything believed to have any success has been tried. Since the turn of the millennium terrorism has taken on a much more global profile than previously exhibited. This has resulted in an equally large-scale counter-terrorism measure: nationbuilding. In this thesis the effectiveness of nationbuilding as an instrument in fighting terrorism is examined. This includes a preliminary overview of nationbuilding measures in Afghanistan and Iraq, two countries currently undergoing nationbuilding and analyses the resulting effect(s) on terrorism. Lastly an attempt is made to quantify the effects of these two missions on the global terrorism scene. The results show that, while initially unsuccessful, both countries seem to be adjusting to their newfound selves and that the number of incidents and fatalities of terrorist activity are slowly decreasing. On the international side the results are much more of a mixed bag, suffering from odd counting practices and discrepancies. Overall there seems to have been a large reduction in the number of incidents, but it is unclear if these really ever were part of global terrorism.