Terrorism in Australia

                                          
        Globalization is not restricted by national boundaries.  According to Australian ( Source 1) the formation of the United Nations and the Soviet Union after World War II demonstrates the way in which globalization is slowly reducing the power of individual nations. The UN was a step towards creating an international governmental structure in which many nations can find representation.  Through this unity of nations, the traditional power of nation-states is decreasing, and the opportunities for separatist groups seeking division are increasing.  The increase in opportunities for separatist groups is leading to an increase in terrorism all over world.  This increase in terrorism is making nations with more power, like the United States and those nations in the European Union, make it harder for information, products, and people to cross international borders.  

  

 

Figure 1; Terrorist attack in Melbourne 

        These nations are essentially attempting to slow down globalization because it is leading to a very large increase in terrorism.  Global terrorism is forcing geographers to redefine geopolitics because global terrorism is making big nations shut down the sharing of information, thus hurting globalization and the unity of nations.(Source 3)  Although Australia does not receive many terrorist threats, they have recently raised their terrorism alert level to high, due to the threats on the US and the UK.  Since Australia is such a large country, a threat to one province would not affect another.  Australia is not threatened often, however, when they are, they take immediate actions.  The ABC news network (Source 2)  reported on when the police stopped a terrorist raid in Melbourne on August 4, 2009.  The police took action by arresting four suspected terrorists and then raiding four hundred homes in the locations the suspects lived, including Meadow Heights and Preston Melbourne.  This was the second largest counter-terrorism operation in the nation’s history.

By: Gabrielle Ramsay, Christie Johnson, and Tori Sanders

Work Cited: 

(Source 1) www.theaustralian.com.au
(Figure 1): http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/08/05/78027/ 

(Source 2) www.abc.net.au

(Source 3) Globalization and Diversity: Geography of a Changing World Textbook Edition 4