40% of Guyanese worried about terrorism

Terrorism has recently emerged as another key security issue to Guyanese, with an estimated 40% saying they have concerns.

The United States Agency for International Develop-ment (USAID) funded and published the brief report “Citizen Fears of Terrorism in the Americas,” which was informed by the 2010 Americas Barometer survey. The survey pointed to around 40% of locals who said they are worried.

For the year, Guyanese Abdul Kadir and Guyana-born US citizen Russell Defreitas went to trial and were convicted for their involvement in the JFK terror plot. In addition, the US named Guyanese Adnan el-Shukrijumah as the head of al-Qaeda operations; he was once spotted in Guyana.

Colombia and Peru, two countries that have suffered from numerous terrorist attacks, are found in the top tier of the list of countries, with mean levels of worry of 67.3% and 63.0%, respectively. The levels of worry are strikingly low in Jamaica, Argentina, and especially Uruguay, according to the survey.

The United States secured a placement in the middle of the scale, which the report said makes sense in light of the fact that economic decline vied for the public’s attention in 2010, while the public’s concern about terrorism likely had been dulled by nearly nine years of repeated terror alerts typically followed by little to no sign of terrorist activity.

Based on the survey, 29.6% of respondents in 25 countries in the Americas indicated an issue related to security when asked about the most serious problem facing the country. The survey showed that worry about the threat of violent attacks by extremist individuals and groups is relatively high in many countries in the Americas, which the researchers found to be consistent with a reality in which both international and domestic terrorism is becoming more lethal, sophisticated, and brazen.

But the analysis showed that, in statistical terms, countries in which the rule of law is strong are those in which citizens are less worried about terrorism.

The researchers opined that it could be that such environments are less likely to breed extremists, either because efficient, well-executed, professional security policies act to prevent the growth of terrorist activity, or because such features and a general respect for individuals’ legal rights stymies attempts by extremists to convert others to their cause.

Alternatively, they submitted that the rule of law variable may simply proxy for the general state of security in the country, leaving individuals feeling more secure with respect to terrorism, but likely also to other types of crime, in contexts where the rule of law is judged to be comparatively high. “Regardless of which interpretation, or whether a mixture of these interpretations, is most accurate, the results at least suggest the utility of a strong rule of law for promoting feelings of security, in this case with respect to concern about terrorist attacks,” the report said.

In short, the ability of a state to maintain well functioning courts and security forces that ensure rights and oversee a relatively peaceful citizenry is key to promoting perceptions of protection from the threat of terrorism, the report added.

The report continued that non-military targets, typically for political purposes, has had a greater presence in some countries in the Americas, such as Colombia and Peru, but terrorist acts have been recorded elsewhere in recent years including Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador. But even in countries that have not experienced significant terrorist attacks, many citizens expressed concerns about terrorism so that, on average, “worry about terrorism in the Americas is relatively high,” the report stated.

The authors of the study are Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, Vanderbilt University Daniel Montalvo, Vanderbilt University Jennifer L. Merolla, Claremont Graduate University  The Insights Series is co-edited by Profes-sors Mitchell A.

Seligson and Elizabeth Zechmeister with administrative,technical, and intellectual support from the LAPOP group at Vanderbilt Universi-ty.

Funding for the AmericasBarometer has mainly come from the United States Agency for Interna-tional Development (US-AID).

Important additional support has come from the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and Vanderbilt University.