Anarchism can be defined as “a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society or anarchy.” Anarchists are socialists with beliefs like free sexual lives, libertarian education, and opposition to organized labor. The only difference is that they accommodate money market and private property ownership, which are characteristic of individualistic rather than social belief.
On the other hand, “Socialism is an economic and political theory advocating public or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources.” Unlike anarchists, they support states with political and economic power is vested in the central organizing body.
These two activists have largely contributed to today’s acts of terrorism. They led to opposing ideas adopted by major superpowers like the Americans and the Soviet Union. “Anarchism ideology never penetrated well in the world due to resistance it meets both in the Soviet Union and America in the early 19th century.” Its growth led to a certain alignment of countries during the post-cold war period. It became a major political and economic block that sought challenge and dominance over capitalists like the United States of America. This division still survived after the cold war and today can be described as one of the major causes of international terrorism.
Activists in socialism and anarchism faced detention and exiles where their states were opposed to their ideologies. However, these acts worked to strengthen their movements. An example is the growth of anarchism after the French revolution fueled by exiled anarchist Ernest Cœurderoy. Today activists in exiles continue with the same tactics to spread their ideologies. With increased human rights favoring them, they access information easily, and through writing and speeches, they make statements that not only fuel violence but encourage other activists to continue spreading their ideologies to the world.
The United States of America, being a superpower and a major target of terrorism, could opt to go after such people. However, any attempt to crash a movement has fueled more conflicts with the smaller terrorist group joining to crush the dominance of the United States. The solution relies on befriending governments hosting these people so that they can deal with the issue internally without attracting worldwide attention. This could be strengthened by forming bodies that govern the rights and behaviors of people in exile within respective countries.