September 11 terrorist attacks impact

Studies performed several years prior to September 11, 2001 showed that terrorist incidents around the world declined somewhat, while the severity of individual attacks increased dramatically.1 The motivation for terrorist acts has shifted in recent years from being politically driven to having a more fatalistic orientation. Current-day terrorism is increasingly motivated by body count, and more often than not is religiously or ethnically motivated. While politically motivated terrorism tends to limit the amount of violence in order to ensure that it does not impact supporters sympathy for its cause, today s nihilistic terrorism is more simply focused on massive death and destruction of property. 

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