In fighting against terrorism, national leaders are forced to regard all citizens as potential terrorists. In order for them to implement universal methods of protection, they have to infringe upon civil liberties, which can ultimately develop into a totalitarian regime. Ironically, as governments of many powerful industrial nations try to develop third world countries, they create a potential terrorist environment by allowing for greater immigration. If we are to analyze different effects globally, we notice that in the west a different type of social program is underway. For example, the citizens are trained to follow a systematic procedure to life, which involves following laws. The harsh punishments for infringements of these laws inhibit the flourishing of terrorist activities. Therefore when terrorist activities do manage to strike these societies, suddenly a new draconian form of law is exacted in the form of greater security, and more severe punishments. For example in the United States, after the attack on September 11, 2001, new airport laws were enforced, which involved multiple checks on luggage and belongings. In Jerusalem, Israel’s airline security team faced a legal challenge when they were accused of practicing ethnic racism by subjecting Arabs to “random” security checks. As a result, terrorist activity has promoted the practice of racism with regards to Muslims because they are associated with terrorism. This is highly flawed because the entire Muslim population is paying for the acts of a few rebel group. In essence, terrorism can cause society to change its views of other cultures and thus intensify feelings of discrimination in the world. Accordingly, terrorist acts have great potential to alter the structure of a society, and by mandating the development of new laws, these outbreaks can challenge the roots of a society.

On the positive side, political terrorism has sometimes strengthened national governments by fortifying them against lesser crimes. In Britain, small-scale bombings are usually caught before they are even executed because the government has built such an extensive security system, based on previous experience, that terrorism has been put on hold in the area.