Terrorism is like a chronic disease in the social and political arena, attributed largely to an unfair international order. As a matter of fact, international problems, terrorism included, are a reflection of domestic politics. As a result, the solution lies in improved internal governance.

In the early years of human history, all wars had the characteristics of terrorism. If a tribe encountered resistance from another in the process of expanding its territory, the opposing tribe would become its enemy. At a time when weapons were very simple, there were no striking differences between the armed and the unarmed and wars involved both civilians and soldiers. At that time, waging wars was actually a terrorist action. It was an age of land grabbing and in most cases wars were waged for the acquisition of new territory. It's impossible for indigenous people to live as neighbors of their conquerors, while at the same time being controlled by the latter's military. In this scenario the massacre of indigenous people became quite common. Viewed in another context, hunting, pasturing and terrorism in the farming age were all normal forms of war.

The establishment of nation states put an end to terrorist wars, but the birth of these states is also the very result of a series of social, economic and military events. The driving force for the establishment of these states is trade, as it is trading activities that make it possible for languages, characters and measurements to be unified and the unification of measurements proves to have further promoted the unification of languages. Colonial trading activities were usually peaceful, except when religious factors prevented the integration of alien merchants with local societies. Newcomers were often armed but their target was no longer land. If governments protected trading activities, it was easier for them to occur in a peaceful way.

However, the establishment of nation states occurred in an imbalanced way, which is thought to be the fundamental cause of the continuation of terrorism.

This planet is home to more than 100 countries, but few of them have undergone national revolutions. There are not many nation states and some are even short of basic conditions to build a nation state. Many states are made up of several tribes, with the state power resting in the hands of a military junta. The absence of a unified state system results in several political factions and continuous internal conflicts. Moreover, some political factions even govern by practicing Mafia-style tactics. Devoid of domestic equality, it is simple for the roots of international terrorism to take hold. It's easy to understand that the most effective way to strengthen a country's internal cohesion is to find a common enemy, which is naturally "Western imperialism," as Western wealth and power are always seen as the cause of the impoverishment of the rest of the world. Besides, in countries where national revolutions are ongoing, religious conflicts also reek of terrorism. While the big powers felt no threat from this kind of terrorism in the past, they chose to stand by and observe. It was not until terrorism knocked on their own doors that they began to sound the antiterror alarm.

Since it is related to domestic politics, there is hope that terrorism will be eradicated when these relationships improve.

Adam Smith (18th century Scottish political economist and philosopher) gave an excellent explanation of war modes and their nature. First, in order to safeguard people's interests, the state must take charge of wars and employ regular armies. Second, the establishment of a regular army is inevitable for the continuation of civilization or for the maintenance of the civilization for a long period of time. Third, never should the regular army endanger freedom, but in some cases it will help to ensure freedom; the existence of a regular army will strengthen the monarch's tolerance to protests and this will to some extent promote state freedom. Obviously, Adam Smith contributed his views from the perspective of the utilitarianism of economics.

In the present world, major modern states have all set up regular armies. Militia, if existing, is only a supplement to regular armies, while some countries have reserve services. Even in areas that see active terrorist activities, terrorism is illegal. It is when the government is weak that terrorism begins to get stronger.

Based on Adam Smith's theory, it's easy to come to this conclusion: An independent and strong regular army is necessary for internal peace and freedom, which, in turn, is the foundation to prevent the spread of international terrorism. It is also clear that a strong regular military force depends on the development of national economies and democratic politics. These, rather than "world cop," are the real foundation that is supporting world peace. Big powers can contribute to world peace, but they need to ponder over whether their existing strategies are the most appropriate.

The past 10 years have seen an increasing number of political organizations give up terrorist activities and turn to legitimate means to realize their objectives, especially after democratic politics had indicated that they were just "minorities" and thus were unable to represent the group of people they thought they were representing. Under these circumstances, they were obliged to change their political behaviors. This has already happened in Britain, Canada and Spain. Take Britain for example. Scotland has a party that has been struggling for Scottish independence for years, but it is a minority party. Fortunately, party leaders have never resorted to terrorist activities, preferring to act in accordance with the rules of democratic politics and try to struggle for the interests of the Scottish people through legal means. As a result, in the past years, the British Government has made a lot of concessions while the Scottish have been granted more autonomy. There are many similar examples, which show that human wisdom and tolerance are able to create realistic conditions for any reasonable political concept.

We must build up confidence for the prospect of global peace. Given the 3 million years of human history, the signing of the Geneva Convention seems to have happened just yesterday. Why should we feel pessimistic when we have already made great headway in less than 100 years? Compared with the extensive killings and wars in the age of barbarism, terrorism in the modern world is limited to regional problems. After World War II, the wave of peace alliances has been sweeping the globe, scoring high achievements. The European Union, for example, is a big success. We have almost realized that the more successful is internal governance, the less room there is left for international terrorism. Therefore, it's necessary for big powers to take the responsibility to help poor countries raise people's living standards, develop economies and improve politics. At least, these powers should avoid selling weapons to poor states. Many tribal states have to overcome numerous difficulties before they finish national revolutions and achieve the great leap forward in economic development. However, looking back on history, the victory of the revolution that took place in Western Europe 300 years ago also came about by overcoming various hardships. Human beings share a lot in common. In the process of historical development, some nations have taken a detour and have had to spend hundreds of years to find the right path, but ultimately all nations will reach a point of lasting peace.