Twenty-First Century Terrorism and National Security: An Assessment of Ghanaian Consciousness and Preparedness

Abstract

The dawn of the twenty-first century has been marred by the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States and brought to light the unexpected global debacle, terrorism. Most countries began to map out remedies and national policies to address the situation. Military spending shot up as many countries sought to resource their armies to guard against future terrorist attacks. However, the unconventional nature and continuous attack on civilians and public spaces increased efforts to create public awareness and consciousness among the civilian populace. This research, therefore, sets out to investigate the level of consciousness and preparedness of the Ghanaian populace about the threat of terrorism in public spaces. Drawing upon the United Kingdom’s “Prevent Strategy,” this research opines that respondents are not conscious of the threat of terrorist attacks in public spaces. Owing to the ever-growing threat of terrorism and increase in death tolls of the ordinary citizenry in most terrorist attacks, especially in parts of the African continent, this work finds relevance in assessing how conscious the populace is about the schemes of terrorists and signs that could lead to terrorism. Furthermore, as countries bordering Ghana have all felt the brunt of terrorism, the research engages the citizenry on their knowledge of terrorism threats in public places. The mixed survey method, with questionnaires and interviews, was used to collect primary data to achieve this objective. The research found that the majority of the respondents lacked the requisite knowledge to detect the signs that could lead to terrorism. The research recommends that a thorough awareness and consciousness creation campaign be launched and maintained throughout the country. Public spaces should be fitted with emergency directives to safeguard citizens from any terrorist attacks.