Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict, Security, grade: A, University of Aberdeen (Social Sciences), language: English, abstract: Since September 11th, 2001, Western democracies have been confronted with new threats in the form of Islamist terrorism. The attacks of 9/11 showed how vulnerable Western states are, despite their military presences around the globe. Over the years, the hope that the attacks of 2001 would not reoccur has been destroyed following other attacks, such as the train attacks in Madrid in 2004, the London bombings in 2005, the Paris attacks of 2015, the attack on Brussels in 2016, and the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016. Terrorism has arrived on European soil. A new form of terrorism arose with 9/11, which Dr. Peter Neumann, from Kings College London and a leading expert on terrorism in Europe, categorises as being transnationally orientated and religiously motivated. This new form of terrorism, international Islamist terrorism, has become an unpredictable threat, difficult to counter. Since 2001, however, several counter measures, regarding internal security, have been implemented in European countries to prevent terrorist attacks. Particularly in Germany, one question has dominated the political stage: whether the use of the German Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr, on German soil to fight terrorism should be allowed. This question came to the fore when the Federal Minister of Defence stated 'Germany is still in the focus of the international terrorism'.