The effectiveness of terrorism, and the use of fear (splash page rought draft)

What many believe to be one of the most effective weapons used by militant groups across the world is terrorism. Security is the one thing that is essential to every human being, and terrorism is used to threaten that. However the use of terror has backfired and it has lead to the people who were supposed to be struck in fear feeling even more confident. This brings up the question how effective is terrorism? In the novel Little Brother, Cory Doctrow provides us with some examples that I believe can help show his position on the issue. First it is hard to answer this question without a strong definition of terrorism. For now lets use a vague one of inducing fear in the public mind. In the novel, the terrorist attack on the bay bridge did bring fear to the minds of the public, and caused the DHS to crack down on the city of San Francisco. In this sense the terrorist attack was extremely effective. However this crack down caused an underground group to form of Xnetters, and they were percieved to be a terrorist group of their own.