Terrorism is the systematic use of
terror especially as a means of
coercion.At present, there is no internationally
agreed
definition of
terrorism. Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those
violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are
perpetrated for an ideological goal (as opposed to a lone attack),
and deliberately target or disregard the safety of
non-combatants.
Some definitions also include acts of
unlawful
violence and war. The history of terrorist organizations suggests
that they do not select terrorism for its political effectiveness.
Individual terrorists tend to be motivated more by a desire for
social solidarity with other members of their organization than by
political platforms or strategic objectives, which are often murky
and undefined.
The word "terrorism" is politically and emotionally charged, and
this greatly compounds the difficulty of providing a precise
definition. Studies have found over 100 definitions of “terrorism”.
The concept of terrorism is itself controversial because it is
often used by states to delegitimize political or foreign
opponents, and potentially legitimize the state's own use of terror
against them. A less politically and emotionally charged, and
better defined, term (used not only for terrorists, and not
including all those who have been described as terrorists) is
violent non-state
actor.
Terrorism has been practiced by a broad array of political
organizations for furthering their objectives. It has been
practiced by both right-wing and left-wing political parties,
nationalistic groups, religious groups,
revolutionaries, and ruling governments. One form is the use of
violence against
noncombatants for the
purpose of gaining publicity for a group, cause, or
individual.
Origin of term
"Terror" comes from a Latin word meaning "to frighten". The
terror cimbricus was a panic and state of emergency in
Rome in response to the approach of warriors of the
Cimbri tribe in 105BC. The
Jacobins cited this precedent when imposing a
Reign of Terror during the French
Revolution. After the Jacobins lost power, the word "terrorist"
became a term of abuse. Although the Reign of Terror was imposed by
a government, in modern times "terrorism" usually refers to the
killing of innocent people by a private group in such a way as to
create a media spectacle. This meaning can be traced back to
Sergey Nechayev, who described
himself as a "terrorist". Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist
group "People's Retribution" (Народная расправа) in 1869.
In November 2004, a
United Nations Security
Council report described terrorism as any act "intended to
cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants
with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a
government or an international organization to do or abstain from
doing any act". .
In many countries, acts of terrorism are legally distinguished from
criminal acts done for other purposes, and "terrorism" is defined
by statute; see
definition
of terrorism for particular definitions. Common principles
among legal definitions of terrorism provide an emerging consensus
as to meaning and also foster cooperation between law enforcement
personnel in different countries. Among these definitions there are
several that do not recognize the possibility of
legitimate use of violence by
civilians against an invader in an
occupied country. Other definitions
would label as terrorist groups only the
resistance movements that oppose an
invader with violent acts that undiscriminately kill or harm
civilians and non-combatants, thus making a distinction between
lawful and unlawful use of violence. Ultimately, the distinction is
a
political judgment.
Key criteria
Official definitions determine counter-terrorism policy, and are
often developed to serve it. Most government definitions outline
the following key criteria: target, objective, motive, perpetrator,
and legitimacy or legality of the act. Terrorism is also often
recognizable by a following statement from the perpetrators.
Violence – According to Walter Laqueur of the
Center
for Strategic and International Studies, "the only general
characteristic of terrorism generally agreed upon is that terrorism
involves violence and the threat of violence". However, the
criterion of violence alone does not produce a useful definition,
as it includes many acts not usually considered terrorism:
war,
riot,
organized crime, or even a simple
assault. Property destruction that does not endanger
life is not usually considered a
violent
crime, but some have described property destruction by the
Earth Liberation Front and
Animal Liberation Front as
violence and terrorism; see
eco-terrorism.
Psychological impact and fear – The attack was
carried out in such a way as to maximize the severity and length of
the psychological impact. Each act of terrorism is a “performance”
devised to have an impact on many large audiences. Terrorists also
attack national symbols, to show power and to attempt to shake the
foundation of the country or society they are opposed to. This may
negatively affect a government, while increasing the prestige of
the given
terrorist
organization and/or
ideology behind a
terrorist act.
Perpetrated for a political goal – Something that
many acts of terrorism have in common is a political purpose.
Terrorism is a political tactic, like letter-writing or protesting,
which is used by activists when they believe that no other means
will effect the kind of change they desire. The change is desired
so badly that failure to achieve change is seen as a worse outcome
than the deaths of civilians. This is often where the
inter-relationship between
terrorism
and religion occurs. When a political struggle is integrated
into the framework of a religious or "cosmic" struggle, such as
over the control of an ancestral homeland or holy site such as
Israel and Jerusalem, failing in the political goal (nationalism)
becomes equated with spiritual failure, which, for the highly
committed, is worse than their own death or the deaths of innocent
civilians. One definition that combines the key elements was
developed at the George C. Marshall Center for European Security
Studies by Carsten Bockstette: "Terrorism is defined as political
violence in an asymmetrical conflict that is designed to induce
terror and psychic fear (sometimes indiscriminate) through the
violent victimization and destruction of noncombatant targets
(sometimes iconic symbols). Such acts are meant to send a message
from an illicit clandestine organization. The purpose of terrorism
is to exploit the media in order to achieve maximum attainable
publicity as an amplifying force multiplier in order to influence
the targeted audience(s) in order to reach short- and midterm
political goals and/or desired long-term end states."
Deliberate targeting of non-combatants – The
distinctive nature of terrorism lies in its intentional and
specific selection of
civilians as direct
targets. Specifically, the criminal intent is shown when babies,
children, mothers and the elderly are murdered, or injured and put
in harm's way. Much of the time, the victims of terrorism are
targeted not because they are threats, but because they are
specific "symbols, tools, animals or corrupt beings" that tie into
a specific view of the world that the terrorists possess. Their
suffering accomplishes the terrorists' goals of instilling fear,
getting their message out to an audience or otherwise satisfying
the demands of their often radical religious and political
agendas.
Unlawfulness or illegitimacy – Some official
(notably government) definitions of terrorism add a criterion of
illegitimacy or unlawfulness to distinguish between actions
authorized by a government (and thus "lawful") and those of other
actors, including individuals and small groups. Using this
criterion, actions that would otherwise qualify as terrorism would
not be considered terrorism if they were government sanctioned. For
example, firebombing a city, which is designed to affect civilian
support for a cause, would not be considered terrorism if it were
authorized by a government. This criterion is inherently
problematic and is not universally accepted, because: it denies the
existence of
state terrorism; the
same act may or may not be classed as terrorism depending on
whether its sponsorship is traced to a "legitimate" government;
"legitimacy" and "lawfulness" are subjective, depending on the
perspective of one government or another; and it diverges from the
historically accepted meaning and origin of the term. For these
reasons, this criterion is not universally accepted; most
dictionary definitions of the term do not include this
criterion.
Pejorative use
The terms "terrorism" and
"terrorist" (someone who
engages in terrorism) carry strong negative connotations. These
terms are often used as political labels, to condemn violence or
the threat of violence by certain actors as immoral,
indiscriminate, unjustified or to condemn an entire segment of a
population. Those labeled "terrorists" by their opponents rarely
identify themselves as such, and typically use other terms or terms
specific to their situation, such as
separatist,
freedom
fighter, liberator,
revolutionary,
vigilante,
militant,
paramilitary,
guerrilla,
rebel or any similar-meaning word in other
languages and cultures.
Jihadi,
mujaheddin, and
fedayeen
are similar Arabic words which have entered the English lexicon. It
is common for both parties to a conflict to describe each other as
terrorists.
On the question of whether particular terrorist acts, such as
killing civilians, can be justified as the lesser evil in a
particular circumstance, philosophers have expressed different
views: while, according to David Rodin,
utilitarian philosophers can (in theory)
conceive of cases in which the evil of terrorism is outweighed by
the good which could not be achieved in a less morally costly way,
in practice the "harmful effects of undermining the convention of
non-combatant immunity is thought to outweigh the goods that may be
achieved by particular acts of terrorism". Among the
non-utilitarian philosophers,
Michael
Walzer argued that terrorism can be morally justified in only
one specific case: when "a nation or community faces the extreme
threat of complete destruction and the only way it can preserve
itself is by intentionally targeting non-combatants, then it is
morally entitled to do so".
In his book "
Inside Terrorism" Bruce Hoffman wrote in
Chapter One: Defining Terrorism that
- "On one point, at least, everyone agrees: terrorism is a
pejorative term. It is a word with intrinsically negative
connotations that is generally applied to one's enemies and
opponents, or to those with whom one disagrees and would otherwise
prefer to ignore. 'What is called terrorism,' Brian Jenkins has
written, `'thus seems to depend on one's point of view. Use of the
term implies a moral judgment; and if one party can successfully
attach the label terrorist to its opponent, then it has indirectly
persuaded others to adopt its moral viewpoint.' Hence the decision
to call someone or label some organization `terrorist' becomes
almost unavoidably subjective, depending largely on whether one
sympathizes with or opposes the person/group/cause concerned. If
one identifies with the victim of the violence, for example, then
the act is terrorism. If, however, one identifies with the
perpetrator, the violent act is regarded in a more sympathetic, if
not positive (or, at the worst, an ambivalent) light; and it is not
terrorism."
The pejorative connotations of the word can be summed up in the
aphorism, "One man's terrorist is another
man's freedom fighter". This is exemplified when a group using
irregular military methods is an
ally of a
state against a mutual
enemy, but later falls out with the state and starts to use those
methods against its former ally. During
World War II, the
Malayan People’s
Anti-Japanese Army was allied with the British, but during the
Malayan Emergency, members of its
successor (the
Malayan
Races Liberation Army), were branded "terrorists" by the
British.
More recently, Ronald Reagan and others in the American
administration frequently called the Afghan Mujahideen "freedom
fighters" during their
war against the Soviet
Union
, yet twenty years later, when a new generation of
Afghan men are fighting against what they perceive to be a regime
installed by foreign powers, their attacks are labelled "terrorism"
by George W. Bush. Groups accused of terrorism
understandably prefer terms reflecting legitimate military or
ideological action.
Leading terrorism researcher Professor Martin
Rudner, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and
Security Studies at Ottawa's Carleton University
, defines "terrorist acts" as attacks against
civilians for political or other ideological goals, and goes on to
say "There is the famous statement: 'One man's terrorist is another
man's freedom fighter.' But that is grossly misleading. It
assesses the validity of the cause when terrorism is an act. One
can have a perfectly beautiful cause and yet if one commits
terrorist acts, it is terrorism regardless."
Some groups, when involved in a "liberation" struggle, have been
called "terrorists" by the Western governments or media. Later,
these same persons, as leaders of the liberated nations, are called
"statesmen" by similar organizations. Two examples of this
phenomenon are the
Nobel Peace
Prize laureates
Menachem Begin
and
Nelson Mandela.
Sometimes states which are close allies, for reasons of history,
culture and politics, can disagree over whether or not members of a
certain organization are terrorists. For instance, for many years,
some branches of the United States government refused to label
members of the
Irish
Republican Army (IRA) as terrorists while the IRA was using
methods against one of the United States' closest allies (Britain)
which Britain branded as terrorism. This was highlighted by the
Quinn v. Robinson case.
For these and other reasons, media outlets wishing to preserve a
reputation for impartiality are extremely careful in their use of
the term.
Types
In early
1975, the Law Enforcement
Assistant Administration in the United States
formed the National Advisory Committee on Criminal
Justice Standards and Goals. One of the five volumes that
the committee wrote was entitled
Disorders and Terrorism,
produced by the Task Force on Disorders and Terrorism under the
direction of H.H.A. Cooper, Director of the Task Force staff.The
Task Force classified terrorism into six categories.
- Civil disorder –
A form of collective violence interfering with the peace, security, and normal
functioning of the community.
- Political terrorism – Violent criminal behaviour designed primarily to
generate fear in the community, or substantial
segment of it, for political purposes.
- Non-Political terrorism – Terrorism that is
not aimed at political purposes but which
exhibits “conscious design to create and maintain high degree of
fear for coercive purposes, but the end is
individual or collective gain rather than the achievement of a
political objective.”
- Quasi-terrorism – The activities incidental to
the commission of crimes of violence that are similar in form and method to
genuine terrorism but which nevertheless lack its essential
ingredient. It is not the main purpose of the quasi-terrorists to
induce terror in the immediate victim as in the case of genuine
terrorism, but the quasi-terrorist uses the modalities and
techniques of the genuine terrorist and produces similar
consequences and reaction. For example, the fleeing felon who takes hostages is a
quasi-terrorist, whose methods are similar to those of the genuine
terrorist but whose purposes are quite different.
- Limited political terrorism – Genuine
political terrorism is characterized by a revolutionary approach; limited political
terrorism refers to “acts of terrorism which are committed for
ideological or political motives but which are not part of a
concerted campaign to capture
control of the state.
- Official or state
terrorism –"referring to nations whose rule is based
upon fear and oppression that reach similar to terrorism or
such proportions.” It may also be referred to as Structural
Terrorism defined broadly as terrorist acts carried out by
governments in pursuit of political objectives, often as part of
their foreign policy.
In an analysis prepared for U.S. Intelligence four typologies are
mentioned.
- Nationalist-separatist
- Religious fundamentalist
- New religious
- Social revolutionary
Democracy and domestic terrorism
The relationship between domestic terrorism and democracy is very
complex. Terrorism is most common in nations with intermediate
political freedom, and is least common in the most democratic
nations.However, one study suggests that suicide terrorism may be
an exception to this general rule. Evidence regarding this
particular method of terrorism reveals that every modern suicide
campaign has targeted a democracy- a state with a considerable
degree of political freedom. The study suggests that concessions
awarded to terrorists during the 1980s and 1990s for suicide
attacks increased their frequency.
Some
examples of "terrorism" in non-democracies include ETA in Spain under Francisco
Franco, the Shining Path in Peru
under Alberto Fujimori, the
Kurdistan Workers Party when
Turkey
was ruled by military leaders and the ANC in South Africa. Democracies, such as
the United
States
, Israel
, Indonesia
, India
, and the
Philippines
, have also experienced domestic
terrorism.
While a democratic nation espousing civil liberties may claim a
sense of higher moral ground than other regimes, an act of
terrorism within such a state may cause a perceived dilemma:
whether to maintain its civil liberties and thus risk being
perceived as ineffective in dealing with the problem; or
alternatively to restrict its civil liberties and thus risk
delegitimizing its claim of supporting civil liberties. This
dilemma, some social theorists would conclude, may very well play
into the initial plans of the acting terrorist(s); namely, to
delegitimize the state.
Religious terrorism
Religious terrorism is terrorism performed by
groups or individuals, the motivation of which is typically rooted
in the
faith based tenets. Terrorist acts
throughout the centuries have been performed on religious grounds
with the hope to either spread or enforce a system of belief,
viewpoint or opinion. Religious terrorism does not in itself
necessarily define a specific religious standpoint or view, but
instead usually defines an individual or a group view or
interpretation of that belief system's teachings.
Perpetrators
The
perpetrators of acts of terrorism
can be individuals, groups, or states. According to some
definitions, clandestine or semi-clandestine state actors may also
carry out terrorist acts outside the framework of a state of war.
However,
the most common image of terrorism is that it is carried out by
small and secretive cells, highly
motivated to serve a particular cause and many of the most deadly
operations in recent times, such as the September 11 attacks, the London underground bombing, and
the 2002 Bali
bombing
were planned and carried out by a close clique,
composed of close friends, family members and other strong social
networks. These groups benefited from the free flow of
information and efficient
telecommunications to succeed where
others had failed.
Over the years, many people have attempted to come up with a
terrorist profile to attempt to
explain these individuals' actions through their psychology and
social circumstances. Others, like Roderick Hindery, have sought to
discern profiles in the propaganda tactics used by terrorists. Some
security organizations designate these groups as
violent
non-state actors.
It has been found that a "terrorist" will look, dress, and behave
like a normal person, until he or she executes the assigned
mission. Some claim that terrorist profiling based on personality,
physical, or sociological traits would not appear to be
particularly useful. The physical and behavioral description of the
terrorist could describe almost any normal person. However, the
majority of terrorist attacks are carried out by military age men,
aged 16–40.
Terrorist groups
State sponsors
A state can sponsor terrorism by funding or harboring a terrorist
organization. Opinions as to which acts of violence by states
consist of state-sponsored terrorism or not vary widely. When
states provide funding for groups considered by some to be
terrorist, they rarely acknowledge them as such.
State terrorism
As with "terrorism" the concept of "state terrorism" is
controversial. The Chairman of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism
Committee has stated that the Committee was conscious of the 12
international Conventions on the subject, and none of them referred
to State terrorism, which was not an international legal concept.
If States abused their power, they should be judged against
international conventions dealing with
war
crimes, international
human rights
and
international
humanitarian law. Former
United
Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan has said that it is "time to
set aside debates on so-called 'state terrorism'. The
use of force by states is already
thoroughly regulated under international law" However, he also made
clear that, "...regardless of the differences between governments
on the question of definition of terrorism, what is clear and what
we can all agree on is any deliberate attack on innocent civilians,
regardless of one's cause, is unacceptable and fits into the
definition of terrorism."
State terrorism has been used to refer to terrorist acts by
governmental agents or forces. This involves the use of state
resources employed by a state's foreign policies, such as using its
military to directly perform acts of terrorism. Professor of
Political Science, Michael Stohl cites the examples that include
Germany’s bombing of London and the U.S. atomic destruction of
Hiroshima during World War II. He argues
that “the use of terror tactics is common in international
relations and the state has been and remains a more likely employer
of terrorism within the international system than insurgents." They
also cite the
First strike option as an
example of the "terror of coercive diplomacy" as a form of this,
which holds the world hostage with the implied threat of using
nuclear weapons in "crisis management." They argue that the
institutionalized form of terrorism has occurred as a result of
changes that took place following World War II. In this analysis,
state terrorism exhibited as a form of foreign policy was shaped by
the presence and use of weapons of mass destruction, and that the
legitimizing of such violent behavior led to an increasingly
accepted form of this state behavior. (Michael Stohl, “The
Superpowers and International Terror” Paper presented at the Annual
Meeting of the International Studies Association, Atlanta, March
27-April 1, 1984;"Terrible beyond Endurance? The Foreign Policy of
State Terrorism." 1988;The State as Terrorist: The Dynamics of
Governmental Violence and Repression, 1984P49).
State terrorism has also been used to describe peace-time actions
by governmental agents or Neel Anand, such as the bombing of
Pan Am Flight 103.
Charles Stewart Parnell described
William Gladstone's
Irish Coercion Act as terrorism in his
"no-Rent manifesto" in 1881, during the
Irish Land War. The concept is also used to
describe
political repressions
by governments against their own civilian population with the
purpose to incite fear. For example, taking and executing civilian
hostages or
extrajudicial elimination campaigns
are commonly considered "terror" or terrorism, for example during
Red Terror or
Great Terror. Such actions are often also
described as
democide which has been argued
to be equivalent to state terrorism. Empirical studies on this have
found that democracies have little democide.
Tactics
Terrorism is a form of
asymmetric
warfare, and is more common when direct
conventional warfare either cannot be
(due to differentials in available forces) or is not being used to
resolve the underlying conflict.
The context in which terrorist tactics are used is often a
large-scale, unresolved political
conflict.
The type of conflict varies widely; historical examples include:
- Secession of a territory to form a new
sovereign state
- Dominance of territory or resources by various ethnic groups
- Imposition of a particular form of government
- Economic deprivation of a population
- Opposition to a domestic government or occupying army
- Religious fanatism
Terrorist attacks are often targeted to maximize fear and
publicity, usually using
explosives or
poison. There is concern about terrorist
attacks employing
weapons of
mass destruction. Terrorist organizations usually methodically
plan attacks in advance, and may train participants, plant
"undercover" agents, and raise money from supporters or through
organized crime. Communication may
occur through modern
telecommunications, or through
old-fashioned methods such as
couriers.
Responses
Responses to terrorism are broad in scope. They can include
re-alignments of the
political
spectrum and reassessments of
fundamental values. The term
counter-terrorism has a narrower connotation,
implying that it is directed at terrorist actors.
Specific types of responses include:
- Targeted laws, criminal procedures, deportations, and enhanced
police powers
- Target hardening, such as locking doors or adding traffic
barriers
- Preemptive or reactive military action
- Increased intelligence and surveillance activities
- Preemptive humanitarian activities
- More permissive interrogation and detention policies
Mass media
Media exposure may be a primary goal of those carrying out
terrorism, to expose issues that would otherwise be ignored by the
media. Some consider this to be manipulation and exploitation of
the media. Others consider terrorism itself to be a symptom of a
highly controlled mass media, which does not otherwise give voice
to alternative viewpoints, a view expressed by
Paul Watson who has stated that controlled media
is responsible for terrorism, because "you cannot get your
information across any other way". Paul Watson's organization
Sea Shepherd has itself been branded
"
eco-terrorist", although it claims to
have not caused any casualties.
The internet has created a new channel for groups to spread their
messages. This has created a cycle of measures and counter measures
by groups in support of and in opposition to terrorist movements.
In fact, the United Nations has created its own online
counter-terrorism resource.
The mass media will, on occasion censor organizations involved in
terrorism (through self-restraint or regulation) to discourage
further terrorism. However, this may encourage organizations to
perform more extreme acts of terrorism to be shown in the mass
media. Conversely
James F. Pastor explains the significant relationship
between terrorism and the media, and the underlying benefit each
receives from the other.
History

Number of terrorist incidents 2009
(January–June)
The term "terrorism" was originally used to describe the actions of
the
Jacobin Club during the "
Reign of Terror" in the
French Revolution. "Terror is nothing
other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible," said Jacobin
leader
Maximilien
Robespierre. In 1795,
Edmund Burke
denounced the Jacobins for letting "thousands of those hell-hounds
called Terrorists...loose on the people" of France.
In January 1858, Italian patriot
Felice
Orsini threw three bombs in an attempt to assassinate French
Emperor
Napoleon III. Eight bystanders
were killed and 142 injured. The incident played a crucial role as
an inspiration for the development of the early Russian terrorist
groups.
Russian Sergey Nechayev, who founded People's
Retribution in 1869, described himself as a "terrorist", an early
example of the term being employed in its modern meaning.
Nechayev's story is told in fictionalized form by
Fyodor Dostoevsky in the novel
The Possessed. German
anarchist writer
Johann Most dispensed
"advice for terrorists" in the 1880s.
See also
State terrorism:
Further reading
- Bockstette, Carsten: "Jihadist Terrorist Use of Strategic Communication
Management Techniques" George C. Marshall Center for European
Security Studies Occasional Paper Series, Volume 20, Dezember 2008,
ISSN 1863-6039, pp. 1–28
- Christian Buder, "Die Todesstrafe, Tabu und Terror",
VDM-Verlag, Saarbrücken, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8364-5163-5
- Köchler, Hans (ed.),
Terrorism and National Liberation. Proceedings of the
International Conference on the Question of Terrorism.
Frankfurt a. M./Bern/New York: Peter Lang, 1988, ISBN
3-8204-1217-4
- Köchler, Hans. Manila Lectures 2002. Terrorism and
the Quest for a Just World Order. Quezon City (Manila): FSJ
Book World, 2002, ISBN 0-9710791-2-9
- Laqueur, Walter. No End to War - Terrorism in the 21st
century, New York, 2003, ISBN 0-8264-1435-4
- Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth & K. Lee Lerner, eds. Terrorism
: essential primary sources. Thomson Gale, 2006. ISBN
9781414406213 Library of Congress. Jefferson or Adams Bldg General
or Area Studies Reading Rms LC Control Number: 2005024002.
- Lewis, Jeff, Language Wars: The Role of Media and Culture in
Global Terror and Political Violence, Pluto Books, London,
2005.
- Lieberman, David M. Sorting the revolutionary from the terrorist: The
delicate application of the "Political Offense" exception in U.S.
extradition case, Stanford Law Review, Volume 59, Issue 1,
2006, pp. 181–211
- Matovic, Violeta, Suicide Bombers Who's Next,
Belgrade, The National Counter Terrorism Committee, ISBN
978-86-908309-2-3
- Sunga, Lyal S., US
Anti-Terrorism Policy and Asia’s Options, in Johannen, Smith and
Gomez, (eds.) September 11 & Political Freedoms: Asian
Perspectives (Select) (2002) 242–264.
- Arno Tausch 'Against Islamophobia.
Quantitative analyses of global terrorism, world political cycles
and center periphery structures' Hauppauge, N.Y.: Nova Science
Publishers (for info: https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/),
2007
- Charles Tilly, Terror,
Terrorism, Terrorists in Sociological Theory (2004) 22, 5-13
online
- Schmid, Alex (Ed.) [5299], UN Forum on Crime and Society. Special
Issue on Terrorism. 2004, Vol 4:1/2.
References
- Angus Martyn, The Right of Self-Defence under International
Law-the Response to the Terrorist Attacks of 11 September,
Australian Law and Bills Digest Group, Parliament of Australia Web
Site, 12 February 2002
- Thalif Deen. POLITICS: U.N. Member States Struggle to Define
Terrorism, Inter Press Service, 25 July 2005
- Hoffman, Bruce "Inside Terrorism" Columbia University
Press 1998 ISBN 0-231-11468-0. Page 32. See review in The
New York
Times Inside Terrorism
- Schmid, Alex, and Jongman, Albert. Political Terrorism: A new
guide to actors, authors, concepts, data bases, theories and
literature. Amsterdam ; New York : North-Holland ; New Brunswick:
Transaction Books, 1988.
- "politically motivated violence perpetrated against
noncombatant"
- Crenshaw, Martha, Terrorism in Context, p. 77.
- B'Tselem Head of ISA defines a terrorist as any
Palestinian killed by Israel
- Rodin, David (2006). Terrorism. In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge
- Hoffman, Bruce "Inside Terrorism" Columbia University
Press 1998 ISBN 0-231-11468-0. Page 32. See review in The
New York
Times Inside Terrorism Google cached copy
- Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army Britannica
Concise
- Dr Chris Clark , 16 June 2003
- Ronald Reagan, speech to National Conservative
Political Action Conference 8 March, 1985. On the Spartacus
Educational web site
- President Discusses Progress in War on Terrorism to
National Guard White House web site February 9, 2006
- Sudha Ramachandran Death behind the wheel in Iraq Asian Times, November 12,
2004, "Insurgent groups that use suicide attacks therefore do not
like their attacks to be described as suicide terrorism. They
prefer to use terms like "martyrdom ..."
- Alex Perry How Much to Tip the Terrorist? Time Magazine, September
26, 2005. "The Tamil Tigers would dispute that tag, of course. Like
other guerrillas and suicide bombers, they prefer the term “freedom
fighters.”
- Terrorism: concepts, causes, and conflict
resolution George Mason University
Institute for
Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Printed by the Defense Threat
Reduction Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, January 2003
- Humphreys, Adrian. "One official's 'refugee' is another's
'terrorist'", National Post, January 17, 2006.
- Theodore P. Seto The Morality of Terrorism Includes a list in the
Times published on July 23,
1946 which were described as Jewish terrorist actions, including
those launched by Irgun which Begin was a leading member
- BBC News: Profiles: Menachem Begin BBC website
"Under Begin's command, the underground terrorist group Irgun
carried out numerous acts of violence."
- Eqbal Ahmad " Straight talk on terrorism" Monthly Review,
January, 2002. "including Menachem Begin, appearing in "Wanted"
posters saying, "Terrorists, reward this much." The highest reward
I have seen offered was 100,000 British pounds for the head of
Menachem Begin"
- NEWS: World: Middle East: Sharon's legacy does not
include peace BBC website "Ariel Sharon will be compared to
Menachem Begin, another warrior turned statesman, who gave up the
Sinai and made peace with Egypt."
- Lord Desai Hansard, House of Lords 3 September 1998 :
Column 72, "However, Jomo Kenyatta, Nelson Mandela and Menachem
Begin — to give just three examples — were all denounced as
terrorists but all proved to be successful political leaders of
their countries and good friends of the United Kingdom."
- BBC NEWS:World: Americas: UN reforms receive mixed
response BBC website "Of all groups active in recent times, the
ANC perhaps represents best the traditional dichotomous view of
armed struggle. Once regarded by western governments as a terrorist
group, it now forms the legitimate, elected government of South
Africa, with Nelson Mandela one of the world's genuinely iconic
figures."
- BBC NEWS: World: Africa: Profile: Nelson
Mandela BBC website "Nelson Mandela remains one of the world's
most revered statesman"
- Quinn v. Robinson (pdf), 783 F2d. 776 (9th Cir.
1986)(PDF), web site of the Syracuse University College
of Law
- Page 17, Northern Ireland: TP , T , S 11 (PDF)
Queen's University Belfast School
of Law
- Disorders and Terrorism, National Advisory Committee on
Criminal Justice Standards and Goals (Washington D.C.:1976)
- Hudson, Rex A. Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why: The 1999
Government Report on Profiling Terrorists, Federal Research
Division, The Lyons Press,2002
- Pape, Robert A. "The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism,"
American Political Science Review, 2003. 97 (3): pp. 1–19.
- shabad, goldie and francisco jose llera ramo. "Political
Violence in a Democratic State," Terrorism in Context. Ed. Martha
Crenshaw. University Park: Pennsylvania State University, 1995.
pp467.
- Library of Congress – Federal Research Division
The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism
- Nicolas Werth, Karel Bartošek, Jean-Louis Panné, Jean-Louis
Margolin, Andrzej Paczkowski, Stéphane Courtois, The
Black Book of Communism: Crimes,
Terror, Repression, Harvard University Press,
1999, hardcover, 858 pages, ISBN 0-674-07608-7
- Death by Government By R.J. Rummel New Brunswick, N.J.:
Transaction Publishers, 1994. Online links: [1][2][3]
- No Lessons Learned from the Holocaust? , Barbara
Harff, 2003.
- Suicide bombings are the most effective terrorist act in this
regard. See the following works: * * * Cited in
- The Media and Terrorism: A Reassessment Paul Wilkinson. Terrorism and
Political Violence, Vol.9, No.2 (Summer 1997), pp.51–64 Published
by Frank Cass, London.
- Burke, Edmund. “Letter No. IV. To the Earl Fitzwilliam.”
(1795). Select Works of Edmund Burke: Vol. 3 Letters on a
Regicide Peace. Indiniapolis: Liberty Fund. 1999. p. 371.
- Crenshaw, Martha, Terrorism in Context, p. 38
- Crenshaw, p. 44.
External links
UN conventions
News monitoring websites specializing on articles on
terrorism
Papers and articles on global terrorism
- "Al Qaeda Today: The New Face of the Global Jihad," by Marlena
Telvick, PBS Frontline, January 2005. Former CIA
caseworker Dr. Marc Sageman explains
how Al Qaeda has evolved from an operational organization into a
larger social movement, and the implications for U.S. counterterror
efforts.
- Bockstette, Carsten: "Jihadist Terrorist Use of Strategic Communication
Management Techniques" George C. Marshall Center for European
Security Studies Occasional Paper Series, Volume 20, Dezember 2008,
ISSN 1863-6039, pp. 1–28
- Audrey Kurth Cronin, "Behind the Curve: Globalization and
International Terrorism," International Security, Vol. 27,
No. 3 (Winter 2002/03), pp. 30–58.
- – Special Report on Terrorism in the European Union on
'Analyzing EU'
- Stathis N. Kalyvas, The Paradox of Terrorism in Civil Wars (2004)
in Journal of Ethics 8:1, 97–138.
- Prof. Troy Duster "From Theatre of War to
Terrorism"
- Syed Ubaidur Rahman "Thousands of Muslims gather to
denounce terrorism"
- Hans Köchler, The United Nations, the International Rule of Law and
Terrorism. Supreme Court of the Philippines, Centenary Lecture
(2002)
- Hans Köchler, The United Nations and International Terrorism.
Challenges to Collective Security (2002)
- GTD, successor to the Terrorism Knowledge Base
- Global War on Terrorism / Strategic Studies
Institute
- Terrorism
Research Center – Terrorism research site started in 1996.
- Terror
Finance Blog – Multi-expert website dealing with terrorism
finance issues.
- Terrorism Research – International Terrorism and
Security Research
- Scale invariance in global terrorism
- Security
News Line: Global Terrorism and Counter-terrorism
www.debriefed.org
- The Evolution of Terrorism in 2005. A statistical assessment An article by Rik Coolsaet
and Teun Van de Voorde, University of Ghent
- Terrorism/Anti-terrorism – An analysis on the causes
and uses of terrorism
- [ ] "Al Qaeda's New Front," PBS "Frontline" January 2005. In
the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the locus of the investigation
quickly shifted to Europe and the network of radical Islamic
jihadis who are part of "Eurabia," the continent's expanding Muslim
communities. Since 9/11 America has been spared what authorities
feared and expected: a second wave of attacks. Instead Europe, once
a logistical base for Islamic radicals and a safe haven, has itself
become the target.
- Teaching Terrorism and Counterterrorism with
lesson plans, bibliographies, resources; from US Military
Academy
- Germany's contribution to the fight against global
terrorism
- Quantitative World System Studies Contradict Current
Islamophobia: World Political Cycles, Global Terrorism, and World
Development. Arno Tausch, Innsbruck University – Faculty of
Political Science and Sociology – Department of Political Science,
Turkish Journal of International Relations, Vol. 6, No. 1 & 2,
Spring-Summer 2007, available at:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=976864
- The
Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center
- Information Terrorism: Can You Trust Your
Toaster?
Papers and articles on terrorism and the United States
- Library of Congress – Federal Research Division
The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism. by Robert L. Worden,
Ph.D.
- Leonard Peikoff on Terrorism This article was
published in the New York Times on October 2, 2001.
- Ivan Arreguín-Toft, "Tunnel at the End of the Light: A Critique
of U.S. Counter-terrorist Grand Strategy,"Cambridge Review of
International Affairs, Vol. 15, No. 3 (2002),
pp. 549–563.
- The Terrorism Index – Terrorism "scorecard"
from Foreign Policy Magazine and the Center for American
Progress
- Most Wanted Terrorists- Rewards for Justice
- Law,
Terrorism and Homeland Security. A collection of articles.
- "The
Security Constitution," UCLA Law Review, Vol. 53, No.
29,
2005
- The Enemy Within, PBS Frontline October
2006
- Terrorist Network Operating Openly In The United
States by Jane Franklin, ZNET, April 30, 2005
Papers and articles on terrorism and Israel
Other
- Terrorism Resources from UCB Libraries
GovPubs
- START National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism
and Responses to Terrorism
- The European Union counterterrorism policy before
and after the 9/11 attacks
- Video: Dr Adam Dolnik: What makes a terrorist? A Lowy
Institute lecture on SlowTV, August 2008
- About the
Qassam-sderot media center
- Paradise Poisoned: Learning About Conflict, Development
and Terrorism from Sri Lanka's Civil Wars by John Richardson
- Ontologies of Weapons of Mass Destruction and
Terrorism
- The
Supreme
Court of India
adopted Alex
P. Schmid's definition of
terrorism in a 2003 ruling (Madan Singh vs. State of Bihar),
"defin[ing] acts of terrorism veritably as 'peacetime equivalents
of war crimes." [5300]
- Jack Goody What is a terrorist? Published in: journal
History and Anthropology, Volume 13, Issue 2 2002 , pages 139–142
DOI: 10.1080/0275720022000001219
- Schmid and Jongman (1988):
"Terrorism is an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent
action, employed by (semi-)clandestine individual, group, or state
actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal, or political reasons,
whereby—in contrast to assassination—the direct targets of violence
are not the main targets. The immediate human victims of violence
are generally chosen randomly (targets of opportunity) or
selectively (representative or symbolic targets) from a target
population, and serve as message generators. Threat- and
violence-based communication processes between terrorist
(organization), (imperiled) victims, and main targets are use to
manipulate the main target (audience(s), turning it into a target
of terror, a target of demands, or a target of attention, depending
on whether intimidation, coercion, or propaganda is primarily
sought". . For more detailed information, see: Schmid, Jongman et
al. Political terrorism: a new guide to actors, authors,
concepts, data bases, theories, and literature. Amsterdam:
North Holland, Transaction Books, 1988. ISBN 1412804698
- Staff. U.S. Terrorism in the Americas an Encyclopedia "on
violence promoted, supported and carried out by both the U.S.
government and its servants in Latin America
- "Terror on the Streets of New York, Take One"
by David Wallace-Wells, Newsweek, February 16, 2009