Terrorism
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Terrorist" redirects here. For other uses, see Terrorist (disambiguation).
United Airlines Flight 175 hits the South Tower of the World Trade Center during
the September 11 attacks of 2001 in New York City, an act of terrorism planned by
Osama bin Laden and executed by al-Qaeda
Part of a series on
Terrorism and political violence
DefinitionsHistoryIncidents
By ideology
Organizational structures
MethodsTactics
Terrorist groups
Relationship to states
Response to terrorism
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Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to
achieve political or ideological aims.[1] The term is used in this regard primarily
to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war against
non-combatants.[2] There are various different definitions of terrorism, with no
universal agreement about it.[3][4][5] Different definitions of terrorism emphasize
its randomness, its aim to instill fear, and its broader impact beyond its
immediate victims.[1]
Modern terrorism, evolving from earlier iterations, employs various tactics to
pursue political goals, often leveraging fear as a strategic tool to influence
decision makers. By targeting densely populated public areas such as transportation
hubs, airports, shopping centers, tourist attractions, and nightlife venues,
terrorists aim to instill widespread insecurity, prompting policy changes through
psychological manipulation and undermining confidence in security measures.[6]
The terms "terrorist" and "terrorism" originated during the French Revolution of
the late 18th century,[7] but became widely used internationally and gained
worldwide attention in the 1970s during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the
Basque conflict and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The increased use of suicide
attacks from the 1980s onwards was typified by the September 11 attacks in the
United States in 2001. The Global Terrorism Database, maintained by the University
of Maryland, College Park, has recorded more than 61,000 incidents of non-state
terrorism, resulting in at least 140,000 deaths between 2000 and 2014.[8]
Various organizations and countries have used terrorism to achieve their
objectives. These include left-wing and right-wing political organizations,
nationalist groups, religious groups, revolutionaries, and ruling governments.[9]
In recent decades, hybrid terrorist organizations have emerged, incorporating both
military and political arms.[1] State terrorism, with its institutionalized
instrumentation of terror tactics through massacres, genocides, forced
disappearances, carpet bombings and torture, is a deadlier form of terrorism than
non-state terrorism.[10][11][12][13]
Etymology and definition
Etymology
See also: Reign of Terror
Seal of the Jacobin Club
The term "terrorism" itself 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.[14] In 1795, Edmund Burke denounced the Jacobins for
letting "thousands of those hell-hounds called Terrorists ... loose on the people"
of France.[15] John Calvin's rule over Geneva in the 16th century has also been
described as a reign of terror.[16][17][18]
The terms "terrorism" and "terrorist" gained renewed currency in the 1970s as a
result of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO),[19] the Irish Republican
Army (IRA),[20] the Basque separatist group, ETA,[21] and the operations of groups
such as the Red Army Faction.[22] Leila Khaled was described as a terrorist in a
1970 issue of Life magazine.[23] A number of books on terrorism were published in
the 1970s.[24] The topic came further to the fore after the 1983 Beirut barracks
bombings[25] and again after the 2001 September 11 attacks[25][26][27] and the 2002
Bali bombings.[25]
Definition
Main article: Definition of terrorism
Mass killings in the Vendée during the Reign of Terror in France, 1793
No definition of terrorism has gained universal agreement.[28][29] Challenges
emerge due to the politically and emotionally charged nature of the term, the
double standards used in applying it,[30] and disagreement over the nature of
terrorist acts and limits of the right to self-determination.[31][32] Harvard law
professor Richard Baxter, a leading expert on the law of war, was a skeptic: "We
have cause to regret that a legal concept of 'terrorism' was ever inflicted upon
us. The term is imprecise; it is ambiguous; and above all, it serves no operative
legal purpose."[33][32]
Different legal systems and government agencies employ diverse definitions of
terrorism, with governments showing hesitation in establishing a universally
accepted, legally binding definition. Title 18 of the United States Code defines
terrorism as acts that are intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or
government.[34] The international community has been slow to formulate a
universally agreed, legally binding definition of this crime, and has been unable
to conclude a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that incorporates
a single, all-encompassing, legally binding, criminal law definition of terrorism.
[35] These difficulties arise from the fact that the term "terrorism" is
politically and emotionally charged.[36][37] The international community has
instead adopted a series of sectoral conventions that define and criminalize
various types of terrorist activities.[citation needed]
Counterterrorism analyst Bruce Hoffman has noted that it is not only individual
agencies within the same governmental apparatus that cannot agree on a single
definition of terrorism; experts and other long-established scholars in the field
are equally incapable of reaching a consensus.[38] In 1992, terrorism studies
scholar Alex P. Schmid proposed a simple definition to the United Nations
Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) as "peacetime
equivalents of war crimes", but it was not accepted.[39][40] In 2006, it was
estimated that there were over 109 different definitions of terrorism.[41]