Terrorism: Definition, History and Solutions

terrorist act definition, History and SolutionsTERRORISMAN EXPLORATION OF ITS DEFINITION, HISTORY, AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS terrorist act upsets people. It does so deliberately. That is its point,and that is why it has engrossed so much of our attentionin the early years of the 21st century.Townshend 1Ask any ten individuals on the streets of London, Paris, Moscow, or New York for the top three issues facing the dry land forthwith and oneness common response is likely to be act of terrorist act. Inquire further about how the same people would define act of terrorist act, when terrorism began, and how terrorism can be stop and you will probably be faced with a myriad of answers, or maybe just looks of puzzlement. The range of responses (or lack thereof) from the usual should not be surprising. non even experts agree on responses to these seemingly fundamental questions on an issue of such importance to worldwide security, an issue that Thackrah suggests is one of the most int ractable orbicular problems at the start of the twenty-first century.2This essay begins by surveying the vast array of definitions for the destination terrorism, providing some insight into the reasons that terrorism is so problematical for experts to define, and adopting a working definition for the term. The historical roots of terrorism will then be explored and results of a review of selected literature on possible solutions for traffic with terrorism will be introduced. Finally, a conclusion discussing the results of the literature review will be presented. act of terrorism DefinedWhat is terrorism? The definition assigned to the term very much depends on who you ask, although, as Hoffman writes, few words have so insidiously worked their way in to our everyday vocabulary.3 Oots writes that terrorism has been specify in different ways by various scholars.4 Hoffman suggests that most individuals have vague notions of what the term means, but cannot offer precise, explanat ory definitions. The Terrorism search center on claims that terrorism by nature is difficult to define.5 Townshend writes that both politicians and scholars have been hung up in attempting to define terrorism in a way that distinguishes it from other wrong force-out and even military action.6 Complicating attempts to define terrorism, the meaning and usage of the term have changed over the years.7 Complications aside, most people would agree that terrorism is a inborn term with negative connotations, a pejorative term, drug abused to describe the acts of enemies or opponents. The term has moral connotations and can be used to persuade others to adopt a particular viewpoint. For instance, if an individual sympathises with the victims of terrorism, then the perpetrator is considered to be a terrorist, but if an individual sympathises with the perpetrator, then the perpetrator is considered to be a freedom fighter or is referred to by equally positive characterisations.8 About th is, the Terrorism explore Center writes One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter.9 Whittaker distinguishes amongst terrorists, guerrillas, and freedom fighters in writing the terrorist targets civilians the guerrilla goes for military personnel and facilities and the freedom fighter conducts a campaign to liberate his people from dictatorial oppression, gross disarmament, or the grip of an occupying power.10One author included over one hundred definitions for the term terrorism.11 Another quoted over ninety definitions and descriptions.12 The definitions range from those that be kinda simplistic to those that ar equally comprehensive. The following definitions are illustrative of the broad range of thoughtTerrorism is violence for purposes of creating fear.13Terrorism is politically and socially motivated violence.14Terrorism is political violence in or against true democracies.15Terrorism may be described as a outline of violence designed to inspire terror within a particular segment of a given society.16Terrorism is the most amoral of organised violence.17Terrorism is a form of warfareused when full-scale military action is not possible.18Terrorism is a method of action by which an promoter tends to produce terror in order to impose his domination.19Terrorism is the systematic use of coercive intimidation, usually to service political ends. It is used to create a climate of fear.20Terrorism is the threat or use of violence, often against the civilian population, to achieve political or social ends, to intimidate opponents, or to publicise grievances.21Terrorism is the use of coercive means aimed at populations in an effort to achieve political, religious, or other aims.22Terrorism is politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.23Whittaker explores the complexity of defining terrorism by furnishing a comprehensive list of terro rism criteria24The violence or threat of violence inherent in terrorism is premeditated and politically motivated for the purpose of intimidating or coercing a government or the public in general.The strategy of terrorism is to instil fear and insecurity.Sustained campaigns or sporadic incidents are applied by terrorists in conducting their unlawful activities.Calculated use of violence is applied against civilian, non-combatant targets.Acquiring, manipulating, and employing power is at the root of terrorism. diversityary terrorism attempts to completely change the political system within a state sub-revolutionary terrorism attempts to effect change without totally replacing the existing political system.Terrorism consists of carefully planned goals, means, targets, and access conducted in a clandestine mien.The goals of terrorism focus on on political, social, ideological, or religious ends. This distinguishes terrorism from other criminal activity.Terrorism is conducted occasio nally by individuals, but most often by sub-national groups.An important fair game of terrorism is to obtain maximum publicity.Increasingly, terrorist zones of action are extending beyond national borders, becoming transnational in effect.The vast number of definitions proposed for the term terrorism big businessman make one wonder if there could ever be agreement near a common definition. For without a common understanding about what terrorism is, how can it be challenged and ultimately removed as a threat to modern civilisation? Despite the many definitions for terrorism, there does seem to be an acclivitous consensus on the definition of the term, according to Jenkins.25 For instance, Enders and Sandler offer the following comprehensive definition of terrorismTerrorism is the premeditated use or threat of use of extranormal violence or brutality by subnational groups to obtain a political, religious, or ideological objective through intimidation of a huge audience, usually no t at one time involved with the policy making that terrorists seek to influence.26Enders and Sandlers definition will be used for the purpose of this essay not only because it is an example of a current consensus description, but also because it contains criteria suggested by other definitions surveyed in the literature review violence or threats of violence intimidation of large civilian audiences longing to influence subnational terrorist groupings and political, religious, or ideological objectives.Historical Roots of TerrorismColin Gray writes that terrorism is as old as strategic history.27 The roots of terrorism can be traced back in time to ancient Greece, and terrorist acts have occurred throughout history since that time. The term terrorism, however, originated in the cut Revolutions direct of Terror 28 and was popularised at that time.29 Terrorism in this era carried a very positive connotation as it was undertaken in an effort to establish order during the revolutio n that followed uprisings in France in 1789. It was considered to be an instrument of governance instituted to intimidate counter-revolutionaries, dissidents and subversives and was associated with the ideals of democracy and virtue. In fact, according to Hoffman, the revolutionary leader Maximillien Robespierre claimed that virtue, without which terror is evil terror, without which virtue is lost and that terror is nothing but justice, prompt, severe and inflexible it is therefore an emanation of virtue.30Terrorism at the start of the twentieth century retained the revolutionary connotations it had acquired during the French Revolution as it took aim on the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires. In the 1930s, the meaning of terrorism mutated to describe activities of totalitarian governments and their leaders against their citizenry in Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and Stalinist Russia. For instance, in Germany and Italy, gangs of brown shirts or black shirts harassed and intimidated oppone nts, although leaders of these nations denied that this occurred. After World War II, the meaning of terrorism changed once again, go to its revolutionary connotations where it remains today. Terrorist activities in the 1940s and 1950s primarily focused on revolts by indigenous patriot groups opposing colonial rule in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, resulting in independence for many countries. Although terrorism retained its revolutionary connotation in the 1960s and 1970s, the focus shifted from anti-colonialist to separatist goals. Today, terrorism involves broader, less clean-cut goals.31 The right-wing and left-wing terrorism that became widespread in recent times included acts by diverse groups such as the Italian Red Brigades the Irish Republican Army the Palestine Liberation Organisation the Shining Path in Peru the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka the Weatherman in the United States various militia organisations, also in the United States radical Muslims through Hamas and Al Quaeda radical Sikhs in India and the Aum Shinrikyo in Japan.32 Some governments, such as those in Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, are also considered to be involved in terrorism as sponsors of terrorist activities.33 Some people, such as the Statesn dissident Noam Chomsky, contend that the government of the United States is enmeshed in terrorism, as exemplified by the title of Chomskys 2001 article entitled U.S.A Leading Terrorist State, which appeared in the Monthly Review34.Terrorism associated with the French Revolution had two important characteristics in common with terrorism today. Firstly, terrorism was, and is today, organised, deliberate, and systematic. Secondly, the goals of terrorism then and now were and are to create a new, better society.35 But, terrorism today has changed in some very fundamental ways (1) terrorist organisations have evolved into network forms and are less often organised in hierarchies (2) the identities of transnational terrori st organisations are harder to spot because they claim responsibility for specific acts less often (3) todays terrorist groups do not make demands as often as in the quondam(prenominal) and their goals appear to be much hazy and vague (4) motives have generally shifted from those that are more politically-oriented to those that are more religiously-oriented (5) targets of terrorists are more dispersed around the globe and (6) terrorist violence, today, is more indiscriminate, involving significant collateral damage to the public.36With this historical foundation, particularly the description of the evolution of terrorism into its current form, the focus now shifts to possible solutions to dealing with the issue today.Possible Solutions to TerrorismTo effectively meet the challenges of terrorism, one should consider the history of terrorism, but must also look to the future. Kress and colleagues contend that terrorism is increase in geographical scope, numerical frequency, and in tensity as well as in ingenuity and subtlety. They suggest that these trends could well translate into more wide-ranging threats and more powerful tools and weapons, adding that bombs will get smaller and more powerful, poisons and mind-blowing drugs more insidious, psychological techniques for converting or brainwashing the victims more effective, and psychological tortures more agonizing.37Ian lesser offers a comprehensive approach for meeting the challenges of terrorism. His approach consists of a core strategy and supporting strategies aimed at targeting security threats posed by terrorists within a context of global security threats from all sources. lessers core strategy consists of four components (1) reducing systemic causes of terrorism, (2) deterring terrorists and their sponsors, (3) reducing risks associated with superterrorism, and (4) retaliating in instances where determent fails. In reducing system causes of terrorism, Lesser is referring to the long-term goal of ad dressing issues that give rise to terrorism such as social and economic problems, unresolved ethnic and nationalist conflicts, frustrated political ambitions, and personal experiences of individuals who may become future terrorists. In deterring terrorists and their sponsors, Lesser suggests taking massive and personal actions against terrorist leadership, although he concedes that this is becoming more and more difficult as terrorists and their sponsors become more diverse and diffuse. In reducing risks associated with superterrorism, Lesser calls for eliminating weapons of mass destruction that terrorists could use in inflicting destruction and suffering. And, finally, in retaliating when deterrence fails, Lesser suggests developing the means to retaliate quickly and specifically to terrorist activities.38One of Lessers strategies supporting his core strategy is environmental shaping, which involves exposing sponsors of terrorism to global scrutiny and isolation shrinking the zone s of chaos and terrorist sanctuary including counterterrorism as an integral component of strategic alliances limiting global exposure and targeting terrorist networks and funding. His hedging strategy involves hardening key policies and strategies to limit risks of terrorism, increasing ground and space-based surveillance of terrorist resources, and preparing to mitigate the effects of terrorism to limit negative effects.39Kress and associates reiterate the first component of Lessers core strategy in offering their proactive approach to dealing with terrorism specifically, addressing genuine political injustice and resolving supposed injustices.40 crackpot contends that a state response to terrorism must be limited, well-defined and controlled to avoid compromising the political and civil traditions that are central to the liberal classless way of life. He suggests that any liberal democratic response to terrorism has to rest on one overriding maxim a committedness to uphold and maintain constitutional principles of law and order.41ConclusionThe long history of terrorism, dating as far back as ancient Greece, suggests that this phenomenon may never be eliminated as a tactic by those people or groups without sufficient formal legal power to achieve their goals. However, this does not have in mind that terrorism cannot be engaged proactively and reactively. Logically, it seems that the first step should be to agree on a universally-accepted definition for terrorism because, without a consensus on the meaning of the term, effectively addressing its causes and its effects may be difficult at best and impossible at worst.With a consensus definition in hand, the comprehensive strategy for dealing with terrorism proposed by Lesser reduction in systemic causes, deterrence, superterrorism risk reduction, and retaliation would appear to offer the most balanced, effective approach. Todays leaders should date that offensive and defensive military action, so typica l of traditional warfare, is quite ineffective as a sole method for dealing with modern forms of terrorism as demonstrated by failures experienced by Israel in dealing with the Palestinian terrorist problem and the greater-than-expected difficulties experienced by the United States, the United Kingdom, and others in ridding the world of radical Islamic terrorists. These efforts may not only fail to ultimately deal effectively with preventing terrorist activities, but may also produce more terrorists who are offended by military actions. Alternatively, a holistic approach one which includes proactive prevention and reactive punishment measures such as the approach advocated by Lesser should be employed.In any solution to the global problem of terrorism, the cautionary advice offered by Peter Chalk should be considered that is, political and civil liberties should not be sacrificed in responding to the terrorist threat. For the very way of life the governments of free societies are trying to protect in their attempts to combat terrorism could be compromised by actions that are not limited, well-defined and controlled. Interestingly, this thought was eloquently proffered more than two centuries ago by American inventor, journalist, printer, and statesman Benjamin Franklin in warning that those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.The recommendation, then, is to deal with terrorism in a holistic, balanced manner stressing proactive and reactive measures whilst preserving political and civil liberties.ReferencesBassiouni, M. Terrorism, Law Enforcement and the Mass Media Perspectives, Problems, Proposals, The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 721 (1981). Cited in Thackrah (2004).Bergesen, Albert J., and Han, Yi. New Directions for Terrorism investigate. global Journal of Comparative Sociology 461-2 (2005).Bite, V. International Terrorism. Foreign Affairs Division, Library of Congress, Appendix of U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Washington, DC Government make Office, 1975. 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Cited in Thackrah (2004).1Footnotes1 Charles Townshend, Terrorism A Very Short Introduction (Oxford Oxford University Press, 2002).2 John Ri chard Thackrah, Dictionary of Terrorism (New York Routledge, 2004).3 Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism (New York Columbia University Press, 1998), 14.4 Kent Layne Oots, Political Organization Approach to Transnational Terrorism (New York Greenwood Press, 1986).5 Terrorism Research Center, What is the Definition of Terrorism? (n.d.), Available from http//www.terrorism.com, Accessed 29 November 2005.6 Townshend (2002).7 Hoffman (1998).8 Hoffman (1998).9 Terrorism Research Center (n.d.).10 David J. Whittaker, Terrorists and Terrorism in the Contemporary World (New York Routledge, 2004).11 Townshend (2002).12 Thackrah (2004).13 David Fromkin, The Strategy of Terrorism, in Contemporary Terrorism Selected Readings, John D. Elliot and Leslie K. Gibson, eds. (Gaithersburg, Maryland International Association of Chiefs of Police, 1978), cited in Oots (1986).14 V. Bite, International Terrorism, Foreign Affairs Division, Library of Congress, Appendix of U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on the Judi ciary (Washington, DC Government Printing Office, 1975), cited in Thackrah (2004).15 P. B. Heyman, Terrorism and America A Commonsense Strategy for a Democratic Society (Cambridge, Massachusetts The MIT Press, 1998), cited in Thackrah (2004).16 M. Bassiouni, Terrorism, Law Enforcement and the Mass Media Perspectives, Problems, Proposals, The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 721 (1981), cited in Thackrah (2004).17 P. Wilkinson, Three Questions on Terrorism, Government and Opposition 83 (1973), cited in Thackrah (2004).18 Jay Mallin, Terrorism as a Military Weapon, in Contemporary Terrorism Selected Readings, John D. Elliot and Leslie K. Gibson, eds. (Gaithersburg, Maryland International Association of Chiefs of Police, 1978), cited in Oots (1986).19 J. Waciorsky, La Terrorisme Politique, (Paris A Pedone, 1939), cited in Thackrah (2004).20 P. Wilkinson, Terrorism versus Democracy The Liberal State Response (London Frank Cass, 2000), cited in Thackrah (2004).21 The Columbia Ency clopaedia, Terrorism (2004).22 N. Chomsky, U.S.A Leading Terrorist State, Monthly Review 53 (2001) 10-19, cited in Bergesen and Han (2005).23 C. L. Ruby, The Definition of Terrorism, Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 2(1) (2002) 9-14, cited in Bergesen and Han (2005).24 Whittaker (2004).25 B. M. Jenkins, Terrorism and Beyond A 21st Century Perspective, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 24 (2001) 321-27, cited in Bergesen and Han, New Directions for Terrorism Research, International Journal of Comparative Sociology 461-2 (2005).26 W. Enders and T. Sandler, Patterns of Transnational Terrorism, 1970 1999 Alternative Time-Series Estimates, International Studies Quarterly 46 (2002) 145-65, cited in Bergesen and Han (2005).27 Colin S. Gray, Modern Strategy (Oxford Oxford University Press, 1999).28 The Columbia Encyclopaedia (2004).29 Hoffman (1998).30 Hoffman (1998).31 Hoffman (1998).32 The Columbia Encyclopaedia (2004).33 Hoffman (1998).34 N. Chomsky, U.S.A Leading Terrorist S tate, Monthly Review 53 (2001), cited in Bergesen and Han (2005).35 Hoffman (1998).36 Albert J. Bergesen and Yi Han, New Directions for Terrorism Research, International Journal of Comparative Sociology 461-2 (2005).37 Bruce Kress, Marius H. Livingston, and Marie G. Wanek, International Terrorism in the Contemporary World (Westport, Connecticut Greenwood Press, 1978).38 Ian Lesser, Countering the New Terrorism Implications for Strategy, in Hoffman et al., Countering the New Terrorism (Santa Monica, California Rand, 1999).39 Lesser (1999).40 Kress, Livingston, and Wanek (1978).41 Peter Chalk, The Response to Terrorism as a Threat to Liberal Democracy, The Australian Journal of Politics and History 443 (1998).