Terrorism
Terrorism is a strategy of using the threat of
violence to generate
fear and cause disruption for the purpose of bringing about
political,
religious and
ideological change. Terrorist attacks are designed to influence the broader society to which those killed, injured, or taken
hostage belong. The dramatic focus of
mass media is often ascribed as amplifying and broadcasting feelings of intense fear and anger that make terrorism more effective in the modern world. As a type of
unconventional warfare, terrorism is designed to weaken or supplant existing political landscapes through capitulation or
acquiescence as opposed to
subversion or
direct military action.
The term is also used
pejoratively to assert that its violence targets "innocent
civilians," or that it is
immoral, wanton, unjustified, indiscriminate, or executed "with disregard for human life." According to some
definitions of terrorism used by states and governments, terrorists are actors who don't belong to any recognized armed force, or who don't adhere to their rules, and who are therefore regarded as "rogue actors." Groups that call themselves
separatists,
revolutionaries,
guerrillas and other specific terms are often referenced vaguely and pejoratively by their enemies as
terrorists.
Different groups have used varying "official" definitions of
terrorism. The United States Department of State defines terrorism as "Premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents." [
1]
Armed military conflict is sometimes associated with terrorism when its objectives are to produce
shock and awe for the purpose of forcing
capitulation. For the purpose of weakening or destroying the opponent's military force, however, armed military conflict is a form of
conventional warfare.
Guerrilla warfare is sometimes associated with terrorism in that a relatively small force attempts to achieve large goals by using organized acts of directed violence. Against military targets, these acts can be a form of conventional warfare designed to negate the opponent's military ability. However, guerrilla tactics are more often associated with forms of
unconventional warfare designed to be either
coercive or
subversive to a political body. In its subversive context, a guerrilla unit provides clandestine support for one side of an existing conflict. In its coercive context, a guerrilla unit seeks to augment pronounced states of
fear and overwhelming feelings of imminent danger.
Hate Crimes – An attack against an individual because of hatred toward their ethnic, national, or religious background does not qualify as terrorism because it lacks the complex political and psychological intent behind terrorist attacks. For example, the attack by a Muslim man of Israeli airline employees in
Los Angeles in 2002 may seem terrorist because it fits into the larger milieu of Israeli/Islamic violence, but in reality, the attack was just a disgruntled supremacist lashing out violently.
[ Boehlert, Eric. 2003. "Terrorism or Hate Crime?" Salon.com, April 17 2003. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/04/17/terrorist_act/] However, hatred toward a specific group of people may motivate violence intended to either supress the political will of the group or to cause the group to leave a region, in which case the violence qualifies as terrorism.
Mentally Ill Criminals – Studies suggest that, compared with the general public, terrorists do not exhibit unusually high rates of clinical psychopathology, irrationality, or personality disorders. Because terrorist cells require secrecy, terror organizations frequently screen out unstable individuals who might compromise their security
[ Plous, Scott. 2004. "How Social Science Can Reduce Terrorism". Washington: Vol. 51, Iss. 3; p. B. 9 ]"Lone Wolves"– Some political groups do not allow for the possibility of a "lone wolf" being a terrorist. For instance, the
FBI asserts that for an act to be considered terrorist, it must be perpetrated by a like-minded group, and not a single individual acting alone. Donatella Della Porta writes that a single individual committing a violent act is not a terrorist because his/her attack is not against an enemy that is legitimized and sedimented in a larger social context.
[della Porta, Donatella. 1995. "Left-Wing Teorrorism in Italy". University Park:Pennsylvania State University Press. ch. 4 pp. 105-159. ] Eric Boehlert notes that social construction theory describes "lone wolves" as having different motivations, committing different types of attacks, and being prevented from carrying out attacks by different methods.
[Boehlert, Eric. 2003. "Terrorism or Hate Crime?" Salon.com, April 17]Official definitions determine counter-terrorism policy and are often developed to serve it. Most official 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 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," a product of internal logic, devised to have an impact on many large audiences. Terrorists also attack national symbols to show their power and to shake the foundation of the country or society they are opposed to. This may negatively affect a government's legitimacy, while increasinging the legitimacy of the given
terrorist organization and/or
ideology behind a terrorist act.
[Juergensmeyer, Mark. 2000. Terror in the Mind of God. University of California Press. Ch. 7 pp. 125-135 ] The
September 11th attacks on the
World Trade Center and
Pentagon are examples of this. Attacking the World Trade Center symbolizes that the terrorists can threaten the economic foundation of America and its capitalist ideals, and attacking the Pentagon symbolizes that America's great and prided military strength is yet vulnerable at its very core to the terrorists power.
Perpetrated for a Political Goal – Something all terrorist attacks have in common is their perpetration for a political purpose. This is often the key difference between an act of terrorism and a hate crime or lone-wolf "madman" attack. Terrorism is a political tactic, not unlike letter writing or protesting, that is used by activists when they believe no other means will effect the kind of change they desire. The change is desired so badly that failure is seen as a worse outcome than the deaths of civilians. This is often where the interreltionship between terrorism and religion occurs. When a political struggle is integrated into the framework of a religious or "cosmic"
[ Juergensmeyer, Mark. 2000. Terror in the Mind of God. University of California Press. Ch 8-10. ] struggle, such as over the control of an ancestral homeland or holy site such as Palestine/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.
Deliberate targeting of non-combatants – It is commonly held that the distinctive nature of terrorism lies in its intentional and specific selection of
civilians as direct targets. 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 terrorist possess. Their suffering accomplishs the terrorists' goals of instilling fear, getting a message out to an audience, or otherwise accomplishing their political end.
[Juergensmeyer, Mark. 2000. Terror in the Mind of God. University of California Press. Ch. 7 pp. 127-128 ] This definition excludes attacks on military targets, but pertains regardless of whether the attackers made an attempt to reduce civilian casualties.
The relationship of terrorism and democracy is complex. Research shows that terrorism is most common in nations with intermediate political freedom and that the nations with the least terrorism are the most democratic nations.[
2] [
3] [
4] 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 80s and 90s for suicide attacks increased their frequency.
[Pape, Robert A. "The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism," American Political Science Review, 2003. 97 (3): pp. 1-19.]Some consider examples of "terrorism" in nondemocracies to include
ETA under
Francisco Franco, the
Shining path under
Alberto Fujimori, the
Armed Islamic Group in
Algeria, and the
Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Another the
Kurdistan Workers Party when
Turkey was ruled by military leaders.
While a nation espousing democratic ideology may claim a sense of legitimacy or higher moral ground than regimes that promote terrorism, any act of terrorism within the former creates a dilemma for the democratic state. On one hand, a state that prides itself in its tolerance of peaceful demonstration may choose to approach the problem of terrorism in ways outlined by its constitution; this may render that state ineffective in dealing with the problem, which could reflect upon its citizens a sense of impotency in a time of crisis. On the other hand, should that same terrorized state go above its constitution to deal with the problem, the very notion of democracy itself pales in meaning. This, some social theorists would conclude, may very well play into the initial plans of the acting terrorist(s); namely, to deligitimize democracy.
[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.]Acts of terrorism can be carried out by 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. The most common image of terrorism is that it is carried out by small and secretive
cells, highly motivated to serve a particular cause. However, many of the most successful operations in recent time, such as
9/11, the
London underground bombing, and the
2002 Bali bombing were planned and carried out by a close clique, comprised of close friends, family members and other strong social networks. These groups benefited from the free flow of information, and were able overcome the obstacles they encountered where others failed due to lack of information and communication.
[Sageman, Mark. 2004. "Social Networks and the Jihad". Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Ch. 5 pp. 166-167 ] 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.
Terrorist groups
State sponsors
A state can sponsor terrorism by funding a terrorist organization, harboring terrorism, and also using state resources, such as the military, to directly perform acts of terrorism (e.g.
El Mozote). State-sponsored terrorism is widely denounced by the international community.
When states do provide funding for groups considered by some to be terrorist, they rarely acknowledge them as such. For example,
Iran has been linked to a number of organizations, including
Hezbollah and the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, but maintains that where funds have been transferred, these have been legitimate.
Some of the former
Communist states directly supported claimed
terrorist groups. Examples include the
PFLP, the
Red Army Fraction, and the
Japanese Red Army.
[ The Black Book of Communism. Chapter 18 ] North Korea has been implicated in several terrorist acts, like
Korean Air Flight 858.
Methods of attack
Terrorists seek to demoralize and paralyze their enemy with fear, and also to pressure governments into conceding to the terrorist's agenda.
While they act according to different motivations and goals, all terrorist groups have one tactic in common: to achieve maximum publicity in order to intimidate and generate a message as a means to attain its objectives. Terrorism uses violence on one part of society to instill fear in the larger part of society to make a change. Terrorism employs propaganda as a tactic to ensure the attention of the public through the attention from the media. The term
Propaganda of the Deed, coined by
Malatesta, Cafiero, and Covelli, states that the message is most strongly conveyed through violence.
[ Garrison, Arthur. 2004. "Defining Terrorism". Criminal Justice Studies. Vol 17. pp. 259-279]Often damage is done with an
improvised explosive device, sometimes by chemical or biological weapons. A source of concern is also a possible use of a
nuclear weapon.
Terrorist groups may arrange for secondary devices to detonate at a slightly later time in order to kill emergency-response personnel attempting to attend to the dead and wounded. Repeated or suspected use of secondary devices can also delay emergency response out of concern that such devices may exist. Examples include a (failed) cyanide-gas device that was meant to explode shortly after the
February 26,
1993 World Trade Center bombing, and a second car bomb that detonated 20 minutes after the
December 1,
2001 Ben Yehuda bombing by
Hamas in
Jerusalem.
In the
September 11, 2001 attacks, planes were used as
guided incendiary devices.
Training
There are and have been training camps for terrorists. For the
September 11, 2001 attacks, the pilots also took flying courses. The range of training depends greatly on the level of support the terrorist organization receives from various organizations and states. In nearly every case the training incorporates the philosophy and agenda of the groups leadership as justification for the training as well as the potential acts of terror which may be committed. State sanctioned training is by far the most extensive and thorough, often employing professional soldiers and covert operatives of the supporting state. The training generally includes physical fitness, combat or martial arts, firearms, explosives, intelligence/counterintelligence, and field craft. More specialized training may include mission specific subjects such as, language, cultural familiarization, communications, and surveillance techniques. In every instance the quality of training is extremely high and well organized.
Preparation
Preparation of a major attack such as the
September 11, 2001 attacks has taken years.
Cover
Where terrorism occurs in the context of open warfare or insurgency, its perpetrators may shelter behind a section of the local population. Examples include the
Intifada on Israeli-occupied territory, and insurgency in
Iraq. This population, which may be ethnically distinct from the counter-terrorist forces, is either sympathetic to their cause, indifferent, or acts under duress.
Terrorists preparing for the
September 11, 2001 attacks changed their appearance to avoid looking radical.
Funding
Terrorist organizations do not usually have only one means of funding, but many. Funding can be raised in both legal and illegal ways. Some of the most common ways to raise funds are through charities (Hamas, for example, spends but a fraction of their budget on violent attacks, with the rest going towards charitable efforts in the middle east, including education and food aid to the area), well funded organizations (as seen in Islamist terrorist groups), or a non violent organization with similar ideologies. In the absence of state funding, terrorists may rely on
organized crime to fund their activities. This could include
kidnapping,
drug trafficking, or
robbery. Additionally, terrorists have also found many more sources of revenue.
Osama bin Laden, for example, invested millions in terrorism that his family made in the construction industry building luxury mansions for Saudi Arabia's
oil-millionaires.
Communication
The revolution in communication technology over the past 10-15 years has dramatically changed how terrorist organizations communicate. E-mails, fax transmissions, websites, cell phones, and satellite telephones have made it possible for organizations to contemplate a global strategy. However, too great a reliance on this new technology leaves organizations vulnerable to sophisticated monitoring of communication and triangluation of its source. When the media published the information, the U.S. government was tracking Osama bin Laden by monitoring his phone calls. He then ceased using this method to communicate
[Sageman, Marc. 2004. Social Networks and the Jihad. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Ch. 5 pp. 158-161 ].
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.
Terrorism and immigration in Europe
Recent developments have seen a divergence in social and political responses to terrorism between the United States and Western Europe.
Much of Europe has not experienced a domestic religious threat since the
Wars of Religion. As a result, in Europe, some now see the issues of Islam, immigration, and terrorism as linked. Aggression against sections of the population regarded as associated with the perpetrators is an increasingly important issue in these communities. Defusing potential backlash is now a standard item of European counter-terrorism policy.
The direction of European responses to terrorism is indicated by new policies, proposed by
Tony Blair in August 2005:
*deportation and exclusion on grounds of fostering hatred, advocating violence to further a person's beliefs or justifying or validating such violence;
*a criminal offence of condoning or glorifying terrorism;
*refusal of asylum to anyone with a connection to terrorism;
*new pre-trial procedures and extending detention pre-charge of terrorist suspects;
*extended use of control orders for those who are British nationals and who cannot be deported, with imprisonment for any breach of the order;
*new power to order closure of a place of worship which is used as a "centre for fomenting extremism". [
5]
Target-hardening
Whatever the target of terrorists, there are multiple ways of hardening the targets to prevent the terrorists from hitting their mark. One method is to place concrete barriers sufficiently distanced outside buildings to prevent
truck bombing. Aircraft cockpits are kept locked during flights, and have reinforced doors, which only the pilots in the cabin are capable of opening.
English train stations removed their
waste bins in response to the
Provisional IRA threat, as these are convenient locations for hiding bombs.
Scottish stations removed theirs after the
7th of July bombing of London as a precautionary measure.
Preemptive neutralization
Some countries see pre-emptive attacks as a legitimate strategy. This includes capturing, killing, or disabling suspected terrorists before they can mount an attack.
Israel, the
United States, and
Russia have taken this approach, while Western European states generally do not.
Another major method of pre-emptive neutralization is
interrogation of known or suspected terrorists to obtain information about specific plots, targets, the identity of other terrorists, and whether the interrogation subjects himself is guilty of terrorist involvement. Sometimes more extreme methods are used to increase
suggestibility, such as
sleep deprivation or drugs. Such methods may lead captives to offer false information in an attempt to stop the treatment, or due to the confusion brought on by it.
Domestic intelligence and surveillance
Most counter-terrorism strategies involve an increase in standard police and domestic intelligence. The central activities are traditional:
interception of communications, and the tracing of persons. New technology has, however, expanded the range of such operations. Domestic intelligence is often directed at specific groups, defined on the basis of origin or religion, which is a source of political controversy.
Mass surveillance of an entire population raises objections on
civil liberties grounds.
Military intervention
Terrorism has often been used to justify military intervention in countries where terrorists are said to be based. That was the main stated justification for the
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. It was also a stated justification for the second
Russian invasion of
Chechnya.
History has shown that military intervention has rarely been successful in stopping or preventing terrorism. Although military action can disrupt a terrorist group's operations temporarily, it rarely ends the threat.
[Pape, Robert A. 2005. Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.. New York: Random House. Ch. 12 pp. 237-250 ] Provoking repression is actually a key goal of terrorism, as most of the time it increases the popularity of the terrorist cause (source?). Repression by a state military usually leads to short term victories, but tend to be unsuccessful in the long run (e.g. French and the
FLN, American in Iraq).
Non-military Intervention
The
human security paradigm outlines a non-military approach which aims to address the enduring underlying inequalities which fuel terrorist activity. Causal factors need to be delineated and measures implemented which allow equal access to resources and
sustainability for all peoples. Such activities empower citizens providing 'freedom from fear' and 'freedom from want'. This can take many forms including the provision of clean drinking water, education, vaccination programs, provision of food and shelter and protection from violence, military or otherwise. Successful human security campaigns have been characterised by the participation of a diverse group of actors including governments,
NGOs, and citizens.
Terrorism & Human Rights
One of the primary difficulties of implementing effective counter-terrorist measures is the waning of civil liberties and individual privacy that such measures often entail, both for citizens of, and for those detained by, states attempting to combat terror. At times, measures designed to tighten security have been seen as abuses of power or even violations of
human rights.
Examples of these problems can include prolonged, incommunicado detention without judicial review; risk of subjecting to torture during the transfer, return and extradition of persons between or within countries; and the adoption of security measures that restrain the rights or freedoms of citizens and breach principles of non-discrimination.
[ Human Rights News (2004): "Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism", in the Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. online] Examples include:
*In November 2003, Malaysia passed new counter-terror laws that were widely criticized by local
human rights groups for being vague and overbroad. Critics claim that the laws put the basic rights of free expression, association, and assembly at risk. Malaysia persisted to hold around 100 alleged militants without trial, including five Malaysian students detained for alleged terrorist activity while studying in Karachi, Pakistan.
[ Human Rights News (2004): "Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism", in the Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. online] *In November 2003, a Canadian-Syrian national, Maher Arar, alleged publicly that he had been tortured in a Syrian prison after being handed over to the Syrian authorities by U.S.
[ Human Rights News (2004): "Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism", in the Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. online]*In December 2003, Colombia's congress approved legislation that would give the military the power to arrest, tap telephones and carry out searches without warrants or any previous judicial order.
[ Human Rights News (2004): "Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism", in the Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. online]* Images of torture and ill-treatment of detainees in US custody in Iraq and other locations have jeopardized the legitimacy of the US' war on terror and brought on international scrutiny.
[ Amnesty International (2005): "Counter-terrorism and criminal law in the EU". online]*Hundreds of foreign nationals remain in prolonged indefinite detention without charge or trial in Guantánamo Bay, despite international and US constitutional standards outlawing such practices.
[ Amnesty International (2005): "Counter-terrorism and criminal law in the EU". online]*Hundreds of people suspected of connections with the Taliban or al Qa'eda remain in long-term arbitrary detention in Pakistan or in US-controlled centres in Afghanistan.
[ Amnesty International (2005): "Counter-terrorism and criminal law in the EU". online]*China has used the "war on terror" to justify its repression policies in the predominantly Muslim Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region to stifle Uighur identity.
[ Amnesty International (2005): "Counter-terrorism and criminal law in the EU". online]*In Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen and other countries, scores of people have been arrested and arbitrarily detained in connection with suspected terrorist acts or links to opposition armed groups.
[ Amnesty International (2005): "Counter-terrorism and criminal law in the EU". online]*Until 2005, 11 men remained in high security detention in the UK under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.
[ Amnesty International (2005): "Counter-terrorism and criminal law in the EU". online]Many would argue that such violations exacerbate rather than counter the terrorist threat.
[ Human Rights News (2004): "Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism", in the Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. online] Human rights advocates argue for the crucial role of
human rights protection as an intrinsic part to fight against terrorism.
[ Amnesty International (2005): "Counter-terrorism and criminal law in the EU". online] This suggests, as proponents of
human security have long argued, that respecting
human rights may indeed help us to incur security.
Amnesty International included a section on confronting terrorism in the recommendations in the Madrid Agenda arising from the Madrid Summit on Democracy and Terrorism (Madrid 8-11 March 2005):
"Democratic principles and values are essential tools in the fight against terrorism. Any successful strategy for dealing with terrorism requires terrorists to be isolated. Consequently, the preference must be to treat terrorism as criminal acts to be handled through existing systems of law enforcement and with full respect for human rights and the rule of law. We recommend: (1) taking effective measures to make impunity impossible either for acts of terrorism or for the abuse of human rights in counter-terrorism measures. (2) the incorporation of human rights laws in all anti-terrorism programmes and policies of national governments as well as international bodies.". [ Amnesty International (2005): "Counter-terrorism and criminal law in the EU". online]While international efforts to combat terrorism have focused on the need to enhance cooperation between states, proponents of human rights (as well as
human security) have suggested that more effort needs to be given to the effective inclusion of
human rights protection as a crucial element in that cooperation. They argue that international
human rights obligations do not stop at borders and a failure to respect
human rights in one state may undermine its effectiveness in the international effort to cooperate to combat terrorism.
[ Human Rights News (2004): "Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism", in the Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. online]Although there are earlier related examples, terrorism in the modern sense seems to have emerged around the mid 19th-century.
Origin
The term "terrorism" comes from the
French word
terrorisme, which is based on the
Latin verb
terrere (to cause to tremble),
[Juergensmeyer, Mark. Terror in the Mind of God. University of California Press. Ch. 1 pp. 5 ] It dates back to
1795 when it was used to describe the actions of the
Jacobin Club in their rule of post-Revolutionary France, the so-called "
Reign of Terror".
Jacobins are rumored to have coined the term "terrorists" to refer to themselves. The English word "terrorism" was popularized in English when it was used by the conservative
Edmund Burke, an outspoken opponent of the French Revolution in general, as well as the Terror. Acts described as
Jacobin Club "terrorism" were mostly cases of arrest or execution of opponents as a means of
coercing compliance in the general public. According to Juegensmeyer, they were public acts of destruction which inflicted a public sense of fear due to the lack of military objectives.
Precursors
In the
1st century,
Zealots conducted a fierce and unrelenting terror campaign against the
Roman Empire in the eastern
Mediterranean. The Zealots enlisted
sicarii to strike down rich Jewish collaborators and others who were friendly to the Romans. These terrorists were eventually defeated by the Romans in a series of conflicts (
First Jewish-Roman War -
Kitos War -
Bar Kokhba's revolt), culminating in
Hadrian edicts against Judaism and the reestablishment of Jerusalem as the Roman pagan polis of
Aelia Capitolina.
In the
11th century, the radical
Islamic sect known as the
Hashshashin (this word, derived from the word "
Hashish," which the Hash-Ishiim reputedly used to drug their victims, translates directly to the word "assassin" in the English language) employed systematic murder for a cause they believed to be righteous. For two centuries, they resisted efforts to suppress their religious beliefs and developed ritualized murder into a fine art taught through generations. Political aims were achieved through the power of intimidation. Similarly, the Christian warriors of the
Crusades pursued political aims by means of assaults on
Muslim civilian populations.
French Revolution
During the
French Revolution (
1789 -
1799), the most severe period of the rule of the
Committee of Public Safety (
1793 -
1795) was labelled "The
Reign of Terror" (
1793 -
1794) to describe rule through a systematic use of terror exemplified especially by extensive use of the
guillotine. Historic references to the term "terrorism" first appeared during the
Reign of Terror.
Nineteenth century
The current use of the term "terrorism" is broader and relies more on the example of the 19th-century revolutionaries who used the technique of assassination, particularly the
anarchists and
Narodniks in
Tsarist Russia, whose most notable action was the assassination of
Alexander II. An early example of its use in the current sense is in Joseph Conrad's
1907 story "The Secret Agent", where it is used to describe
anarchists attempting to cause terror and forment social disruption by blowing up
Greenwich Observatory: "The venomous spluttering of the old terrorist without teeth was heard."
Ch.3::"What is one to say to an act of destructive ferocity so absurd as to be incomprehensible, inexplicable, almost unthinkable; in fact, mad? Madness alone is truly terrifying, inasmuch as you cannot placate it either by threats, persuasion, or bribes." (Ch.2)In 1867 the
Irish Republican Brotherhood, a
revolutionary nationalist group with support from
Irish-Americans, carried out attacks in
England. These were the first acts of "
republican terrorism", which became a recurrent feature of
British history, and these
Fenians were the precursor of the
Irish Republican Army. The ideology of the group was
Irish nationalism.
In
Russia, by the mid-19th century, the
intelligentsia grew impatient with the slow pace of
Tsarist reforms, and sought instead to transform peasant discontent into open revolution.
Anarchists like
Mikhail Bakunin maintained that progress was impossible without destruction. Their objective was nothing less than complete destruction of the state. Anything that contributed to this goal was regarded as moral. With the development of sufficiently powerful, stable, and affordable explosives, the gap closed between the firepower of the state and the means available to dissidents. Organized into secret societies like the
People's Will, Russian terrorists launched a campaign of terror against the state that climaxed in
1881 when Tsar
Alexander II of Russia was assassinated.
At about the same time,
Anarchists in Europe and the United States also resorted to the use of dynamite, as did
Catalan nationalists such as
La Reixa and
Bandera Negra.
Two groups within the
Ottoman Empire also resorted to techniques considered by some historians to be in the same category as those used by the People's Will and the Anarchists. One group was those fighting for an independent
Armenia, divided into two parties, the
Social Democrat Hunchakian Party and the
Dashnaks or
Armenian Revolutionary Federation. The other group was those fighting for an independent
Macedonia, divided into two organizations, the
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and the
External Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (EMRO).
The IMRO was founded in 1893 in
Thessaloniki, now in Greece but then part of the
Ottoman Empire. The organisation was driven by Slavic nationalism, and later acquired a reputation for ferocious attacks, including the 1934 assassination of
Alexander I of Yugoslavia during a state visit to France.
The Fenians/IRA, the Hunchaks and Dashnaks, and the IMRO may be considered the prototype of all 'nationalist terrorism', and equally illustrate the (itself controversial) expression that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". At least one of these groups achieved its goals: an independent
Ireland came into being. So did an independent
Macedonia, but the original IMRO probably contributed little to this outcome. The territories of today's
Armenia, however, are all in the former
Russian empire.
Twentieth century
Today, modern weapons technology has made it possible for a "super-empowered angry man" (
Thomas Friedman) to cause a large amount of destruction by himself or with only a few conspirators. It can be, and has been, conducted by small as well as large organizations.
Some people considered at some point in their lives to be terrorists, or supporters of terrorism, have gone on to become dedicated peace activists (
Uri Avnery), respected statesmen (
Yitzhak Shamir) or even
Nobel Peace Prize laureates (
Nelson Mandela,
Yasser Arafat). Though in some instances, the label of terrorist may not follow the standard sense which requires the targetting of non-combatants.
Since 1968, the
U.S. State Department has tallied deaths due to terrorism. In 1985, it counted 816 deaths, the highest annual toll until then. The deaths decreased since the late 1980s, then rose to 3,295 in 2001, mainly as a result of the
September 11, 2001 attacks, which took about 3 thousand lives. In 2003, more than 1,000 people died as a result of terrorist acts. Many of these deaths resulted from
suicide bombings in
Chechnya,
Iraq,
India and
Israel. It does not tally victims of state terrorism.
Data from the
MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base showed a similar decline since the 1980s, especially in Western Europe. On the other hand, Asia experienced an increase in international terrorist attacks. Other regions experienced less consistent patterns over time. From 1991 to 2003, there was a consistent increase in the number of casualties from international terrorist attacks in Asia, but few other consistent trends in casualties from international terrorist attacks. Three different regions had, in three different years, a few attacks with a large number of casualties. Statistically, distribution of the severity of terrorist attacks follows a
power law, much like that for
wars and also natural disasters like
earthquakes,
floods and
forest fires.
The
U.S. State Department describes the following incidents as domestic and international terrorism: the October 1984 bombing in
Brighton, England, by the
PIRA in an unsuccessful but lethal attempt to kill then-Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher; the June 1985 double-bombing of Air India jets originating from Canada; the
1993 Mumbai bombings; the
Oklahoma City bombing by
Timothy McVeigh on
April 19,
1995; the
Omagh bombing in
Northern Ireland (
August 15,
1998); the
September 11, 2001 attacks in
New York, and
Washington D.C.; the
Passover Massacre on
March 27,
2002 in
Netanya, Israel; the
Munich Massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes in
1972; the
Beslan school siege and the
Moscow theatre seige in russia be chechen terrorists; the
Bali bombing in October 2002, the destruction of
Pan Am Flight 103 over
Lockerbie,
Scotland on
December 21,
1988; the attack on the
Indian Parliament (
December 13,
2001); the
Centennial Olympic Park bombing in 1996; the
March 11,
2004 attacks in
Madrid; the
July 7,
2005 bombings in
London; the
second Bali bombing on
October 1,
2005; and the
Mumbai Local Trains Bombing on 11th July,
2006.
According to
definitions of terrorism which focus on the killing of innocents and the intention of affecting morale, there could be examples of
state terrorism such as the bombings of
London by the
Luftwaffe, of
Berlin and especially
the bombing of Dresden by the
Royal Air Force, or the
Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings by the
United States Air Force (though of course, the main difference being that under the
Laws of Armed Conflict, a formal
declaration of war had been made for each of the WWII incidents).
The deadliest events described as terrorism and not known to have been sponsored by a state were the
September 11, 2001 attacks on the
World Trade Center in
New York and
the Pentagon, in
Arlington County, Virginia, with a death toll of ca. 3000.
So far as is known, the deadliest contemporary attack planned (but not executed) was
Operation Bojinka, which aimed to murder
Pope John Paul II and blow up 11 airliners. The U.S. government estimated the prospective death toll to be about 4,000 if the plot had been executed.
The plot was aborted after an apartment fire in
Manila,
Philippines on
January 5,
1995, exposed the operation to police. The militants who were planning it were just over two weeks away from implementing their plot.
Other plots, such as the
1993 World Trade Center bombing, were designed to kill thousands but failed to do so.
Agent provocateur*
False flags Operations
*
Indoctrination*
Propaganda*
Hate group*
Hate crime *
Strategy of tension*
Unconventional warfare*
Religious terrorism*
State-sponsored terrorism*
State Terrorism*
Most Wanted Terrorists- Rewards for Justice
*
The Terrorism Index - Terrorism "scorecard" from
Foreign Policy Magazine and the Center for American Progress
*
Noam Chomsky: The New War on Terror*
RAND Terrorism Experts Guide*
MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base*
Terrorism Research Center - Terrorism research site started in 1996.
*
Terrorism Research - International Terrorism and Security Research
*
Strategic Foresight Group- a think tank known for its roundtables on deconstructing terror
*
Law, Terrorism and Homeland Security. A collection of articles compiled by Greg McNeal, Fellow in Terrorism and Homeland Security at the Institute for Global Security Law and Policy.
*
Israeli Counter Terror at isayeret.com*
Scale invariance in global terrorism*
Security NewsLine: Global Terrorism and Counterterrorism www.debriefed.org*
Nuclear Facilities and Sabotage: Using Morphological Analysis as a Scenario and Strategy Development Laboratory (PDF)
*
C.O.D.E. : Center for the Observation and Deterrence of Extremism*
The Institute for Counter-Terrorism *
A reliable and daily updated Open Sources Center that includes a "Terrorism" section. by ISRIA.
*
Paradise Poisoned: Learning About Conflict, Development and Terrorism from Sri Lanka's Civil Wars by
John Richardson *
"The Security Constitution," UCLA Law Review, Vol. 53, No. 29, 2005*
SourceWatch article on the War on Terror*
Diplomacy Monitor - Terrorism*
The Evolution of Terrorism in 2005. A statistical assessment An article by Rik Coolsaet and Teun Van de Voorde, University of Ghent
*
Polish Terrorism Center
