...There is no universal definition of terrorism but in what case does it really matters? Do we need a universal definition of terrorism? During the last two century, many definition of terrorism have been elaborated. As today there are several different kinds of terrorism and also different point of view on terrorism nobody can clearly understand what is terrorism. The description of terrorism varies between cultures. Moreover one of the current problems with the word terrorism is that it is easier to define this term by what it is not than define it by what it is. A Universal definition is needed, In order to clearly understand this notion. However, even scholars or governments are not agreeing on the fact that we need a universal definition of terrorism. According to Lutz, “what will be useful is to provide a working definition, as neutral as possible. What is also necessary is to read and evaluate with cares how others use the word. A clear and workable definition of terrorism should cover both groups that individuals agree with and group that they disagree with” . Sebastian Wojciechowski offers several...
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...Given the growing global threats of terrorism, it is significant that an understanding of the history, nature and mechanism-premises under which terror operates is obtained. This is significant as it would shape the perspective of policy makers when addressing issues of this nature. Terrorism, as it is understood is the action of none-state weak actors, individual or groups, who for some reasons feels suppressed, marginalized and, or denied what they may view as the basic human right. All terrorism has political objectives, even though the perpetrators may use religious relics to appeal to a wider existing audience, and invoke a response through violent act to prove or propagate their point. Yoram Schweitzer in "Suicide Terrorism Development &ump; Characteristics," Mark Sedgwick in "Al-Qaeda and the "Nature of Religious Terrorism," and Dr. James Armstrong, all demonstrates that suicide terror attacks are politically motivated even though the perpetrator may use religious symbolism to justifies their acts. Observing areas in the world where terrorism is frequent, especially in the Middle East, it can be argued that groups that engaged in terrorists' activities are those that feel suppressed and taken advantage of by a much greater power. Thus, terrorism, particularly suicide terror is prevalent in areas where systems of gross injustice seem to exist. Therefore, the actual use of terrorism by non-state actors is a tactic aimed at polarizing the population in their favor...
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...Emotion has received a mixed reception within terrorism studies. This is partially due to the somewhat nebulous nature of emotion. As Smith notes, research into emotion is multifaceted and contested. Emotion is difficult to define and conceptualise, this challenge is exacerbated by the inability of the individual to convey their own emotional experiences. Additionally, limited contact with individuals involved in terrorism has meant scholars have had little chance to explore the concept at the source. Adding to this difficulty is what Cottee and Hayward call the “hardened empiricism of many terrorism scholars,” who would prefer to focus on other aspects of terrorism such organisational structure, tactics, and ideology. This has led to the...
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...Given the growing global threats of terrorism, it is significant that an understanding of the history, nature and mechanism-premises under which terror operates is obtained. This is significant as it would shape the perspective of policy makers when addressing issues of this nature. Terrorism, as it is understood is the action of none-state weak actors, individual or groups, who for some reasons feels suppressed, marginalized and, or denied what they may view as the basic human right. All terrorism has political objectives, even though the perpetrators may use religious relics to appeal to a wider existing audience, and invoke a response through violent act to prove or propagate their point. Yoram Schweitzer in "Suicide Terrorism Development & Characteristics," Mark Sedgwick in "Al-Qaeda and the "Nature of Religious Terrorism," and Dr. James Armstrong, all demonstrates that suicide terror attacks are politically motivated even though the perpetrator may use religious symbolism to justifies their acts. Observing areas in the world where terrorism is frequent, especially in the Middle East, it can be argued that groups that engaged in terrorists' activities are those that feel suppressed and taken advantage of by a much greater power. Thus, terrorism, particularly suicide terror is prevalent in areas where systems of gross injustice seem to exist. Therefore, the actual use of terrorism by non-state actors is a tactic aimed at polarizing the population in their favor. By killing...
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...President George W. Bush struggled with terrorism after 9/11. The first phase was during the invasion of Afghanistan where the strategy and view was to defeated terrorism. The second phase was during the invasion of Iraq, where the strategy changed to a more global prospective to eliminate not only terrorism but weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Furthermore, this second phase had the most criticism and created the overall failure of the Middle East policy for the Bush administration. The first phase of Bush’ view on terrorism was attributed to the attacks on 9/11, where there was full support for the war. Al Qaeda was the specific goal to eliminate, thus an invasion in Afghanistan was needed according to Bush. The leader of Al Qaeda proposed the killings in the US were justified because there have been killing in the Middle East by the Israelis, which were supported by the US. Since the...
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...Given the growing global threats of terrorism, it is significant that an understanding of the history, nature and mechanism-premises under which terror operates is obtained. This is significant as it would shape the perspective of policy makers when addressing issues of this nature. Terrorism, as it is understood is the action of none-state weak actors, individual or groups, who for some reasons feels suppressed, marginalized and, or denied what they may view as the basic human right. All terrorism has political objectives, even though the perpetrators may use religious relics to appeal to a wider existing audience, and invoke a response through violent act to prove or propagate their point. Yoram Schweitzer in "Suicide Terrorism Development & Characteristics," Mark Sedgwick in "Al-Qaeda and the "Nature of Religious Terrorism," and Dr. James Armstrong, all demonstrates that suicide terror attacks are politically motivated even though the perpetrator may use religious symbolism to justifies their acts. Observing areas in the world where terrorism is frequent, especially in the Middle East, it can be argued that groups that engaged in terrorists' activities are those that feel suppressed and taken advantage of by a much greater power. Thus, terrorism, particularly suicide terror is prevalent in areas where systems of gross injustice seem to exist. Therefore, the actual use of terrorism by non-state actors is a tactic aimed at polarizing the population in their favor. By killing...
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...moments they are all the same. I will be examining all sides; whether soldiers, freedom fighters, and terrorists are different or there are no differences between them or it may be in the observers’ viewpoint or interests. One cannot truly understand whether there is a difference or not without understanding all sides of the topic. In a way, once understanding all view points, one would be able to give a more appropriate opinion which they could support or make an assumption about the different sides of this topic while critically assessing all sides. People see terrorists as the enemy, when the terrorist is attacking them or their land/nation. However, the soldiers are seen as heroes when attacking the land of people which the terrorists come from. Yet, we don’t see that soldiers may be the terrorist to them, the foreign nation, which the soldiers are attacking. The most obvious, biggest and most recent cause of this being such a hot topic is the ‘9/11’ attack on the day of September 11th, 2001. Were these really cases of terrorism, or were they freedom fighters fighting for their cause. “The enemy is terrorism-premeditated,...
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...President Georgia W. Bush within the highest stages of the American government. During 9/11 former President Bush signed a document that would give the CIA the control, to capture kill also interrogate terrorist leaders and group member of that outfit as well. It even gave the CIA the authority to obtain private locations around, the world to capture also interrogate the terrorism with the human right being taken away from them within theses private areas they used. Then former president as well develop and top property lines, of high valued names of terrorist. This government agency granted the right to detain, interrogate also kill the terrorist that was not on the high-value list. Many people within a society have different definitions of torture. However, torture is a person that intentionally physically harms a defenseless, also not consenting individual severely. The considerable deliberate curtailment, with the exercises of a person self-sufficiency, obtain by any means necessary commonly to assume the reason for breaking the will of the not consenting individual. Also in this paper, we will talk about terrorism. Torture look at both sides in favor and not in the use of torture it evaluates each side ethically (Jeremy Diamond, 2014). In the practice of torture is used to break, the individual will society has to figure out when would this tactic as such be useful to put into action. This form of a method would be unwanted within society because it would violate the public rights...
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...aspect of terrorism goes very deep for the terrorist especially those in the middle-eastern countries. The social view addresses the in-group/out-group bias as well as the fundamental attribution error. The in-group/out-group bias refers to the tendency for individuals to identify themselves as a particular group, placing all others in opposing groups. In the case of terrorism, a trained terrorist may think they are good and righteous, but all others (including those that do not practice their cultural norms or religious expectations) are among the out-group. By defining themselves as an in -groups, it makes it easier for an individual to act out against those they consider a out-group member. The creations of in and out groups are fabricated at a young age. In the case of countries known for frequent acts of terrorism, their society teaches their inhabitants to hate out-groups, defining them as targets of destruction. Taylor & Horgan (2006) describe this phenomenon as “the incremental process through which youngsters become committed insiders of counter-culture youth groups” (p. 581). To be more basic in explanation, societal pressure and norms create terrorists. The old adage, “it takes a village to raise a child,” is true when it comes to making a terrorist. The social attitude of that community becomes a part of who ever lives in that area and therefore, sets the way they think. Another perspective is the view of Behaviorism. The Behavioral view believes...
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...11 attacks and of the events following have played an important role in the affecting of the publics view about Islam, the war on terror and the Middle East. The media distorts or manipulates information that is being presented to the public. Creating a distorted view of social reality for the individual viewing. Theobald in his article ‘Mystification in the Media: from ‘Ritual Murder’ to the ‘War on Terrorism’ he offers a powerful discussion about the medias portrayal of Islam, the War on Terrorism and the illusion created by modern journalism. Theobald’s in-depth analysis of the medias treatment of Islam, the war on terror and the representation of Muslims exposes the impact of the media on the comities view. Martin and Phelan’s article ‘Representing Islam in the Wake of September 11: A Comparison of US Television and CNN Online Messageboard Discourses’ uses different techniques in their article to show the reader how two different media examples, television and a CNN messageboard present information headed by the word Islam in the immediate aftermath of September 11. Where Martin and Phelan back their arguments with statistics and hard evidence, Theobald develops his argument through in-depth and detailed analysis of important news coverage. Both articles offer an in-depth insight into the medias representation surrounding the September 11 attacks and the war on terrorism. John Theobald’s discusses the issues of mass communication and the medias portrayal of Islam and...
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...New Terrorism? Predicting the Future of Terrorism Introduction/ Purpose Terrorism is an often controversial subject. “One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist.” This is a well known quote that is often used to allude to the complexity of terrorism. Terrorism, the word itself is a word that has possessed over a hundred definitions and a concept that has changed as the societies of the world have progressed. The use of the terms terrorism and terrorist are politically weighted, and are often used for a polarizing effect, where 'terrorism' becomes simply a relativist term for the violence committed by an enemy, from the point of view of the attacked. Because of the political nature of some struggles, 'terrorism' can become identified as simply any violence committed against established institutions. A terrorist is, strictly speaking, one who is personally involved in an act of terrorism. The term "terrorism" comes from the French 18th century word terrorisme (under their government's Reign of Terror), based on the Latin language verbs terrere (to tremble) and deterrere (to frighten from). The use of the term "terrorist" has had broader applications however, ranging in application from disgruntled citizens to common political dissidents. It is important to understand terrorism in our modern arena and under stand its effects on society. ‘Terrorism’, as a unified political and ideological motif did not arise spontaneously in response to particular instances...
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...Background Terrorism is a strategy and tactic, a holy duty and a crime, an unacceptable response to oppression and an intolerable abomination. A common definition is that terrorism is an illegal act that affects an audience further than the direct victim. The tactic of terrorists is to perform acts of bloodshed that draw interest of the government, population and the world at large. Terrorists prepare their attack to get the largest publicity, selecting targets that signify what they resist. The success of a terror attack lies, not on the attack, but in the government’s or public’s response to the act (Larry, 2011). There are three views of terrorism; the victim’s, the terrorist’s and the public. The expression “one person’s terrorist is another person’s” freedom fighter’ is perspective terrorists would embrace. Terrorists do not regard themselves as wicked. They consider themselves as fighters, fighting for what they trust in, by any means possible. Victims of terrorist acts view the terrorists as evil with no consideration to human existence. The public’s perspective is the most unbalanced because people view terrorism acts differently. Terrorism is an essential part of mental warfare and requires to be opposed vigorously (Weisburd, 2009). Law makers, scholars and security experts have defined different forms of terrorism. These forms of terrorism vary according to the attack means the attacker uses (for instance biological) or by what they are opposing (eco-terrorism). State...
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...According to Christopher Hitchens, “Terrorism is the tactic of demanding the impossible, and demanding it at gun point,” of which is undeniably true. Terrorism is the extension of fear, trepidation and distress to project its views into the then current political spectrum, to alter the views, culture and ethos of the respective political power. Essentially, terrorism is about acquiring awareness in society for its cause, subsequently questioning the government’s stance or perspective. In doing so terrorism, as this essay will discuss, creates reservations about the legitimacy of the current government, raises doubts surrounding the power of the state; a manoeuvre that demands concessions. Moreover, terrorism has taken on a pseudo religious-political form that has resulted in an involuntary knee-jerk reaction throughout the modern liberal democracies in the Western World. Not many events, actions or ideologies have influenced politics as terrorism has done so consistently throughout history. Terrorism and politics intertwine more than many understand. Terrorism is a catalyst for political interaction and development; as politics is seldom contained to one opinion, it is home to a myriad of diverse beliefs and judgements. It is about command and control and is not regulated to a sole individual, but the interconnections of various people from differing backgrounds and faiths, prompting revolution, oppression and liberalisation (Delaware Criminal Justice...
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...What is Terrorism? – Defining Terrorism Defining terrorism is not an easy task. As the lesson explains, there are many individual definitions to the term terrorist or terrorism. Phillip Cryan (2001) determined in his research that the word terrorism has increased in popularity since the World Trade Center attacks. He also states that other foreign countries are depending on the United States to fight their battles by labelling their attackers as “terrorist”. This is something that I felt to be very interesting. Upon using the class reference and several articles and journals found online, I have found various complexities in defining the act and very word of “terrorism”. I initially researched the purpose of terrorism. In order to understand what terrorism is, you must also look at why it is done. The legal definition used in the “Defining Terrorism” article by Phillip Cryan says that goals of the act of terrorism is simply “seeking international consensus” (Cryan, 2001). This means that in order to be considered a terrorist or to commit a terrorist act, you have to have a global audience. The terrorist group has to have some kind of global appeal in order to commit an act in the first place. There has to be an issue at hand or a cause that a mass of people can be sympathetic to or enraged by. Either way it accomplishes the goal of attention for the act of terrorism. The Department of Defense’s definition is “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence...
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...Although terrorism is a forefront issue in today’s world, it is in many ways indefinable. There are many reasons as to why it is extremely difficult to define terrorism, but the biggest is the wide variety of tactics and motives of so called terrorist attacks. Because of this variety, it is difficult to assign one definition to a word. The idea that the word “terrorism” is essentially indefinable makes it alarming that the word is used so often in outlets such as politics and the media. It is such a powerful word it can persuade the opinions of people who are not entirely informed. Due to this, the political implications of the word can be huge and it is important that the issue be addressed. One of the main components of most definitions of “terror” includes some type of violence or intimidation with a political goal in mind. Beyond this, the definition is very controversial and even these characteristics are very vague. This violence can range from killing thousands of innocent civilians to an arguably much lesser degree of cyber attacks. Another big issue is the fact that an act considered one of terrorism by a certain party, is typically viewed as justified by another party. The way American citizens view the act of American troops entering the Middle East is significantly different than the way the people in those respective countries do. To certain people, the United States’ military has committed acts of terror, and its not surprising considering their point of view...
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