Terrorism Refers to Threats, Violence, Bombings, Etc.

Terrorism refers to threats, violence, bombings, etc. Terrorism is known to have a long history, but even today, the reason behind this terror by the super powers and the government remains explicit. The acts of terror are very common these days and could be found in current political and social environment. A part of terror is still confused when it is applied in the actual present world (Robb, 2007).

Where the word terrorism comes from and its definitions

According to the department of USA that deals with terrorism, defense, violence etc., terrorism could be defined as "something that creates illegal violence, fear, chaos among the population. Common basis of terror are politics, religion or even ideology. They threat the society to achieve their goals." The main features are fear, threats and aggression that lead to terror in the victims. Another similar definition by the FBI states that terrorism involves illegal forces that give rise to threats and violence within the society and culture. On the ground of political and social issues and objectives, the society is violated and government is intimidated. The department of U.S. further defines terrorism as a planned political violence by the secret agents and national groups, aiming to influence the entire society (Robb, 2007).

Other than government stated definition in the U.S., there are various other different descriptions lying behind terrorism. One of them is a way of creating aggression, chaos by the individual secret groups on the basis of political, religious, and distinctive reasons, whereas in case of killing, the major targets would not be included in direct targets. The definition of British Government as in 1974 in terms of violence states that using the violence for achieving political motives, with the inclusion of such violence used for harassing the public on the whole or a portion of public considerably does not give vague or detailed impression. Whilst the acceptable academic definition generally begins in line with U.N. definition - referred above with the total amount of 77 words consequently. It contains wordy perception as "message generators" and "processes of violence-based communication" (Robb, 2007).

The phenomenon of terrorism and different types of terrorism

Undoubtedly, there is a broad-based concept to define terrorism. As far as definitions are concerned, there are common factors that can be mainly considered as useful definition. However, there are various types of definitions explaining terrorism through a common range of definition (White, 2006):

The political aspect of terrorism

Harboring terrorism is political act. The intention of this type of terrorism is to set off political eruption. Moreover, terrorists use amazing tactics to create havoc by applying direct violence to political contest, bypassing arms and ammunition forces. Terrorists consider the statement "war is like that of prolongation of policy in other ways" of Clausewitz as truism (White, 2006).

The Psychological aspect of terrorism

The intention of terrorists mainly is focused to put psychological pressure ("terror"). In order to trigger their terrorist act, they target audience instead of aiming directly on actual victims. To achieve their objective, their act of terrorism is to influence the population by and large, with a view to manipulate a specific class of society (for argument sake, ethnic minority), or aiming at the elites who take strategic decisions amongst the military, social and political populace (Allen, 2006).

The Coercive aspect of terrorism

Terrorists achieve their inner motive using threats and latent violence sometimes, and, therefore, terrorist operation is not always resulted to be a cause of destruction or casualties. However, destruction or violence is a sheer source of ignition through which desired results are achieved by terrorists. For instance, sometimes the terrorists release the hostages without giving them any harm or injury after negotiations, but this entire activity reveals a successful terrorism effect. Unsuccessful attempts at terrorism are usually experienced when terrorists cannot manipulate their victims or if they fail in implementing their plans. Hence in this specific case, the threat of killing off the hostages or creating violence in Maim was just mere coercion (Allen, 2006).

The Dynamic aspect of terrorism

Terrorism is now acknowledged worldwide. Terrorist groups revolutionize governments or bring about a drastic change by committing violent acts, which alter or destroy the status quo. Though these violent acts might be reactionary in nature, it takes time to re-establish a damaged or extinct value system (Allen, 2006).

The Deliberate aspect of terrorism

Innocent victims become the target of terrorist activities just by being symbolically important. The fact that their pain may help in creating a psychological impact, becomes the reason for their death. All this is not merely coincidence but in fact each and every step is planned in advance (Bascio, 2007).

Factors contributing to terrorism

As per a study, suicide terrorism is the only idea that challenges the intricate bond between domestic violence and democracy. Although domestic violence can be found in democratic states, it is almost always found in dictatorships. However, recently, it has been found that suicide campaigns are usually carried out in self-governing states. Furthermore, taking into account statistics from 1980s and 1990s, the study also proves that there is a rate of increase in suicide attacks if terrorists are given special consideration (Torres, 2006).

Terrorism is reported to be found in a number of nondemocratic regions, for instance, the presence of ETA running under Francisco Franco in Spain, which is reported to have higher rate of terrorism after the death of Franco. In addition, Alberto Fujimori leads Shining path in Peru, whereas the Kurdistan Workers Party when it was ran under the military in Turkey. The ANC in South Africa also comes under the same list. At a local level, a number of democratic leader ships have also faced terrorism (Torres, 2006).

Effects of terrorism:

Effects of terrorism are broad and wide, Torres (2006) in their book dwell on a few. They write:

Fear in the public dwelling in that region

Publicity in the media at national or international level

Writ of the government may be challenged

Terrorism in the form of bank robberies, kidnappings, street crimes and theft may be widely induced with high quality weaponry

Public facilities, government services, communication and transportation may be damaged and control may be taken over smaller regions