Terrorism, its Causes and Responses - Essay Example

Terrorism, its Causes and Responses The Oxford English Dictionary defines terrorism as “the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.” it is therefore a form of sophisticated organized crime where the perpetrators employ every means at their disposal to cause political anxiety among nations or regions. Their goal is to disorganize governments and in so doing they hope to achieve their political ambitions. Through intimidation, the terrorists take advantage of human fear to advance their ulterior motives. The United States and the entire world is a constant war against terrorists and terror groups such as Al-Qaida, Alshabaab and many others continue to use violent actions such as kidnaps and bombings to cause unrest. The United Nations General Assembly attempts to define terrorism as criminal actions aimed at provoking the state of terror in the public, groups of people or certain persons for unjustifiable political reasons. Such actions are intolerable and are termed terrorism despite the ideologies, religious considerations, philosophical or political reasons that might be brought forth as justification. characteristically acts of terrorism are politically motivated, violent in nature, calculated to instigate psychological fear, are advanced by organizations with clear conspiratorial command chains which are identifiable and the perpetrators and entities which are non-state. Terrorists generally exploit the media to achieve much publicity as possible and amplify their influence on the audience of target. The objective is for the effects to be felt by an audience that goes beyond the immediate subject being targeted. Terrorism can take the type of either domestic terrorism if conducted within the confines of national boarders or international terrorism if conducted by groups that are able to exert their effects beyond boarders of nations. Terrorism can also take the form of Civil Disorder in which violence is utilized in order to disrupt the security & peace as well as the normal community functioning. Political terrorism on the other takes the form of violence and criminal mannerisms aimed at generating fear in an entire community or a significant part of the community in order to advance political interests. There is also Limited Political Terrorism which involves terror acts conducted out of political and ideological motivations but not aimed at gaining state control. Official or State Terrorism refers to nations ruled on the principles of oppression and fear reaching the similarities of terrorism. it may also be termed as Structural Terrorism defined by acts of terror conducted by governments mostly as foreign policy in the pursuit of political interests. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations International Terrorism identifies with three common characteristics. It involves acts of violence, which pose danger to lives of humans and contravenes the laws of the state. Secondly international terrorism aims at intimidating or coercing civilian populations, influencing government policies in a manner that is intimidating & coercive and impacts on government business through mass destructions, assassinations and incidences of kidnapping. a third characteristic o f international terrorism is that it primarily takes place beyond the territorial boarders of the united states, or transcends international boarders in terms of means, targeted persons for intimidation and spread of the terrorist locale of operation. Domestic Terrorism on its part involves acts dangerous to the life of humans and which are advanced in violation of both state and federal laws. This kind of terrorism also aimed at intimidating and coercing civilian populations in a state of fear, intimidating and coercing the direction of government policies and interrupting normal government business through massive destruction of property, waves of high profile assassinations as well as series of kidnappings. This form of terrorism is perpetrated with jurisdictional confines of the America national boundaries. Further, a criminal offense that qualifies for classification as terrorism in the federal laws is characteristically designed to intimidate, coerce and retaliate against the government’s conduct in order to influence its business. it obviously violates federal laws as killings or attempts of killing are involved (FBI, ) According to the U.S Department of defense, terrorism is “the calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.” the real factors behind the occurrence of terrorism activities are varied and have been identified as being strategic, ideological, religious, psychological and political (www.usip.org). On the psychological perspective, terrorists advance their activities for reasons which are solely personal and informed by their psychological status; the desire for power and hate for certain individuals. After bombing the French Chamber of Deputies in the year 1983, Auguste Valiant explained that his sole motivation was the hatred he nursed against the middle class. His intention was to taint their success in the economic and social senses through violence. A second perspective to the causation of terrorism is ideological; the goals and objects of terrorists are informed by certain principles, values and belief systems. Included in ideology are religious and political goals as well as philosophies. The Irish Republican Party operating in Ireland, Liberation Tigers of Tamal Eelam operate in Sri Lanka are some terrorist groups whose actions are motivated by ideology. IRA for instance is politically motivated by the need to have Ireland separated from the United Kingdom. LLTE on the other hand engage in their actions with the intention of establishing a new state for the Tamals in the Sri Lanka republic. There is also a strategic perspective to terrorism and in these sense it can be seen to be the result of failures in politics. Violence and other inhuman criminal actions by organizations regarded as terror groups may be the result of their failure to get the government’s attention when they present their grievances. Terrorism in this sense may be the outcome of a detailed analysis of the group’s aims as well as the estimation of their chances at attaining victory. in the event the group sees no likelihood of successfully attaining victory through the traditionally acceptable opposition then terrorism might be resorted to as the last and best option. The ANC of South Africa for instance after exploring all political avenues unsuccessfully, they resorted to terrorism. It should be noted that it is not only individuals out of government that may feel uncomfortable with political processes; sometimes even states may sponsor and use terror groups to advance strategic goals of their own. This is possible especially when the state are able to establish that their strategic goals are almost similar to the objectives of organizations engaging in terrorism. It is particularly important to note that terrorism has a resemblance with warfare, political unrest and the use of force by nations in order to slash out unwanted elements. Terrorism is also different from the use of tactics such as negotiation by states in order to amicable deal with it. Terrorism is dealt with by nations using different means and some of these means to resemble terrorism itself but there is also a difference especially when the intentions are considered. Governments respond to terrorism sometimes using violence as opposition, sometimes they negotiate or even go for international conventions through establishment of standards for opposing it. These may not be the only means employed by governments in opposing terror activities but have been widely employed. Force and violence have been used periodically in responding to and combating terrorism. A very good example that is still live in the memories of many is when the United States through military action entered Afghanistan to fight and end Taliban which was known to harbor Al Qaeda. The United States has also gone for the Al Shabaab operating in the Indian Ocean and Somalia using force. In the year 1988, the British Special Air Services went for, short and terminated the lives of three terrorists in Gibraltar who were members of the IRA. In these cases violence was targeted at the individuals suspected to belong to terror groups and for was used as in the attempt of hindering their operational abilities as well as a tit-for-tat response. Negotiations are also widely employed in ending terrorism. It is common for national authorities to publicly deny any possibilities of negotiating terms with terrorist organization, sometimes secret negotiations are followed. The Great Britain for a long time declined negotiating anything with IRA as well as its political arms (Sinn Fein) but due to public pressure negotiations were resorted and these yielded the Good Friday Agreements that significantly eliminated terror attacks in the North of Ireland. In yet another example the apartheid government despite proscribing the ANC as an organization engaging in terrorism there were secrete negations with ANC whose result was the ending of apartheid rule. A third approach at dealing with the threats of terrorism involves the development of international agreements. In this respect, international bodies such as the UN bring nations together in passing resolutions aimed at encouraging proactive political actions among nations. The International Convection for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings of 1997 for instance implores nations who ratified it criminalizes the unlawful and intentional utilization of explosives and other dangerous weapons in the public in order to injure or cause deaths of persons. Another international effort at at attacking terrorism was seen in the 1373 UN Security Council anti-terrorism resolution known as “Improving International Cooperation.” such efforts by the international community aim increasing the cooperation between nations when it comes fighting terrorism and reducing its effects through acceptable norms. In conclusion therefore terrorism is one topic that takes different descriptions on the international scene and because of the different and evolving forms it manifests in, there is not a single internationally recognized definition. Different organizations and nations define terrorism variedly but some aspects of the definitions are universal. These include the criminal nature, violation of the law, use of violence and exertion of effects beyond the particularly individuals targeted. Terrorism is informed by reasons which are political, ideological, philosophical and religious in nature. It can therefore be classified as political, ideological, domestic, or international depending on the underlying factors as well as the territorial confines within which the organizations operate. Terrorism is not warfare or political unrest and may elicit responses which sometimes included violence, negotiation or international agreements. These responses may resemble the same actions of terrorisms but the intentions differentiate them from actual terrorism. References. 1. Gupta, Rakesh. (1998).A Comparative Perspective on the Causes of Terrorism. International Studies, 35(1) pp. 23–53. 2. The Federal Bureau of Investigation. Terrorism: Definitions of Terrorism in the U.S Code. Available at http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/terrorism/terrorism-definition 3. United States Institute of Peace. Teaching Guide on International Terrorism: Definitions, Causes, and Responses. Available at http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/terrorism.pdf Read More