1. There are many definitions of terrorism. Some of them are: Brain Jenkins said that terrorism is the use or threatened use of force designed to bring about political change. While Walter Lacqueur said that terrorism constitutes the illegitimate use of force to achieve apolitical objective by targeting innocent people. Yet another definition comes from Edward Herman, who said that terrorism should be defined by terms of state repression, such as the corrupt Latin American governments. Still another view of terrorism comes from Alex Schmidt, who said that there is no true or correct definition, because terrorism is an abstract concept with no real presence.
A single definition cannot possibly account for all potential uses of the term. The final definition that is covered here is the official definition of terrorism issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They state that it is the unlawful use of force to intimidate a government to further political or social goals. Though these are only a few of the definitions of terrorism, they provide a good cross-section of the term terrorism. 2. Martha Crenshaw said that terrorism means socially and politically unacceptable violence aimed at an innocent target to achieve a psychological effect.
She also sited three criteria to make it a terrorist attack. The first is that there must be military methods used. Second there must be a millitary target involved, and finally there must be some chance of victory. 3.
J. Bowyer Bell stated that there are six types of terrorism, and each part has a purpose. The six are; psychotic which attempts to achieve psychological gratification. The second is criminal witch attempts to profit the terrorist. Next there is the vigilantly type of terrorism witch attempts to achieve retaliation for some act, fourth there is endemic terrorism; witch is an internal struggle of some type.
The fifth type of terrorism is authorized terrorism, which deals with state repression of a group. Finally we have revolutionary terrorism, which changes a behavior through fear. 4. One of the many types of terrorism, according to Bell, is revolutionary terrorism. Here are some of the forms of revolutionary terrorism. One form is organizational which is meant to maintain discipline in a terrorist group.
The next is allegiance which attempts to achieve public support for a given terror group. Thirdly there is functional revolutionary terrorism, which attempts to accomplish the missions of the terror groups. Another form is the proactive type, which incites governments to repression of a group of people. The fifth form of revolutionary terrorism is a manipulative terror group that attempts to obtain demands through drastic confrontation.
The final aspect of revolutionary terrorism according to bell is the symbolic terrorist that strikes at targets for a psychological impact. 5. PaulWilkinson has another typology of terrorism. He focused primarily on nationalistic and revolutionary terrorism. Yet his definition moved beyond the broad meaning of terrorism. Three types came out of his analysis: criminal, political and state sponsored terror.
He also said that there has to be a difference made between internal and external terrorism. He is the most fond of political terrorism because he feels it is the least controversial and most common. 6. Brian Jenkins stated six tactics of terrorism. They are; bombing, hijacking, arson, ambush, kidnapping, and hostage taking.
Terrorist most commonly use more than one of these tactics at one time. 7. Just as there are six common tactics employed by terrorists there are also three force multipliers, which increases the striking power of the terrorists without increasing the strength of the unit. They are; technology (such as computer strikes), transnational support (money from more than one source), and media (to get their ideals out to the public). These forces are just as important to terror grouWords/ Pages : 645 / 24
