Defining Terrorism Term Paper

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Terrorism is serious issue which holds different meaning to different people depending on their political beliefs and religious associations. What makes it really contentious in nature is the fact that not everyone sees terrorists as brutal assassins- for some they are national or religious heroes and freedom fighters. While to reach a definition of terrorism is not easy, some attempts have been made to define the term. Title 22 of the United States Code defines terrorism as "premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents" (quoted in U.S. Department of State 1999). Terrorism Act 2000 of Britain views terrorism as "the use or threat . . . designed to influence the government or to intimidate the public or a section of the public and . . . made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause" (United Kingdom 2000). According to Walzer, terrorism is "the deliberate killing of innocent people, at random, in order to spread fear through a whole population and force the hand of its political leaders" (2002, 5). Stohl on the other hand maintains that terrorism is "the purposeful act or threat of the act of violence to create fear and/or compliant behavior in a victim and/or audience of the act or threat.

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" He goes to add that, "terrorism is not simply violence. It includes violent acts intended to influence a wider audience, to send a message" (Stohl 1988, 3-5). These are some of the popular definitions of terrorism which help us understand that terrorism is a pre-meditated act of violence that is used as vehicle to drive an important message home.

Terrorists are not ordinary criminals for in most cases, they have a group or organization supporting them. Apart from this, while criminals would act alone normally for no specific cause, terrorists would always have some message accompanying their violent activities. It would be senseless to believe that terrorists are mentally deranged. There is no accredited research indicating that terrorism is caused by mental disturbance. Professor McCauley in his explanation of terrorist's mindset argues that research indicates that "psychopathology and personality disorder no more likely among terrorists than among non-terrorists from the same background." While it is disturbing to learn this, it is true that terrorism becomes a major problem because….....

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