Terrorism (Political Science)

The systematic use of terror or violence to achieve political goals. This definition of terrorism is not wholly adequate; more than 100 definitions of this term exist because there are many types of terrorism that differ in time, motivation, and manifestations, and there is no agreed-on definition. Nevertheless, elements of terrorism that are generally agreed on are its use or threatened use of violence to achieve some political aim, the acquisition and use of power, and the planned, calculated, and systematic characteristics of the act itself. Although terrorists themselves may embrace a specific ideology that justifies their acts, terrorism itself is not an ideology but rather one of the oldest forms of violence.

The pioneers of suicide terrorism were the Assassins, who operated between the 8th and 14th centuries in the area that now comprises Iran and Iraq. Since the Assassins used daggers to kill targets, who were usually well guarded, their chance of escape was generally nonexistent.

Terroristic acts have appeared in the Old Testament of the Bible and in Greek and Roman history. But the term terrorism was not popularized until the French Revolution in 1789. Terrorism was used as an instrument of governance to intimidate dissidents and those sympathetic to the previous regime. Thus, the resulting newly created political system, la régime de la terreur, connoted terrorism in a positive light.

After 1960, there was a rise in international terrorist attacks. The idea of modern terrorism arguably came into the public consciousness on July 22, 1968, when armed Palestinian men from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) hijacked an Israeli El Al commercial flight for the purpose of taking hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian terrorists being held in Israel.

The perpetrators of terrorism may be either individual groups or whole governments. Some historical and current terrorist groups include left- and right-wing political groups, white supremacists, religious cults, [Page 515]antiabortionists, ecoterrorists, bioterrorists, cyberterrorists, and narcoterrorists. State-sponsored terrorism is sup ported by governments to eliminate their opponents. Examples of state-sponsored terrorism are found in many Asian, African, Middle-Eastern, and South American governments, as well as the tyrannical regimes of Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Benito Mussolini.

A new type of religious suicide/homicide terrorism emerged on September 11, 2001, which involved the deadliest terror attack on the United States, and pushed Islamic terrorism to the top of the American political agenda. In addition to an economic crisis in the airline industry and heightened security precautions, the United States changed its response to terrorism from that of the police model of arrest and prosecution to a preemptive-war model, which included the American attack on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, followed by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. For more information, see Hoffman (1998) and Lacquer (2001).