Terrorism

Domestic Terrorism

Research by Laura Dugan, Gary LaFree, and Heather Fogg in 2006, as well as Albert J. Jongman in 1992, has shown that the majority of terrorist acts that take place around the globe can be classified as domestic terrorism. Domestic terrorism is characterized as terrorist acts that take place by individuals acting within their own country in order to attack or harm their own people. These acts can be against organizations, police forces, the military, institutions, or other targeted aspects of the area in which the terrorists operate.

Domestic terrorism is not a phenomenon only in the United States. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is an organization that dates as far back as 1921 and the Irish War of Independence. However, from 1969 forward, the Irish Republican Army splintered into several different groups. The IRA's connection with domestic terrorism stems from the acts of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Based primarily in Northern Ireland, the IRA was known for utilizing terrorist acts in order to violently protest the treatment of Catholics in Northern Island, as well as emphasizing the importance of Ireland being without British influence and instead controlled by the Irish. The IRA is connected with numerous acts of domestic terrorism, including Bloody Friday, the 1972 bombing in Belfast that killed nine people and injured 130, and a 1998 car bombing in Northern Ireland that left 29 people dead.

The Subway Sarin Incident refers to an act of domestic terrorism in Japan on March 20, 1995, which has been considered the most serious attack to occur in Japan since the end of World War II. Members of the group Aum Shinrikyo released the chemical sarin on several lines of the Tokyo Metro subway system. The five coordinated attacks resulted in 13 deaths, 50 injuries, and nearly 1,000 individuals reporting temporary problems with their vision resulting from contact with sarin.

International Terrorism

Foreign terrorism has drawn increasing amounts of public and academic attention in recent years. Foreign terrorism refers to terrorist acts stemming from individuals or organizations from another country, often in order to make a statement about or to change policy in another area of the world.