TERRORISM AND POLITICAL VIOLENC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

TERRORISM AND POLITICAL VIOLENC - Essay Example The challenge therefore is about getting a clear distinction between terrorism and crime. Acts of terrorism has risen tremendously in the world and they are normally carried out by those with extreme goals. United States Department of Defense sees terrorism as an act of unlawful violence intended to create fear and used to intimidate governments or societies either for political, religious or ideological reasons. Terrorism is so much linked to political violence Historical Aspect of Terrorism Acts of terrorism has been in existence for millennia and so it is not something that just began the other day. The question one asks is, can an Unabomber doing a campaign for terrorism be termed as criminal, terrorist or a revolutionist? The French revolutionary state got into the same state of confusion when it instituted systematic state terror around 1970s leading to death of many people. Concept of moral equivalency broadens definition of what constitutes terrorism and that which is not. Cr itics argue that what matters is the outcome of the act and not the intent. If a military force with uniform cause damage to a population is categorized as the same as directing a bomb to the civilians deliberately. Anyone is termed as a terrorist as long as that person has caused harm to innocent civilians only that military action is a form of terrorism with a different name (Fridell,2001). Terrorism flexible and adaptable and therefore these characteristics have led to confusion all over the world. Tactics of committing acts of terrorism have been changing significantly over the recent past and more importantly increase in the number of causes and social context for terrorism. Nowadays most terrorist continue to perform their acts in the name of revolution and fulfillment of religious duties. The change of tactics makes it difficult for government and the security agencies and to fight this vice in the society. The elected leaders who are charged with the responsibility of fighti ng for people’s rights are the main culprits and most of them do these things to maintain their political positions. Terrorism traces its roots to so many years back and it has been going through series of revolution. The very first kind of terrorism of 1st and 14th century AD that exhibits the same acts as one’s being experienced today was Zealots of Judea, who Romans refer to as dagger-men campaigned for assassination of the Roman forces and those Jews who collaborated with them. Their aim was to express their belief that they were not ready anymore to remain subjects to Roman rule while being dictated by Judaism. Another group was the Assassins a group that broke from Shia Islam adopting a tactic of assassinating enemy leaders because the cult prevented open combat owing to limited manpower (Han,2010). This secretive killing of enemy leaders sends a fearful awe in their enemies and so they are forerunners of the current terrorism in terms of motivation, organization , and goals and indeed they made a psychological impact. Between 14th and 18th century, terror was applied extensively in warfare as well as in resolving conflicts. There was an uninterrupted communication and this led to open warfare. Kingdoms and principalities broke up to form nations and by then these nations had enough strength authority to curb the terrorism menace. The use of the word â€Å"Terrorism† was first initiated by French revolution following a