Over the two last decades the concept of ‘terrorism’ has become a multi-layer phenomenon viewed and analyzed from various angles and perspectives. As an ultimate root of crime and evil, the acts of terror, however, are not solely associated with crime. Terror as it is has become a source of propaganda, political influence, and military dominance on the global scale.
In his article Alex P. Schmid (2011) considers terrorism from the perspective of crime, politics, war, propaganda, and religion. Such an approach provides us with a full-fledged understanding of the contemporary role of this phenomenon and potential threats it generates. These multiple frameworks altogether enable us to properly comprehend why the acts of terror are so often used by certain groups to affect and dominate over others.
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Indisputably, terrorism is a crime in itself that is commonly evident in the
context of political conflicts. Nonetheless conflict itself is not a crime or illegitimate action, though it potentially causes significant social and political changes. However, the integration through conflicts is possible and acceptable unless violence is absent. Terrorism, on the other hand, is primarily based on threat and violence as the means of mass influence on societies and/or social groups. Thus, once the violence is applied, the political conflict becomes disruptive and destructive.
In terms of political agenda, terrorism is sometimes used as an effective tool of a political strategy. Alongside the nonpolitical forms of terrorism, including criminal or psychopathological terrorism), there are sound political reasons to apply terrorism. The state nonetheless regards any act of terror as a subject to a criminal justice model or even a war model. Thus, political reasons of terrorism application much depend on the context.
Various acts of terrorism are not consistent with the peace times. In essence, terrorism is much associated with warfare. There is much in common between warfare and the acts of terror and therefore both conditions are almost identical. Both conditions are the forms of the conflict that pursues similar goals. In actual fact, terrorism has always been a constituent part of war action.
Nonetheless, it would be erroneous to perceive terrorism only from the perspective of violence. In modern conditions, terrorism is a great source of mass propaganda. This instrument is often applied to coerce and persuade others and achieve a desirable effect with regard to wider audience. Terrorists smartly apply news-making approaches to grab the attention of wide public and make the sensation or rather a threat out of the conveyed messages. Through the creation of bad news, terrorist organizations obtain publicity for their causes. Terrorist smartly manipulate with human emotions and perceptions and win strategic advantages in the propaganda of their threatening messages.
Finally, terrorism is much about the cult of individual or collective sacrifice. Historically, the practice of sacrifice before the gods was deemed sacral and now such perception enables terrorists to promote ‘sacrifices’ as the genuine means of the never-ending ‘holy war’. The terrorist victimizations occur in various forms ranging from attacking innocent people or blowing oneself up in crowded places. Killing oneself in the eyes of ‘enemies’ is perceived as a ‘deed of a martyr’. In such a way, terrorists justify the committed acts of violence against humans. While serving the holy ‘divine’ purposes, they methodologically regard anything or anyone else unimportant. Such false (fanatic) perceptions create man-made laws ending in brutal violence as an indispensable element of a ‘holy war’.
Further classification of terrorism is presented by David C. Rapoport who defines four waves of terrorism. Within the context of historical evolution the author explains the outbursts of terrorism through various acts and forms. He claims that terrorism is not a continuous war, rather as a wave-like explosion of aggressiveness and violence by certain groups that are dissatisfied with their treatment in the society, prejudice or unfairness. The examples of IRA and PLO are provided to show how the historic waves of terrorism were interrelated with the elements of warfare. The primary aim of each wave was revolution. Through this instrument terrorists aimed to threaten and violate the society and achieve their strategic goals. Much of historical learning, experiences and practices from previous generations has shifted and contributed to the emergence of the modern wave of terrorism. Based on a set doctrine, language, and internationalism, the core question concerns the uniqueness and historical duration of the fourth wave of terrorism. Based on philosophical and religious background and inspired by the modern advancements of cutting-edge technologies, terrorism has been placed among the top issues on the today’s socio-political agenda.
