The Definition Of Terrorism Is Controversial
Various government agencies and legal systems use different definition of terrorism in their different national legislations. The international community on the other hand has been slow to come up with a universally agreed definition of terrorism. This is because terrorism is emotionally and politically charged.
To distinguish terrorist from other types of criminals and also terrorism from other types of crime we need to appreciate that terrorism is first and foremost is ineluctably political in motive aimed aims while other criminal activities are not political at all. Like writing a letter or protesting, terrorism is a political tactic which is used by the activists when they have they believe that no other means can be used to affect the kind of change that they want. The need for this change is so bad that they perceive the failure to achieve it even worse than outcome deaths of the civilians. This is where the relationship between terrorism and religion occurs (Cliff 2003). It happens when apolitical struggle has been integrated into the framework of a cosmic or a religious struggle such as over the control of an ancestral land or a holy land, for example Jerusalem and Israel. Failing in the political goal is taken as spiritual failure which is worse than the deaths of the people that will be involved or the death of the perpetrators. Thus where other criminal activities may be aimed economically for example robbery and stealing terrorism is purely noneconomic but rather political. This is so clear in the case of suicide boomers who even have neglected their own live and are prepared to die so as to pursue the political goal on behalf of their state. The motive of other criminal activities like stealing is entirely personal and is especially done for personal gain.
Different legislations have defined what includes criminal activities and in most of the cases the criminals engage on those activities for personal reasons. Another aspect of terrorism that is not found in other criminal activities is violence or it can be put as threats of violence. It is true that some criminal activities may show violence but not all activities which are criminal which depicted violence. For example smoking of cigarettes in non smoking zones has been criminalized yet there is no violence that is involved in such an activity. On the other hand for any act to be termed as terrorism it must have the aspect of violence or threatened violence. Another thing that differentiates terrorism from other criminal activities is that it has far reaching psychological repercussions which are beyond the immediate victim. Most of the times, the terrorist target is to frustrate a state in one way or another. It may be that they have targeted to revenge or hit back but when they do things like bombing embassies of that state in other states then those who are adversely affected may not be member of the targeted state but member of the other state where the embassies were situated. For example on seventh of august 1997 a terrorist attack that hit the American embassies two African states namely Tanzania and Kenya was recorded. Many of the people who died in those two attacks were Kenyans and Tanzanian and most of them of course were innocent citizens. The target of the terrorist here was United States but the consequences of the violent attacks were felt even by the innocent citizens who were not American. The destruction that was caused was not felt by the United States as it was felt by the two African countries.
The other thing that distinguishes the criminal activities from terrorist attacks is that they terrorist attacks are conducted by an organization with a chain of command that is identifiable or conspiratorial cell structure where members don’t have an identifying insignia and wear no uniforms ( McCollum 2002). This is so different from a criminal activity like for example taking illicit brewing in some countries is criminalized and such an activity is has not been perpetrated through an organization with a chain of command. Only organizational act which have been perpetrated by individual at different levels in leadership of the organization can be said o be criminal. Some criminal activities may too be perpetrated by organizations which are mostly illegal groups and sects but when this is the case the members of the outlawed group have an identifying insignia. For example some sect members may prefer to keep long hair as their identifying insignia. But it should be noted that most criminal activities are done individually a done individually and for individual gains. The organizational crimes which exist don’t have a political purpose but aim toward fulfilling the goals of the organization they work for. If such an outlawed group has political goal then they are not between a state and another state but they are targeted to help a candidate of their choice represent them in their government. They may also be targeted to fight against another group in the same country. Lastly the terrorism is differentiated from other criminal activities by the fact that it is perpetrated by a sub national group or a non state entity which is at the top of the chain of command in the organization the designs the act of terrorism.
The criminal other criminal activities are not in way perpetrate by the sub national groups which are a representatives of their states but are acts which the state in the specific legislations have specified as criminal activities and have provided a penalty for engaging in such activities. Their perpetration is not in any way linked to the state but the state is the entity that prohibits such acts from being committed.
A definition of terrorism that was opined by Carsten Bockstette underlines the tactical and psychological aspects of terrorism. He defined terrorism as political violence that is in an asymmetrical conflict which is designed to induce psychic fear or terror through the acts of violent of victimization and destruction of the noncombatant targets. These acts are meant to send a message from the illicit clandestine organization. The terrorists aim at exploiting the media in order to achieve the maximum publicity that can be attained which they use as an amplifying force multiplier so as to influence the audience that they have targeted and thus manage to reach their short term and midterm political goals or the long term end state goals. Thus it is wrong perception terrorism and criminal violence is the same type of crime and that they have commonalties. (Goldstein 2007) Goldstein has explained the intricate differences that are found between terrorists and criminals. He asserts that the terrorists are most of the times well trained and are state supported. They have a specific goal which is more symbolistic than opportunistic as it is usually in the case of other criminal activities. The ordinary criminal is the one who seeks opportunistic targets and has very little backing, lacks discipline, is selfish and may be deterred easily.
The opportunistic nature of crimes is mostly for economic gains which is not the case with the terrorist activities. In general the terrorist is assumed to be well trained as oppose to the regular criminal. Because of this the propensity of violence and the destruction levels are much greater when it comes to terrorist activities. Terrorist believe in their cause at such a great extent that they are even willing to die for the cause. This is unlike the violence that is caused by criminal activities where for example the criminal runs for cover when being chased by police while the terrorist may even confront the policemen with a bomb that is strapped on his chest. Criminals will go into hiding after they commit the crimes. Terrorist on the other hand want to take credit for their actions. This brings out the psychological difference in their thinking. While a criminal is doing something that is termed as bad and wrong in the eyes of the societies the terrorist is doing something good and right and indeed so good that the society is going to credit him for it.
Another factor that differentiates the criminal activity and terrorist activities is the span of attacks by terrorist and the regular criminals. Most of the criminal activities are operated within the proximity of the hide outs while the terrorist activities are operated within the entire countries and internationally (White 2006.)
References
Cliff, M. (2003)Terrorism Prevention and Response: The Definitive Law Enforcement Guide to Prepare for Terrorist Activity. United states. Looseleaf Law Publications.
Goldstein, D. (2007). Religion and Todern Terrorism. Boston. Boston University Press.
McCollum, B. (2002) Threat Posed by the Convergence of Organized Crime, Drug Trafficking, and Terrorism. United states. DIANE Publishing
White, J. (2006). Terrorism and Homeland Security 5th ED. Belmont. Thomson-Wadsworth
.