& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Terrorism: Concept and typology

To obtain a useful preliminary map of the main types of terrorism in the world today one needs to add to this list of sub-state terrorism the phenomena of state terror and state sponsored terrorism. Terrorism researchers and analysts and counter terrorism policy makers need to be able to understand the much broader trends in terrorism, their possible strategic implications ,impact on the

Billy I Ahmed
Terrorism is a special form of political violence. It is not a philosophy or a political movement. Terrorism is a weapon or method, which has been used throughout history by both states and sub-state organisations for a whole variety of political causes or purposes. This special form of political violence has five major characteristics: X it is premeditated and aims to create a climate of extreme fear or terror;
X it is directed at a wider audience or target than the immediate victims of the violence;
X it inherently involves attacks on random and symbolic targets, including civilians;
X the acts of violence committed are seen by the society .in which they occur as extra-normal, in the literal sense that they breach the social norms, thus causing a sense of outrage;
X and terrorism is generally used to try to influence political behaviour in some way: for example to force opponents into conceding some or all of the perpetrators demands, to provoke an over-reaction, to serve as a catalyst for a more general conflict or to publicise a political or religious cause, to inspire followers to emulate violent attacks, to give vent to deep hatred and the thirst for revenge, and to help undermine governments and institutions designated as enemies by the terrorists.
Terrorism is a very broad concept. The role of typology is to sub-divide the field into categories, which are more manageable for research and analysis. One basic distinction is between state and factional terror. There is of course a very considerable historical and social science literature on aspects of state terror. In view of the sheer scale of crimes
against humanity, war crimes, and mass terror that have been and are being committed by regimes, this is a more severe and intractable problem for humanity than the containment and reduction of factional terror by often very tiny groups. And it is important to observe that historically state terror has often been an antecedent to, and, to varying degrees, a contributory cause of, campaigns of substate terrorism. And once regimes come to assume that their ends justify the means they tend to get locked into a spiral of terror and counterterror against their adversaries.
Another important distinction
governments and political movements as well as from their own Diaspora.
A particularly useful way of mapping the different types of sub-state terrorist groups active in the contemporary international system is to classify them according to their underlying political motivation or ideological orientation. No broad categorization can do full justice to the variety and complexity of the modern phenomena of terrorism. But a comprehensive review of the social science literature on terrorism reveals abundant evidence of currently active groups involved in terrorist activity motivated by one or
is between international terrorism, involving the citizens of two or more states, and domestic or internal terrorism which confines it's activities within the borders of a specific state or province. Terrorism analysis based entirely on international incident statics cannot provide an accurate picture of world trends in terrorism because it excludes well over ninety percent of terrorist activity around the globe. A further complication is that almost all prolonged domestic terrorist campaigns have an 'international dimension. In most cases their leaders expend considerable effort seeking external sources of political support, cash, weapons, safe haven, and other useful assets, from friendly
more of the following: nationalism, separatism, racism, vigilantism, ultra-left ideology, religious fundamentalism, millenialism, and single-issue campaigns (eg. animal rights, anti-abortion).
To obtain a useful preliminary map of the main types of terrorism in the world today one needs to add to this list of sub-state terrorism the phenomena of state terror and state sponsored terrorism.
Terrorism researchers and analysts and counter terrorism policy makers need to be able to understand the much broader trends in terrorism, their possible strategic implications .impact on the society and for the international community.
The author is a columnist and researcher.