How New Is The New Terrorism By Isabelle Duyvesteyn

“Terrorism's particularly heinous but highly attractive means to achieve political objectives or even radically restructure political foundations is manifest within societies in all reaches of the world. While the practical application of terrorist methodologies comes across as a relatively straightforward craft, the conceptual and ideological understanding, and subsequent evaluation of its socio-political influence, implementation, and psychological impacts present difficult questions, and in some cases conceivably insurmountable obstacles” (Romaniuk 2014, para

The French Revolution’s aftermath during the 18th century sparked a vicious campaign against nobles who were seen as enemies of the newly formed state. The post-revolutionary government because of their series of mass executions was referred to as terror. The terror concept differs from the modern use of “terrorism” because the perpetrators are not usually governments and are instead nonstate actors (Lacquer, 2001). The word terrorism can be like the word globalism because it can be difficult to define because of the diversity of its meanings among different individuals and different groups. The continual transformation of the contexts in which the term is used causes difficulty in forming a distinctive meaning, but does not make it impossible to study the phenomenon as a distinctive form of political violence. Terrorism may differ from media outlets, governments, cultures, scholars, and readers. Examining the usage of the term thorough-out history will be a useful way to come to a conclusion as to the true meaning and definition of the term. Even though examples of terrorism can go back several millennia, studying the history of it will make it seem considerably new at this time and

This essay will endeavour to give an historical analysis of contemporary terrorism and its changing nature by focusing on three specific terrorist campaigns over the last thirty years. The essay will begin by first presenting a definition of terrorism and will move on to provide a brief account of the geographical shift in terrorism by discussing the movement from territorial based terrorism to more ideological focused campaigns. In addition, it will give a concise discussion on the theory of globalisation in relation to terrorism and the impact it has had on the growth of international

Walter Laqueur’s book, “The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction”, is empowering readers with the entire spectrum of terrorism. The reasons behind terrorism are not easy to understand, but Laqueur goes into great detail to try and bring the reader to an understanding of what the terrorist is thinking in order to justify the means to the end.

In the past 15 years, the threat of terrorism has grown immensely, the frequency of attacks is the highest it has ever been. With these terrorist attacks becoming so frequent, there is great risk to the citizens of western countries. In the article “The Road to Orlando: Jihadist-Inspired Violence in the West, 2012-2016,” Sam Mullins states that while the number of attacks has increased, the number of deaths has decreased because most attacks are carried out by individuals, not terrorist groups. Sam Mullins is a professor with a Ph.D. in Counterterrorism, and has also been a very strong contributor to some of the most influential terrorism research journals. The main focus of the article was on the perpetrators of these attacks and how most

Acts of terrorism are typically political oriented and ideologically motivated, ranging from specific goals expressed in terms of the might of political nation-states to more general purposes connected to the dilemma of certain people and groups. Therefore, terrorism can result from demands made by ethnic groups to receive representation in an existing political community or have its own state be formed, while terrorism can also be part of ideological fights for the acknowledgment of diminished expressions of ideas and ways of life. Because of the essentially political ideological objectives of terrorism, the fundamental ideas of terrorism are important to consider as the inspiring forces that fuel terrorist groups and individuals.

An imminent critique in the hegemonic disclosure of war against terror is intensifying rapidly against grain of an overwhelming silence on the impact of the war on terror on the non-western, especially in the Muslim world. The new trend is based in the three ontological and Occidentalism assumption on terrorism studies challenging orthodox studies on terrorism. These assumptions include pre-eminence and dominance of state-centric perspective and historical accounts of terrorism. The value of critical terrorism studies is rooted in the notion of multi-causality and the complication of political violence and terrorism from a comprehensive historical and sociological perspective. The new approach call for asymmetrical questions power structure

The overwhelming majority of the world’s nations, including United States are signatories to at least one international agreement that condemns terrorism. The question comes to mind as why terrorism is growing and not coming to an end, and what are the intentions of the terrorist groups. There are many factors in the development of domestic terrorisms, however, there are several causes on the growing terrorism and there is a need to find the principal factors responsible for causing this growing threat. In addition, it is important to save the world and to save our next generation from being victims in the hands of terrorism. Many are the risk factors involved in the development of domestic terrorism. Additionally, it is important to remember that terrorism is a tactic practiced by people from a wide array of ethnic and religious backgrounds who follow various ideologies extending from anarchism to

Terrorism can be defined and viewed in many different ways. As discussed in “Terrorism and Political Violence,” by Alex Schmid, there are multiple frameworks in which terrorism can be defined (Schmid 2010, 197). In Schmid’s article, he discusses the five ways he feels terrorism can be looked at, terrorism as/and politics, terrorism as/and crime, terrorism as/and warfare, terrorism as/and communication and terrorism as/and religious fundamentalism (Schmid 2010, 197). This is interesting because it explores the concept of terrorism in different lenses, where each has its own motives, its own background and its own participants. This is important to understand because not every act of terrorism is done in the same light and for the same purposes. Just as any other crime, there are reasons behind the act. When studying terrorism, understanding motives makes all the difference, and understanding what is at stake for the attacker or the attacked helps fully conceptualize the matter.

The study of terrorism is a growing field, primarily due to the world’s interest in the subject matter. Although death by terrorist attack is rare in the United States, as common as death by asteroid or comet (Jackson 2011: 132-133), many citizens view it as a primary concern that threatens the nation. Because of the world’s fear of terrorism, it has gained a huge budget of its own and has become a primary topic/focus. Terrorism: A Critical Introduction, written by Richard Jackson, Lee Jarvis, Jereon Gunning, and Marie Breen-Smyth, examines the orthodox study of terrorism. While analyzing the orthodox scholarship they find and discuss a few key issues. Their critique includes methods/research, emphasis on non-state actors, Western

Terrorism in the twenty-first century has some similarities and differences from terrorism in the twentieth century. Terrorism is, in its broadest sense, the use or threatened use of violence in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim. Also useful to remember that because the two entities involved, the terrorists and the terrorized, are on the opposite end of the political, religious or ideological continuum, the same act is viewed by them differently. There is much sense in the phrase one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

Congress: "International terrorism poses an increasingly dangerous and difficult threat to America... Today's terrorists seek to inflict mass casualties, and they are attempting to do so both overseas and on American soil. They are less dependent on state sponsorship and are, instead, forming loose, transnational affiliations based on religious or ideological affinity and a common hatred of the United States. This makes terrorist attacks more difficult to detect and prevent."

Modern terrorism, as deduced from this literature, is acts to violence strategically used by secular groups spanning international borders with the aim of achieving a desired outcome. Further, it can be seen as organized activity whose genesis can be traced back to the 1880’s. From then to now there are identifiable traits and patterns observed from different (terrorist) groups which have allowed for the conceptualization of the term modern terrorism. This concept therefore, can be best explained in the context of being a wave or having a life cycle. That means it is a cycle of activity demarked by phases from inception and expands along the way then eventually it declines. The world, thus far, has experienced four waves of modern

Situated in the current literature on terrorism, the “four waves” of international terrorism was coined by David Rapoport. He describes waves as “a cycle of activity in a given time period,” one that is “characterized by expansion and contraction phases,” and its chief feature is its international character, where the activities in the several afflicted countries are “driven by a common predominant energy that shapes the participating groups’ characteristics and mutual relationships.” Having traced through history the direction of modern terrorism dating as far back as 1880, Rapaport lists four distinct waves of terrorism: anarchism, anti-colonialism, communism/socialism, and religious fundamentalism; the names of which reflecting

The history of terrorism can be traced back as far as the French revolution. Some of these acts of terrorism only seem as distant reminders of our past, but at the same time, are not a far cry from today’s brutal acts; and although these acts seem distant, it doesn’t also mean they are no longer in the thoughts of individuals in today’s time.