TERRORISM

“A form of political violence that aims to achieve its objectives through creating a climate of fear,
apprehension, and uncertainty” – GOODIN

MEANING:

Of late, International Terrorism has become one of the greatest challenges to international peace, security,
economy, global politics, and international relation. Like climate change, this is also a collective action
problem or social dilemma. The term ‘terrorism’ is derived from Latin words “terrere” and “deterre”.The
word “terrere” means to “tremble”, and the term “deterre” implies to “frighten”. Although there is no
universally acceptable definition of the term, terrorism is understood as a strategy to achieve the avowed
objectives through the systematic use of violent tactics undermining the legal authority of a state or
government.

HOW IT EVOLVED?

It is a highly contested phenomenon and a deeply controversial concept. There is no universally accepted
meaning & definition of terrorism. Historically, the term 'terrorism' described State violence against citizens
during the French Revolution, called ‘Reign of Terror’ during 1793–94. The late 19th century saw rise of
terrorism by groups guided by the ideology of Anarchism and Nihilism. As part of the anti-colonial movement,
terrorism became part of national liberation movement. For example, Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO). Terrorism has also been associated with national self-determination movements. For example, LTTE in
Sri-Lanka, Kashmiri separatist movement in India, Hamas and Hezbollah in Israel, etc. Late 1990s witnessed
the rise of radical Islamic terrorism led by Al-Qaeda. Post September 11, 2001 attacks, international terrorism
underwent tactical changes and became more diffused and widespread. It marked a turning point in history
with all nations together joining to formulate collective response in what in what came to be known as the
“Global War on Terrorism”.

Until the 1990s, terrorism was widely considered to be a security concern of the second order, often being
ignored by standard text books on international politics. However, the events of 11 September 2001 changed
this dramatically, encouraging a major reappraisal of the nature and significance of terrorism. For some, what
was variously dubbed ‘new’ terrorism, ‘global’ terrorism or ‘catastrophic’ terrorism had become the principal
security threat in the early twenty-first century.

CAUSES:

 Culture & Ethnicity: When cultural & ethnic minority perceive extreme threat in prevailing political
structure
Ex: ETA in the Basque region of Spain, the Quebec Liberation Front (FLQ) in Canada, LTTE in Sri-Lanka,
Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK in Turkey and Iraq, Chechen terrorists in Russia

Domestic instability: International terrorism can be correlated to domestic political instability arising
out of the outbreak of civil wars and inter- state wars. Low levels of political development and
economic development cause greater domestic instability for propagation of international terrorist
activities.
  Adoption of a particular ideology: Adoption of a particular political philosophy, such as socialism (left-
wing terrorism), anarchism, or fascism. Baader-Meinhof Group in West Germany, the Italian Red
Brigades, the Japanese Red Army and the Angry Brigade in the UK Naxal and Maoist insurgencies in
India, Nepal

Revolution, national liberation, and national-self determination:

PLO Philistine, LTTE in Sri-Lanka, IRA in Northern Ireland, PKK in Kurdistan, FLQ in Canada, FLN in
Algeria

Failed state- The shortcomings in a failed or weak states affected by conflict, political stability, human
rights abuses and conflict intensity, incidence of coups and territory exhibits the weakness of the
states and their failure to contain terrorism. The failure of the state to address the grievances of the
people contributes to escalation of terrorist violence.
 Religious fundamentalism: Religious violence where terrorism is used as a tactic to achieve religious
goals or which are influenced by religious beliefs and/or identity. Exhibited under many religions but
Radical Islamic Terrorism has become most prominent in 21st Century - Al-Qaeda, ISIS, JeM, LeT, etc
Aims: restoring the Caliphate as a pan-Islamic state (ISIS), Civilizational war (Jihad) against western
civilizational hegemony and infidels (Al-Qaeda).
By 1995 almost half of the 56 terrorist groups then believed to be in operation could be classified as
religious in character and/or motivation- Hoffman (2006).

IMPACTS:

 Environmental Consequences: Terrorist activities can paralyze the entire cosmos with its vulnerable
activities. It can be said that every terrorist attack is a way of demeaning the entire universe. War and
terrorism have left an extensive legacy on landscapes throughout the world. The environmental
repercussions of war and terrorism are varied, including bomb damage, altered urban and rural
environments, depleted forests and wildlife, cemeteries, museums and memorials. Other indirect
impacts include distortion of population, loss of wildlife, etc.
 Political Consequences: Terrorism builds up both direct and indirect pressure on the government to
weaken it physically and psychologically. The function of terror can also be to discourage the people
from cooperating with or giving information to the government. The deepest anxiety amongst ordinary
people arises when they fear a collapse of law and order. Terrorism works towards a collapse of the
social order and terrorists exploit this situation by trying to project them as a better alternative. In this
state of fear and anxiety the essential services may not function properly. Terrorism grew out of
political anarchy.
 Economic Consequences: Terrorism aims at maximizing economic impact in the world at large. The
destruction of the twin-towers on that Tuesday of 11th September, 2001 has caused much confusion
and disarray in the global economic scenario. Nations and government machineries are forced to equip
themselves with latest technologies to combat the network of terrorism. Terrorism, in other words,
deteriorates the economy of a nation. Terrorist acts can cause ripple effects through the economy that
have negative impacts. The most obvious is the direct economic destruction of property and lives.
Terrorism indirectly affects the economy by creating market uncertainty, xenophobia, loss of tourism,
 and increased insurance claims. The economy of a nation does not include its financial conditions
alone. It deals with all forms of wealth such as human resource, natural resource, intellectual power,
aesthetic power, creative power, money-power and so on. Therefore, economic consequences of
terrorism affect all forms of wealth without which human life would be impossible.
 Lead to international conflict or outright war: states tackle terrorism as a war against state and a
threat to national security. If the terrorist groups are based in other states, then the target state might
respond by attacking terrorist bases which may result into international conflict or outright war. For eg.
US war on Afghanistan (2001), India’s strike at Balakot Pakistan, conflict between Indonesia and
Australia post Bali bombings.
 POLITICIZING TERRORISM MAY HAMPER WORLD PEACE: by linking terrorism to certain specific
religion or culture, or using it as an excuse for furthering geopolitical interests, may further threaten
world peace and make global politics conflictual. For eg. US declared IRAN as a terror state, which
means, it also gave it the right to advance its own interests (controlling oil fields) in the name of
preventing terrorist activities from happening in IRAN.
 THREATENS HUMAN RIGHTS AND LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC ORDER: even the democratic governments
may curtail human rights and freedom in the name of fighting terrorism, which may lead to
authoritarianism. The operations conducted by a number of states in the context of the so-called “war
on terrorism” in recent years, including the “rendition programmes”, the establishment of “black sites”
and mass surveillance, have shown that a wide range of human rights are affected by counter
terrorism measures, notably the right to life, the prohibition on torture or inhuman or degrading
treatment, the right to liberty and security, the right to a fair trial, and respect for private and family
life. Forfeiting human rights in the fight against terrorism is a grave mistake and an ineffective measure
that may help the cause of the terrorists. Eg. Guantanamo Bay detention camp by USA or TADA in
India.
 GLOBAL INSTABILITY: Global terrorist groups are “non-state actors” but are bases in states. This may
lead to allegation of state sponsored terrorism, resulting into conflicts between or among nations,
leading to disrupted international peace and security. EG. Conflict between India and Pakistan, or
between USA and IRAN.

POST 9/11: NEW TERRORISM:-

Until the 1990s, terrorism was widely considered to be a security concern of the second order, often being
ignored by standard text books on international politics. However, the events of 11 September 2001 changed
this dramatically, encouraging a major reappraisal of the nature and significance of terrorism. For some, what
was variously dubbed ‘new’ terrorism, ‘global’ terrorism or ‘catastrophic’ terrorism had become the principal
security threat in the early twenty-first century.

Regardless of whether September 11 reflected a change in the nature of terrorism, it is widely assumed that it
brought about a profound shift in its significance. The threat posed by terrorism was suddenly accorded a
historically unprecedented level of importance, based on the belief that terrorism was a manifestation of new
fault lines that would define global politics in the twentyfirst century. This was reflected, most obviously, in
the launch of the ‘war on terror’ and in the changing shape of world order that occurred in its wake.
Although new terrorism supposedly has a number of features (Field 2009), its most important, and perhaps
defining feature is that religious motivations for terrorism have replaced secular motivations. The secular
character of terrorism was followed much in the post 1945 era; however, after the attacks religion had
started to become an important motivation for political violence. Al-Qaeda was certainly an example of this
trend, being motivated by a broad and radical politico-religious ideology, in the form of Islamism. Proponents
of the idea of new terrorism suggest that because terrorism had become a religious imperative, the nature of
terrorist groups and the function of political violence had changed crucially. While traditional terrorists
could be satisfied by the partial accommodation of their demands, new terrorists could not so easily be
bought off, their often amorphous but substantially broader objectives making them inflexible and
uncompromising. Similarly, religious belief supposedly altered the moral context in which groups resorted to,
and used, violence. Instead of terrorist violence being a means to an end, violence became increasingly
symbolic and was embraced as a manifestation of ‘total war’. The growing association of terrorism with
weapons of mass destruction (WMD), as well as the increased use of suicide terrorism is examples of this.
”Global Jihad” began to give a new fillip to radicalization and precipitation of sectarian strife. Post 9/11
terrorists began to expand their networks and activities and theatre of violence targeting the westerners
continued. Bali Bombings of 2002 and London tube bombings in 2005 were inflicted by individuals influenced
by Al- Qaeda’s ideology. Post 9/11 the pattern of terrorist attacks also underwent change with most attacks
directed towards the civilians to create a greater impact and garner publicity.

Infact, globalization has also impacted the “new terrorism in many ways”. Modern terrorism is sometimes
portrayed as a child of globalization. First, increased cross border flows of people, goods, money, technology
and ideas are exploited by terrorist groups to build organization, and coordinate operations. Second,
increased international migration- diaspora communities- provide support and help sustain terrorist
campaigns; Ex: LTTE, Khalistan, 9/11. Third, rising inequality, cultural homogenization, hegemony of western
culture, values, and western power, etc has fueled discontentment helping cultural/religious fundamentalism
and terrorism backed by such ideologies. Fourth, ICT has helped terrorist groups in many ways- planning,
information sharing, propaganda, coordination, etc. Fifth, end of cold war and resultant excess supply of
arms/weapons are reaching to terrorist groups.

Global response to terrorism Post 9/11:

Till 9/11 attacks, global response to terrorism did not receive desired attention and was over casted by
pervading notion that domestic acts like freedom struggle, insurgencies did not define international
terrorism. Hence such acts of terrorism were legitimised by the state and no action was directed towards
such acts. 9/11 brought a major shift in the terrain of international terrorism. The attacks were universally
condemned by the world community as unacceptable ‘tactics’ to achieve political or ideological objectives.
The principle position was to condemn such acts of terrorism irrespective of the underlying causes.

USA- WAR ON TERROR: ‘war on terror’ was a multidimensional campaign, under the leadership of USA, of
almost limitless scope. USA fought two full-fledged wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and intervened militarily in
Yemen, Syria, and elsewhere. It included large-scale military-assistance programs for cooperative and
friendly regimes, global intelligence-gathering about terrorist operations, a global program of capturing
terrorist suspects and putting them at Guantánamo Bay, and the tracking and interception of terrorist
financing. • USA launched full-fledged war against the Taliban regime in October 2001 after it refused to hand
over Osama bin Laden to USA. This was given code name of ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’. Next full-fledged
war in the name of ‘war on terror’ was US attack on Iraq in 2003. This was done to stop Saddam Hussain
regime to produce weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This suspicion, later on, was proved false. NATO
members and USA’s western European allies, especially UK, joined USA as ‘coalition of willing’ in the ‘war on
terror’ by USA. But France, Russia, and Germany raised objections to attack on Iraq.

UNSC COUNTER-TERROR LEGISLATIONS: the 9/11 attack to spur the World community to usher in
“Resolution 1373 by the UN Security Council (as against the General Assembly)” as a right to self-defence.
“UN Security Council Resolution 1373” adopted unanimously on September 28, 2001, calls upon member
states to “implement a slew of measures intended to enhance their legal and institutional ability to counter
terrorist activities”. These mandated them to enhance legislation, strengthen border controls, and increase
international cooperation to combat terrorism. UNSC Resolution 1540: requires all UN member states to take
legislative and regulatory steps to prevent terrorists and other non-state actors from acquiring weapons of
mass destruction. UNSC resolution 2178: adopted in year 2014 requires all member states to prevent,
criminalize, and prosecute international travel by their citizens to join terrorist groups. This is called “foreign
fighters” resolution.

New Global Counter-Terror Institutions: Post 9/11, other than INTERPOL, new global institutions such as the
UN Counter Terrorism Committee (CTC), CTC Executive Directorate, 1540 Committee, Al Qaeda and Taliban
Sanctions Committee, Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) formed to criminalize terror
financing, freeze terror related bank accounts, improve information sharing between governments and assist
in terror investigations.

Actions to Check Nuclear Proliferation: The nuclear non-proliferation regime led by the IAEA needs to be
more proactive in monitoring proliferation of nuclear material by state as well as non-state actors. With
increasing instability, the spectre of use of small nuclear devices in the form of ‘dirty bombs’ or even short
range nuclear tipped warheads of a weak nation state by terrorists cannot be entirely ruled out.

Policing the Cyber Space: Terrorists are increasingly making use of the cyber space to communicate among
themselves. An international legislation which would enable states to legally detect and disrupt
communication channels including through social media being used for terrorism purposes and book
individuals who carry out these activities must be invoked.

OTHER METHODS:

STRENGTHENING STATE SECURITY: In states such as Israel, Sri Lanka, Spain and the UK, which have
experienced long campaigns of nationalist-based terrorism, tighter state security, often based on emergency
legislation, has long been enforced. Nevertheless, September 11 and subsequent terrorist attacks in places
such as Bali, Madrid and London have encouraged a much broader range of countries to revise, and
strengthen, their arrangements for state security. In many ways, this reflects an attempt to deprive terrorists
of the advantages they gain from operating in a context of democracy and globalization.

MILITARY REPRESSION: Force-based or repressive counter-terrorism has, in recent years, been particularly
associated with the ‘war on terror’. Military responses to terrorism have been based on two complementary
strategies. In the first, attempts have been made to deny terrorists the support or ‘sponsorship’ of regimes
that had formerly given them support. This was done most clearly through the overthrow of the Taliban
regime in Afghanistan in 2001. The second approach is to launch direct attacks on terrorist training camps and
terrorist leaders. Thus, US air strikes were launched against terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan in
1998, in retaliation for the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; Osama bin Laden and the al-
Qaeda leadership were attacked in Afghanistan in late 2001.

CONCLUSION: Today we are living in a dangerous moment in history with the world currently fighting
pandemic on the one hand and menace of international terrorism on the other hand. To combat the
unspecified enemy spawning terrors by intimidating and creating fear psychosis and causing casualties by
indiscriminating innocent civilians can be defeated by only by galvanizing popular opinion against the terrorist
groups. Counter terrorism measures against non- state actors who gain a strategic advantage in the states
must be curbed. International treaties and instruments must be toned to strengthen the relationships among
nations to fight the war on global terrorism. Unless root causes of terrorism are identified and acted upon in
coordinated manner by all nations and the international organizations, the menace of terrorism, perhaps,
may not be solved.