Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon; it has long been a method of violent action by organizations and individuals attempting to achieve political goals. Indeed, terrorism is not an end but rather a modus operandi. According to Bruce Hoffman, all terrorists share one common denominator: they “live” in the future, and are convinced that they will defeat their enemies and achieve their political goals. There are perhaps hundreds of different definitions of terrorism, all of which tend to reflect the political world-view of the definer. The same act of violence can be classified differently, depending on the identities of the perpetrators. Groups that engage in identical behavior might be considered by their sympathizers as freedom fighters, and by their enemies as terrorists. For the purposes of this chapter, the working assumption is that terrorism is a modus operandi in which deliberate violence against civilians is used for the purpose of achieving political goals. In this respect, it is the intentional harming of civilians, which is at the core of terrorism, that makes this modus operandi illegitimate, even if it is meant, prima facie, to achieve justified objectives. This definition makes a distinction between an action intended to harm civilians and one intended to harm military and security personnel. The latter is defined as a guerilla or insurgency action, even though the perpetrator might use the same modus operandi (shooting, suicide bombing, or rocket fire). Thus, in seeking to achieve the same political objectives, an organization or perpetrator might carry out a “terrorist” attack on one occasion and a “guerilla” attack on another. Furthermore, even the political goal of an organization may change as it engages in acts of terrorism or guerilla warfare. Sometimes attacks are executed for the purpose of achieving social, economic, or national goals, such as a separate state or national liberation. In yet other contexts, attacks are carried out in the service of a certain extreme ideology, such as communism, fascism, and anarchism. However, it is when terrorists are motivated by what they identify as a religious mission – when they regard themselves as the messengers of god – that the highest level of danger is introduced. When motivated by a religious purpose, such terrorist operatives do not perceive room for compromise; their objective is served only by an all-out war. At most, cease-fire agreements can be negotiated for limited time periods.