“State terrorism” is as controversial a concept as that of terrorism itself.

Terrorism is
often, though not always, defined in terms of four characteristics: (1) the threat or use of
violence; (2) a political objective; the desir to change the status quo; (3) the intention to
spread fear by committing spectacular public acts; (4) the intentional targeting of
civilians. It is this last element --targeting innocent civilians-- that stands out in efforts to
distinguish state terrorism from other forms of state violence. Declaring war and sending
the military to fight other militaries is not terrorism, nor is the use of violence to punish
criminals who have been convicted of violent crimes.

In theory, it is not so difficult to distinguish an act of state terrorism, especially when we

look at the most dramatic examples history offers. There is, of course, the French
government's reign of terror that brought us the concept of "terrorism" in the first place.
Shortly after the overthrow of the French monarch in 1793, a revolutionary dictatorship
was established and with it the decision to root out anyone who might oppose or
undermine the revolution. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed by guillotine for a
variety of crimes.

In the twentieth century, authoritarian states systematically committed to using violence

and extreme versions of threat against their own civilians exemplify the premise of state
terrorism. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union under Stalin's rule are frequently cited as
historical cases of state terrorism.

The form of government, in theory, bears on the tendency of a state to resort to terrorism.
Military dictatorships have often maintained power through terror. Such governments, as
the authors of a book about Latin American state terrorism have noted, can virtually
paralyze a society through violence and its threat: "in such contexts, fear is a paramount
feature of social action; it is characterized by the inablity of social actors [people] to
predict the consequences of their bevhavior because public authority is arbitrarily and
brutally exercised." (Fear at the Edge: State Terror and Resistance in Latin America,
Eds. Juan E. Corradi, Patricia Weiss Fagen and Mauel Antonio Garreton, 1992).

However, many would argue that democracies are also capable of terrorism. The two
most prominently argued cases, in this regard, are the United States and Israel. Both are
elected democracies with substantial safeguards against violations of their citizens' civil
rights. However, Israel has for many years been characterized by critics as perpetrating a
form of terrorism against the population of the territories it has occupied since 1967. The
United States is also routinely accused of terrorism for backing not only the Israeli
occupation, but for its support of repressive regimes willing to terrorize their own citizens
to maintain power.

The anecdotal evidence points, then, to a distinction between the objects of democratic
and authoritarian forms of state terrorism. Democratic regimes may foster state terrorism
of populations outside their borders or perceived as alien. They do not terrorize their own
populations; in a sense, they cannot since a regime that is truly based on the violent
suppression of most citizens (not simply some) would cease to be democratic.
Dictatorships terrorize their own populations.
State terrorism is a terrifically slippery concept in large part because states themselves
have the power to operationally define it. Unlike non-state groups, states have legislative
power to say what terrorism is and establish they consequences of the definition; they
have force at their disposal; and they can lay claim to the legitimate use of violence in
many ways that civilians cannot, on a scale that civilians cannot. Insurgent or terrorist
groups have only language at their disposal -- they can call state violence "terrorism." A
number of conflicts between states and their opposition have a rhetorical dimension.
Palestinian militants call Israel terrorist, Kurdish militants call Turkey terrorist, Tamil
militants call Indonesia terrorist.

What is Bioterrorism? The history of bioterrorism goes back as far as human warfare, in
which there have always been efforts to use germs and disease as weapons. In the late
20th century, violent non-state actors began seeking to acquire or develop biological
agents to use in attacks on civilians. There are very few of these groups, and almost no
recorded bioterrorism attacks. Nevertheless, the reported risk has led the U.S.
government to expend immense resources for biodefense in the early part of the 21st
century.

What is Bioterrorism?

U.S. Government
Bioterrorism refers to the intentional release of toxic biological agents to harm and
terrorize civilians, in the name of a political or other cause.The U.S. Center for Disease
Control has classified the viruses, bacteria and toxins that could be used in an attack.
Category A Biological Diseases are those most likely to do the most damage. They
include:

• Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis)

• Botulism (Clostridium botulinum toxin)
• The Plague (Yersinia pestis)
• Smallpox (Variola major)
• Tularemia (Francisella tularensis)
• Hemorrahagic fever, due to Ebola Virus or Marburg Virus

Premodern Biological Warfare

The use of biological agents in warfare isn't new. Pre-modern armies tried to use
naturally occurring diseases to their advantage.

In 1346, the Tartar (or Tatar) army tried to turn the Plague to their advantage in their
siege of the port city of Kaffa, which was then a part of Genoa. Dying from plague
themselves, army members attached bodies and heads of the deceased to catapults, then
landed them--and the 'black death' they carried--inside the walled city of their victims. A
plague epidemic ensued and the city surrendered to the Mongol forces.

In the French Indian Wars of the late 18th century, English general Sir Jeffrey Amherst
reportedly distributed smallpox-infected blankets to Native American forces (who had
sided with the French).

Twentieth Century Biological Warfare

States, not terrorists, have been the biggest developers of biological warfare programs. In
the twentieth century, Japan, Germany, the (former) Soviet Union, Iraq, the United States
and Great Britain all had biological warfare development plans.

There have been a few confirmed bioterrorism attacks. In 1984, the Rajneesh cult in the
United States made hundreds ill with food poisoning when they put Salmonella
typhimorium in an Oregon salad bar. In 1993, the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo sprayed
anthrax from a rooftop.

Bioterrorism Treaties

In 1972, the United Nations proffered the Convention on the Prohibition of the
Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bateriological (Biological) and Toxin
Weapons and on Their Destruction (usually called the Biological and Toxin Weapons
Convention, BTWC). By November 2001, there were 162 signatories and 144 of these
had ratified the convention.

Origins of Current Concern about Bioterrorism

Douglas C. Lovelace, Jr., the Director of the Strategic Studies Institute, suggests four
reasons bioterrorism has become a concern in the last generation:

The first, beginning around 1990 ...was the official U.S. Government suggestion that
proliferation of offensive BW programs...was an increasing trend. The second was the
discovery ...that the USSR...had built a massive covert biological weapons program... The
third was the corroboration by the United Nations Special Commission in 1995 that
Iraq ... had stockpiled large quantities of agents ... The last was the discovery, also in
1995, that the Japanese Aum Shinrikyo group ...had spent 4 years attempting ...to produce
...two pathogenic biological agents. (December 2005)
Definition:

Ecoterrorism is a recently coined term describing violence in the interests of

environmentalism. In general, environmental extremists sabotage property to inflict
economic damage on industries or actors they see as harming animals or the natural
enviroment. Thes have included fur companies, logging companies and animal research
laboratories, for example.

The FBI defines eco-terrorism as "the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal
nature against innocent victims or property by an environmentally-oriented, subnational
group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target,
often of a symbolic nature."

The term eco-terrorism" is controversial and political: the charge of eco-terrorism against
environmentalists who are in the main non-violent has been used by companies and
others who are the objects of environmentalists' charges.

The use by even radical environmentalist groups of terrorist tactics—violence against

civilians design to create widespread fear—is genuinely minimal. Extremist
environmental groups have advocated property sabotage or vandalism, at times.
According to media watchdog Sourcewatch, "since 1990 there have been numerous
attempts by industry front groups, PR firms and conservative think-tanks to associate
environmental activism with terrorism."

"Nuclear terrorism" refers to a number of different ways nuclear materials might be

exploited as a terrorist tactic. These include attacking nuclear facilities, purchasing
nuclear weapons, or building nuclear weapons or otherwise finding ways to disperse
radioactive materials.

• A terrorist attack on a nuclear research facility or commercial nuclear power

plant could lead to the release of nuclear material. Additionally, as explained in
the British Medical Journal, in 2002, an attack on stores of spent nuclear fuels
poses as much, if not more, of an attack risk:

In addition to the reactors themselves, nuclear power plants harbour enormous

quantities of radioactive materials in spent fuel pools. On average these spent fuel
pools contain five times as much radioactive material as the reactor core, and they
are housed in simple corrugated steel buildings even more vulnerable to attack
than the reactor containment buildings. The vulnerability of nuclear power plants
is highlighted by reports that 47% of US nuclear power plants failed to repel
mock terrorist attacks conducted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during
the 1990s. The results of an attack on either a reactor or a spent fuel pool could
equal or exceed the effects of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which led to 30 acute
 deaths from radiation sickness, at least 1800 excess cases of childhood thyroid
cancer, the evacuation of 100 000 people, and the radioactive contamination of
vast tracts of land in several countries.

• A second way extremists could exploit radioactive materials would be by

creating a "dirty bomb" by loading a conventional bomb with radioactive
materials. They would disperse when the bomb exploded.
• Terrorists might be able to purchase existing nuclear weapons on the black
market.
• Terrorist groups may soon be able to create "improvised nuclear devices"
(IND). According to a February 2007 report issued by British think tank Chatham
House:

"A so-called Improvised Nuclear Device (IND) could also be produced using
much larger quantities of lower-grade, less enriched U-235. The device might
then 'fizzle' rather than detonate its entire mass instantly and efficiently. But if the
resulting explosion were to be equivalent to just one or a few kilotons of TNT
rather than tens of kilotons, terrorists could still find this option attractive."

• It is possible—although so far not highly probable-- that a terrorist group could

build a nuclear weapon.

Types of terrorism

Various attempts have been made to distinguish among types of terrorist activities. It is
vital to bear in mind, however, that there are many kinds of terrorist movements, and no
single theory can cover them all. Not only are the aims, members, beliefs, and resources
of groups engaged in terrorism extremely diverse, but so are the political contexts of their
campaigns. One popular typology identifies three broad classes of terrorism:
revolutionary, subrevolutionary, and establishment terrorism. Although this typology has
been criticized as inexhaustive, it provides a useful framework for understanding and
evaluating terrorist activities.

Revolutionary terrorism is arguably the most common form. Practitioners of this type of
terrorism seek the complete abolition of a political system and its replacement with new
structures. Modern instances of such activity include campaigns by the Italian Red
Brigades, the German Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Gang), the Basque separatist
group ETA, and the Peruvian Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), each of which attempted
to topple a national regime. Subrevolutionary terrorism is rather less common. It is used
not to overthrow an existing regime but to modify the existing sociopolitical structure.
Since this modification is often accomplished through the threat of deposing the existing
regime, subrevolutionary groups are somewhat more difficult to identify. An example can
be seen in the ANC and its campaign to end apartheid in South Africa.

Establishment terrorism, often called state or state-sponsored terrorism, is employed by

governments—or more often by factions within governments—against that government’s
citizens, against factions within the government, or against foreign governments or
groups. This type of terrorism is very common but difficult to identify, mainly because
the state’s support is always clandestine. The Soviet Union and its allies allegedly
engaged in widespread support of international terrorism during the Cold War; in the
1980s the United States supported rebel groups in Africa that allegedly engaged in acts of
terrorism, such as the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA);
and various Muslim countries (e.g., Iran and Syria) purportedly provided logistical and
financial aid to Islamic revolutionary groups engaged in campaigns against Israel, the
United States, and some Muslim countries in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

The military dictatorships in Chile (1973–90) and Argentina (1976–83) committed acts of
state terrorism against their own populations. The violent police states of Joseph Stalin in
the Soviet Union and Ṣaddām Ḥussein in Iraq are examples of countries in which one
organ of the government—often either the executive branch or the intelligence
establishment—engaged in widespread terror against not only the population but also
other organs of the government, including the military.

The persistent element of all forms of establishment terrorism, unlike that of nonstate
terrorism, is that of secrecy. States invariably seek to disavow their active complicity in
such acts, both to evade international censure and to avoid political and military
retribution by those they target.

Main

the systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a

population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective. Terrorism has been
practiced by political organizations with both rightist and leftist objectives, by nationalistic
and religious groups, by revolutionaries, and even by state institutions such as armies,
intelligence services, and police.
Definitions of terrorism

Definitions of terrorism are usually complex and controversial, and,

because of the inherent ferocity and violence of terrorism, the term in its popular usage
has developed an intense stigma. It was first coined in the 1790s to refer to the terror used
during the French Revolution by the revolutionaries against their opponents. The Jacobin
party of Maximilien Robespierre carried out a Reign of Terror involving mass executions
by the guillotine. Although terrorism in this usage implies an act of violence by a state
against its domestic enemies, since the 20th century the term has been applied most
frequently to violence aimed, either directly or indirectly, at governments in an effort to
influence policy or topple an existing regime.

Terrorism is not legally defined in all jurisdictions; the statutes that do exist, however,
generally share some common elements. Terrorism involves the use or threat of violence
and seeks to create fear, not just within the direct victims but among a wide audience.
The degree to which it relies on fear distinguishes terrorism from both conventional and
guerrilla warfare. Although conventional military forces invariably engage in
psychological warfare against the enemy, their principal means of victory is strength of
arms. Similarly, guerrilla forces, which often rely on acts of terror and other forms of
propaganda, aim at military victory and occasionally succeed (e.g., the Viet Cong in
Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia). Terrorism proper is thus the systematic use
of violence to generate fear, and thereby to achieve political goals, when direct military
victory is not possible. This has led some social scientists to refer to guerrilla warfare as
the “weapon of the weak” and terrorism as the “weapon of the weakest.”

In order to attract and maintain the publicity necessary to generate widespread fear,
terrorists must engage in increasingly dramatic, violent, and high-profile attacks. These
have included hijackings, hostage takings, kidnappings, car bombings, and, frequently,
suicide bombings. Although apparently random, the victims and locations of terrorist
attacks often are carefully selected for their shock value. Schools, shopping centres, bus
and train stations, and restaurants and nightclubs have been targeted both because they
attract large crowds and because they are places with which members of the civilian
population are familiar and in which they feel at ease. The goal of terrorism generally is
to destroy the public’s sense of security in the places most familiar to them. Major targets
sometimes also include buildings or other locations that are important economic or
political symbols, such as embassies or military installations. The hope of the terrorist is
that the sense of terror these acts engender will induce the population to pressure political
leaders toward a specific political end.
Some definitions treat all acts of terrorism, regardless of their political motivations, as
simple criminal activity. For example, in the United States the standard definition used by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) describes terrorism as “the unlawful use of
force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the
civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social
objectives.” The element of criminality, however, is problematic, because it does not
distinguish among different political and legal systems and thus cannot account for cases
in which violent attacks against a government may be legitimate. A frequently mentioned
example is the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, which committed
violent actions against that country’s apartheid government but commanded broad
sympathy throughout the world. Another example is the Resistance movement against the
Nazi occupation of France during World War II.

Since the 20th century, ideology and political opportunism have led a number of
countries to engage in transnational terrorism, often under the guise of supporting
movements of national liberation. (Hence, it became a common saying that “One man’s
terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”) The distinction between terrorism and other
forms of political violence became blurred—particularly as many guerrilla groups often
employed terrorist tactics—and issues of jurisdiction and legality were similarly
obscured.

These problems have led some social scientists to adopt a definition of terrorism based
not on criminality but on the fact that the victims of terrorist violence are most often
innocent civilians. For example, the U.S. government eventually accepted the view that
terrorism was premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against
noncombatant targets. Even this definition is flexible, however, and on occasion it has
been expanded to include various other factors, such as that terrorist acts are clandestine
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and that terrorist acts are intended to create an overwhelming sense of fear.

In the late 20th century, the term ecoterrorism was used to describe acts of environmental
destruction committed in order to further a political goal or as an act of war, such as the
burning of Kuwaiti oil wells by the Iraqi army during the Persian Gulf War. The term
also was applied to certain environmentally benign though criminal acts, such as the
spiking of lumber trees, intended to disrupt or prevent activities allegedly harmful to the
environment.

Types of terrorism
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Various attempts have been made to distinguish among types of terrorist activities. It is
vital to bear in mind, however, that there are many kinds of terrorist movements, and no
single theory can cover them all. Not only are the aims, members, beliefs, and resources
of groups engaged in terrorism extremely diverse, but so are the political contexts of their
campaigns. One popular typology identifies three broad classes of terrorism:
revolutionary, subrevolutionary, and establishment terrorism. Although this typology has
been criticized as inexhaustive, it provides a useful framework for understanding and
evaluating terrorist activities.

Revolutionary terrorism is arguably the most common form. Practitioners of this type of
terrorism seek the complete abolition of a political system and its replacement with new
structures. Modern instances of such activity include campaigns by the Italian Red
Brigades, the German Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Gang), the Basque separatist
group ETA, and the Peruvian Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), each of which attempted
to topple a national regime. Subrevolutionary terrorism is rather less common. It is used
not to overthrow an existing regime but to modify the existing sociopolitical structure.
Since this modification is often accomplished through the threat of deposing the existing
regime, subrevolutionary groups are somewhat more difficult to identify. An example can
be seen in the ANC and its campaign to end apartheid in South Africa.

Establishment terrorism, often called state or state-sponsored terrorism, is employed by

governments—or more often by factions within governments—against that government’s
citizens, against factions within the government, or against foreign governments or
groups. This type of terrorism is very common but difficult to identify, mainly because
the state’s support is always clandestine. The Soviet Union and its allies allegedly
engaged in widespread support of international terrorism during the Cold War; in the
1980s the United States supported rebel groups in Africa that allegedly engaged in acts of
terrorism, such as the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA);
and various Muslim countries (e.g., Iran and Syria) purportedly provided logistical and
financial aid to Islamic revolutionary groups engaged in campaigns against Israel, the
United States, and some Muslim countries in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

The military dictatorships in Chile (1973–90) and Argentina (1976–83) committed acts of
state terrorism against their own populations. The violent police states of Joseph Stalin in
the Soviet Union and Ṣaddām Ḥussein in Iraq are examples of countries in which one
organ of the government—often either the executive branch or the intelligence
establishment—engaged in widespread terror against not only the population but also
other organs of the government, including the military.

The persistent element of all forms of establishment terrorism, unlike that of nonstate
terrorism, is that of secrecy. States invariably seek to disavow their active complicity in
such acts, both to evade international censure and to avoid political and military
retribution by those they target.

History

Terror has been practiced by state and nonstate actors throughout history and throughout
the world. The ancient Greek historian Xenophon (c. 431–c. 350 bc) wrote of the
effectiveness of psychological warfare against enemy populations. Roman emperors such
as Tiberius (reigned ad 14–37) and Caligula (reigned ad 37–41) used banishment,
expropriation of property, and execution as means to discourage opposition to their rule.

The most commonly cited example of early terror, however, is the activity of the Jewish
Zealots, often known as the Sicarii (Hebrew: “Daggers”), who engaged in frequent
violent attacks on fellow Hebrews suspected of collusion with the Roman authorities.
Likewise, the use of terror was openly advocated by Robespierre during the French
Revolution, and the Spanish Inquisition used arbitrary arrest, torture, and execution to
punish what it viewed as religious heresy. After the American Civil War (1861–65),
defiant Southerners formed the Ku Klux Klan to intimidate supporters of Reconstruction
(1865–77) and the newly freed former slaves. In the latter half of the 19th century, terror
was adopted in western Europe, Russia, and the United States by adherents of anarchism,
who believed that the best way to effect revolutionary political and social change was to
assassinate persons in positions of power. From 1865 to 1905 a number of kings,
presidents, prime ministers, and other government officials were killed by anarchists’
guns or bombs.

The 20th century witnessed great changes in the use and practice of terror. It became the
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a number of political movements stretching from the extreme right to the extreme left of
the political spectrum. Technological advances, such as automatic weapons and compact,
electrically detonated explosives, gave terrorists a new mobility and lethality, and the
growth of air travel provided new methods and opportunities. Terrorism was virtually an
official policy in totalitarian states such as those of Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler and
the Soviet Union under Stalin. In these states arrest, imprisonment, torture, and execution
were carried out without legal guidance or restraints to create a climate of fear and to
encourage adherence to the national ideology and the declared economic, social, and
political goals of the state.

Terror has been used by one or both sides in anticolonial conflicts (e.g., Ireland and the
United Kingdom, Algeria and France, and Vietnam and France and the United States), in
disputes between different national groups over possession of a contested homeland (e.g.,
Palestinians and Israelis), in conflicts between different religious denominations (e.g.,
Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland), and in internal conflicts between
revolutionary forces and established governments (e.g., in the successor states of the
former Yugoslavia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Peru). In the
late 20th and early 21st centuries some of the most extreme and destructive organizations
that engaged in terrorism possessed a fundamentalist religious ideology (e.g., Ḥamās and
al-Qaeda). Some groups, including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Ḥamās,
adopted the tactic of suicide bombing, in which the perpetrator would attempt to destroy
an important economic, military, political, or symbolic target by detonating a bomb on
his person. In the latter half of the 20th century the most prominent groups using terrorist
tactics were the Red Army Faction, the Japanese Red Army, the Red Brigades, the Puerto
Rican FALN, Fatah and other groups related to the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO), the Shining Path, and the Liberation Tigers.

In the late 20th century the United States suffered several acts of terrorist
violence by Puerto Rican nationalists (such as the FALN), antiabortion groups, and
foreign-based organizations. The 1990s witnessed some of the deadliest attacks on
American soil, including the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City in
1993 and the Oklahoma City bombing two years later, which killed 168 people. In
addition, there were several major terrorist attacks on U.S. government targets overseas,
including military bases in Saudi Arabia (1996) and the U.S. embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania (1998). In 2000 an explosion triggered by suicide bombers caused the deaths of
17 sailors aboard a U.S. naval ship, the USS Cole, in the Yemeni port of Aden.

The deadliest terrorist strikes to date were the September 11 attacks

(2001), in which suicide terrorists associated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial
airplanes, crashing two of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center complex
in New York City and the third into the Pentagon building near Washington, D.C.; the
fourth plane crashed near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The crashes destroyed much of the
World Trade Center complex and a large portion of one side of the Pentagon and killed
more than 3,000 people.

Terrorism appears to be an enduring feature of political life. Even prior to

the September 11 attacks, there was widespread concern that terrorists might escalate
their destructive power to vastly greater proportions by using weapons of mass
destruction—including nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons—as was done by the
Japanese doomsday cult AUM Shinrikyo, which released nerve gas into a Tokyo subway
in 1995. These fears were intensified after September 11, when a number of letters
contaminated with anthrax were delivered to political leaders and journalists in the
United States, leading to several deaths. U.S. President George W. Bush made a broad
war against terrorism the centrepiece of U.S. foreign policy at the beginning of the 21st
century.

John Philip JenkinsEd.

Additional Reading

A collection of critical essays on various international movements and crises is Martha

Crenshaw (ed.), Terrorism in Context (1995). A comprehensive survey of patterns of
terrorism is Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism (1999). Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the
Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religion’s Violence (2000), studies the relationship
between religion and political violence. The relationship between politics and terrorism is
explored in Grant Wardlaw, Political Terrorism: Theory, Tactics, and Counter-
Measures, 2nd ed., rev. and extended (1989); and Paul Wilkinson, Terrorism and the
Liberal State, 2nd ed., rev., extended, and updated (1986). Works examining trends in
terrorism in the 1990s include Walter Laqueur, The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the
Arms of Mass Destruction (1999); and Richard A. Falkenrath, Robert D. Newman, and
Bradley A. Thayer, America’s Achilles’ Heel: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical
Terrorism and Covert Attack (1998).

John Philip Jenkins

Related Articles

Aspects of the topic terrorism are discussed in the following places at Britannica.

Assorted References

• major reference (in strategy (military): Strategy and terrorism)

Revolutionary warfare often uses terror for its purposes, but terrorism has its own
logic, often quite different from that of national or political groups seeking to
control a state. Politically motivated terrorism, defined as the use of violence
against noncombatants for the purpose of demoralization and intimidation, is an
extremely old phenomenon. However, the September 11 attacks on the...

• airport security (in airport: Airport security)

...pickpocketing, vandalism, and breaking and entering. However, in the 1960s

civil aviation became a recognized target for politically motivated crimes. These
crimes came to include general acts of terrorism, such as mass shootings and
bombings and, especially, aircraft hijacking.

• democracy (in democracy: Terrorism)

Acts of terrorism committed within democratic countries or against their interests

in other parts of the world occurred with increasing frequency beginning in the
1970s. In the United States remarkably few terrorist attacks had taken place
before the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City. The
deadliest single act of...
 • police (in police (law enforcement): Police and counterterrorism)

In the early 21st century, terrorism, particularly the September 11 attacks in the
United States, profoundly affected the nature of policing. Although police had
been combating terrorism long before 2001, the magnitude of the September 11
attacks and of subsequent acts of terrorism in other countries (including Spain,
Britain, Morocco, and Egypt) showed that conventional tactics were no longer...

• theories in political philosophy (in political philosophy: Contemporary

questions)

...weapons made the application of just-war theory to the contemporary scene

seem all the more urgent. In the view of some thinkers, the increasing menace of
international terrorism in the early 21st century has changed the scope and
conditions of justly prosecuted wars, though others vehemently disagree. The
nature of terrorism has itself become a philosophically...

• United Nations (in United Nations (UN) (international organization):

Development of international law)

Since 1963 the United Nations has been active in developing a legal framework
for combating international terrorism. The General Assembly and specialized
agencies such as the International Civil Aviation Organization and the
International Atomic Energy Agency established conventions on issues such as
offenses committed on aircraft, acts jeopardizing the safety of ...

• work of Interpol (in Interpol (international organization): History)

In the 1970s the organization’s ability to combat terrorism was impeded by

Article 3 of its constitution—which forbids “intervention or activities of a
political, military, religious or racial character”—and by a 1951 resolution of the
General Assembly that defined a “political” crime as that whose circumstances
and underlying motives are political, even if...

history of

Colombia
o FARC (in FARC (Colombian militant group))

The FARC has carried out bombings, assassinations, hijackings, and other
armed attacks against various political and economic targets in the
country; it has also kidnapped foreigners for ransom, executing many of
its captives. The FARC’s links to drug trafficking have brought hundreds
of millions of dollars annually into the organization...

• India (in India: Moderate and militant nationalism)

 ...of the cult of the bomb and the gun in Maharashtra and Bengal led to Tilak’s
deportation for “sedition” to Mandalay prison from 1908 to 1914. Political
violence in Bengal, in the form of terrorist acts, reached its peak from 1908
through 1910, as did the severity of official repression and the number of
“preventive detention” arrests. Although Minto continued to assure...

Indonesia
o Bali (in Bali (island and province, Indonesia))

...Dutch troops and Indonesian revolutionary forces at Marga in western

Bali. The island became part of the Republic of Indonesia in 1950. A
terrorist bombing on the island in 2002 killed some 200 people. Area
propinsi, 2,175 square miles (5,633 square km). Pop. (2000) propinsi,
3,151,162;...

• Ireland (in Irish Republican Army (IRA) (Irish military organization))

...Irish republic, the Officials preferred parliamentary tactics and eschewed

violence after 1972, whereas the Provisionals, or “Provos,” believed that violence
— particularly terrorism—was a necessary part of the struggle to rid Ireland of
the British.

• Italy (in Italy: Terrorism)

When economic, social, and political stability suddenly collapsed after 1969, one
of the most alarming results was terrorism. Initially, neofascist groups backed and
armed by some members of the security services carried out most acts of violence.
They began planting bombs and derailing trains as part of a “strategy of tension”
to undermine the labour advances of 1969–72 and...

• Japan (in AUM Shinrikyo (religion))

...Buddhist sect founded in 1987 by Matsumoto Chizuo, known to his followers as

Master Asahara Shoko. AUM came to public attention in 1995 when 12 people
died and thousands were injured following the release of nerve gas into a Tokyo
subway by several of the group’s top leaders. This action brought infamy and
disarray to the group.

Middle East

(in international relations (politics): Regional crises)

...more than 200 Americans. The Middle East peace process begun by Kissinger
and continued by Carter seemed to have unraveled by the late 1980s. Western
governments tried to coordinate policies on terrorism, including a firm refusal to
bargain with kidnappers, but concern for the lives of hostages and fear of future
retaliation insidiously weakened their resolve. In October 1985, however, the...

o Algeria (in France: The Fifth Republic)

...General Raoul Salan formed the Secret Army Organization

(Organisation de l’Armée Secrète; OAS) and attempted to stage a coup in
Algiers. When the insurrection failed, the OAS turned to terrorism; there
were several attempts on de Gaulle’s life. The president pushed ahead
nevertheless with his search for a settlement with the Algerians that would
combine independence with guarantees...

o Egypt (in Egypt: The Sādāt regime;

...government. The group al-Takfīr wa al-Hijrah (roughly, “Identification

of Unbelief and Flight from Evil”—founded in 1967 after Quṭb’s
execution) engaged in several terrorist attacks during the decade, and other
groups, namely Islamic Jihad (al-Jihād al-Islāmī) and the Islamic Group
(al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmiyah), formed with the...

in Egypt: Egypt after Sādāt)

In its struggle against Islamist terrorism, Mubārak’s regime resorted to

preventive detention and, allegedly, torture. Egyptian terrorists, for their
part, assassinated several government ministers, nearly killed Mubārak
himself in Addis Ababa, Eth., in 1995, and gunned down...

o Irgun (in Irgun Zvai Leumi (Jewish right-wing underground movement))

Irgun committed acts of terrorism and assassination against the British,

whom it regarded as illegal occupiers, and it was also violently anti-Arab.
Irgun also participated in the organization of illegal immigration into
Palestine after the publication of the British White Paper on Palestine
(1939), which severely limited immigration. Irgun’s violent activities led
to execution of many of its...

o Israel (in Israel: The war of attrition;

...raids from Jordan, launched by Yāsir ʿArafāt’s Palestine Liberation

Organization (PLO). These attacks were often on nonmilitary targets, and
Israel soon stamped the PLO as a terrorist organization and refused to
negotiate with it.

in Israel: Political and social repercussions of the war;

 ...A year later, Rabin obtained secret assurances from Kissinger that the
United States would not recognize the PLO as an entity representing the
Palestinians unless that organization first ceased terrorism and recognized
Israel’s right to exist.

in Israel: The beginning of the peace process)

...consented to Syria’s military intervention in Lebanon that same year, but

the result was a partitioned state with the PLO dominating the south of the
country, which was now a launching point for terror attacks against
Israelis living in the Upper Galilee. In March 1978, Israel invaded
Lebanon to drive the PLO away from the border but succeeded only
partially in this goal before withdrawing...

o Pakistan (in Pakistan: Government and society)

...in Pakistan—civilian or military—appeared to rest on the handling of

what might be considered a fifth area of major conflict. Since 2001 the
country has been confronted by a campaign of ceaseless terror, generally
but not exclusively cast in religious terms, that has been mounted by
religious forces opposed to secular modernism in all its forms.
Government has always been mindful of...

o Palestine (in international relations (politics): Palestinian terrorism and

diplomacy;

...was also divided between old families of notables, whose authority dated
back to Ottoman times, and young middle-class or fedayeen factions
anxious to exert pressure on Israel and the West through terrorism. The
latter included the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP),
formed three months after the 1967 war. Over the next year the PFLP
hijacked 14 foreign airliners, culminating...

in Palestine: World War II;

...the Patria (November 1940) and the Struma (February 1942). In

response, the Irgun, under the leadership of Menachem Begin, and a small
terrorist splinter group, LEHI (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel), known
for its founder as the Stern Gang, embarked on widespread attacks on...

in Palestine: The PLO’s rise as a revolutionary force;

...social services and organizations. One result was an escalating cycle of

raids and reprisals between the Palestinian guerrillas and Israel; guerrilla
attacks on Israeli occupation forces and terror attacks on Israeli civilians
 (defended by the PLO until renounced by ʿArafāt in 1988) became a key
element in the struggle against Israel.

in Palestine: PLO declaration of independence)

...final weeks of 1988 opened a new chapter in Palestinian-Israeli

relations. In December ʿArafāt announced that the PNC recognized Israel
as a state in the region and condemned and rejected terrorism in all its
forms—including state terrorism, the PLO’s term for Israel’s actions. He
addressed a special meeting of the UN General Assembly convened at
Geneva and proposed an...

o United Arab Emirates (in United Arab Emirates: Finance)

...which specialize in transferring money internationally beyond state

regulation. While such institutions are used primarily to transfer
remittances, they also have been a way for terrorist organizations and
criminal groups to move and launder illicit funds.

o Yemen (in Yemen: Yemen and the “war on terror”)

The nature and salience of Yemen’s relations with many countries—but

especially the United States—changed dramatically with al-Qaeda’s
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11,
2001. In fact, the change in relations with the United States was
anticipated in the reactions by both countries to the suicide bombing by al-
Qaeda of a U.S. naval destroyer,...

• North Korea (in North Korea: Relations with the South)

...of a confederate republic, the Koryŏ Confederation, through a loose merger of

the two Koreas, based on equal representation. Later in the decade, however, the
North engineered two major terrorist incidents against the South: the first was a
bombing assassination attempt against President Chun in Rangoon, Burma (now
Yangon, Myanmar), on Oct. 9, 1983, that killed 17 members of the...

• Olympic Games of 1972 (in Olympic Games: Munich, West Germany, 1972)

Tragedy struck the 1972 Olympics in Munich when eight Palestinian terrorists
invaded the Olympic Village on September 5 and killed two members of the
Israeli team. Nine other Israelis were held hostage as the terrorists bargained for
the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners in Israel. All the hostages, five of their
captors, and a West German policeman were slain in a failed rescue attempt.
The...

• Poland (in Aleksander Kwaśniewski (Polish politician))

 ...the document). Under his leadership, Poland was admitted to the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization in 1999 and to the European Union in 2004. He also
supported the U.S.-led global war against terrorism following the September 11
attacks in 2001, and in 2003 he committed Polish troops to assist in the attack and
subsequent reconstruction of Iraq, though he later claimed that Poland was...

Russia
o North Ossetia–Alania (in North Ossetia–Alania (republic, Russia))

...and fighting flared in the South Ossetia region of Georgia, where

Ossetes sought independence or union with North Ossetia. The city of
Beslan, in northeastern North Ossetia, was the site of ethnic violence in
2004, when Chechen militants seized a school and some 1,200 hostages,
mostly children; following an armed battle between the militants and
Russian security forces, some 325 people were...

Spain
o Aznar (in José María Aznar (prime minister of Spain))

In 2000 Aznar led the PP to an overall majority in the Congress of

Deputies. Terrorism—both ETA’s continuing campaign of violence and
the presence of Islamic terrorist cells in Spain—dominated his second
term, particularly after the September 11 attacks of 2001. Aznar forged
close ties with the United States in the global war on...

o Madrid (in Madrid (Spain): Modern Madrid)

On March 11, 2004, Madrid suffered a devastating series of terrorist

attacks when 10 bombs, detonated by Islamist militants, exploded on four
trains at three different rail stations during rush hour. The attacks killed
191 people and injured some 1,800 others. Notwithstanding this tragedy,
Madrid remained a major tourist attraction and a...

o Zapatero (in José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (prime minister of Spain))

As the 2004 general elections neared, opinion polls suggested an easy win
for the PP. On March 11, 2004, however, Madrid suffered a series of
terrorist attacks, and Prime Minister José María Aznar and his PP
government drew criticism for their attempts to blame the Basque
separatist group ETA even after members of the Islamist...

United Kingdom
o antiterrorist strategies (in United Kingdom: New Labour and after (since
1997))
 Following the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, global
terrorism dominated the political agenda in Britain, and Blair closely
allied himself with the administration of U.S. Pres. George W. Bush.
Britain contributed troops to the military effort to oust Afghanistan’s
Taliban regime, which was charged with harbouring Osama bin Laden,
who had founded al-Qaeda, the terrorist...

o London (in London (England, United Kingdom): Reconstruction after

World War II)

On July 6, 2005, London was selected as host of the 2012 Olympic

Games. The following day the city suffered a series of coordinated
terrorist attacks, as three bombs went off on Underground trains, and
another destroyed a double-decker bus. The attacks, believed to have been
carried out by Muslim extremists, killed more than 50 people and...

United States

(in United States: The Bill Clinton administration)

...and on the U.S. Navy in Yemen (2000). The domestic front, though, was the site
of unexpected antigovernment violence when on April 19, 1995, an American,
Timothy McVeigh, detonated a bomb in a terrorist attack on the Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 168 and injuring more
than 500.

o Central Intelligence Agency (in Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

(United States government): Criticism and assessment)

After the terrorist attacks of September 2001, the CIA, along with the FBI,
was criticized for failing to penetrate terrorist groups that pose a threat to
the United States and for failing to share information on such groups. The
budget for intelligence activities was dramatically increased, and the CIA
was given extensive new powers to...

o Gonzales (in Alberto R. Gonzales (United States official))

...for example, in 2003, following a scandal involving U.S. military

personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq during the Iraq War, he was
criticized for his legal opinion that prisoners suspected of terrorist activity
did not merit protection under the Geneva Conventions. Nevertheless, he
was nominated by Bush for the post of attorney general in 2004 and
confirmed (60–36) by the U.S....

o Guantánamo Bay detention camp (in Guantánamo Bay detention camp

(United States detention facility, Cuba))
 ...Bay detention camp (often called Gitmo, which is also a name for the
naval base) was used to house Muslim militants and suspected terrorists
captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere (see also Iraq
War). The facility became the focus of worldwide controversy over
alleged violations of the ...

o Iran-Contra Affair (in Ronald W. Reagan (president of United States):

The Iran-Contra Affair)

...McFarlane, Reagan authorized a secret initiative to sell antitank and

antiaircraft missiles to Iran in exchange for that country’s help in securing
the release of Americans held hostage by terrorist groups in Lebanon. The
initiative directly contradicted the administration’s publicly stated policy
of refusing to negotiate with terrorists or to aid countries—such as...

o Oklahoma City bombing (in Oklahoma City (Oklahoma, United States):

History;

On April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City became the site of one of the deadliest
terrorist attacks on American soil when a truck bomb destroyed part of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in the downtown area, killing 168
people and injuring more than 500. Timothy J. McVeigh was found guilty
of the bombing in 1997 and was executed in 2001. The Oklahoma City
National Memorial, established in 1997,...

in Oklahoma City bombing (terrorist attack, United States))

terrorist attack in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., on April 19, 1995, in

which a massive homemade bomb concealed in a rental truck exploded,
heavily damaging the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. A total of 168
people were killed, including 19 children, and more than 500 were injured.
The building was later razed, and a park was built on...

September 11 attacks

(in September 11 attacks (United States [2001]);

...associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda against targets in

the United States. The attacks caused extensive death and destruction and
triggered an enormous U.S. effort to combat terrorism.

in United States: The George W. Bush administration;

...the southern Pennsylvania countryside. Some 3,000 people were killed

in this, the worst act of terrorism in U.S. history (see September 11
attacks). Bush responded with a call for a global war on terrorism.
Identifying exiled Saudi millionaire and terrorist mastermind Osama bin
Laden as the primary suspect in the acts, Bush built an international
coalition against bin Laden (who later claimed...

in George W. Bush (president of United States): The September 11

attacks)

On September 11, 2001, Bush faced a crisis that would transform his
presidency. That morning, four American commercial airplanes were
hijacked by Islamic terrorists. Two of the planes were deliberately crashed
into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City,
destroying both towers and collapsing or damaging many surrounding
buildings, and a third was used to destroy part of the...

 death toll (in World Trade Center (building complex, New York
City, New York, United States))

Because the September 11 attacks caused such massive destruction

and intensely hot fires, the remains of many victims were never
recovered, and others remained unidentifiable. Consequently, the
precise number of victims—particularly the number of those killed
at the World Trade Center—has remained unclear. Flight manifests
provided information on the number of passengers and crew on...

 “Declaration of War on Terrorism” (in Document: George W.

Bush: Declaration of War on Terrorism)
 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (in North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO))

NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time in 2001, after terrorist
attacks organized by exiled Saudi Arabian millionaire Osama bin
Laden destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City and
part of the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., killing some 3,000
people.

 World Trade Center (in World Trade Center (building complex,

New York City, New York, United States);

complex of several buildings around a central plaza in New York

City that in 2001 was the site of the deadliest terrorist attack in
American history. (See September 11 attacks.) The complex—
located at the southwestern tip of Manhattan, near the shore of the
Hudson River and a few blocks northwest of ...

in New York City (New York, United States): Greater New York)
 Because of its prominence and its central role in world commerce,
however, the city also remained vulnerable to acts of terrorism,
most notably two attacks on the World Trade Center complex. In
1993 a bomb planted in one of the complex’s twin towers killed
several people and injured some 1,000. A far more devastating
attack—the deadliest terrorist act in American history—occurred
on...

U.S.S.R.

(in Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (historical state, Eurasia): Toward the
“second Revolution”: 1927–30)

...grain available to the authorities and that to effect this a great sharpening of
“class war” in the countryside was required. Bukharin, with Rykov and Tomsky,
saw that this would mean a terror regime and destroy the fruits of the NEP. But
they were now almost helpless.

o famine (in Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (historical state, Eurasia):

The Party versus the peasants)

...1932–33, a major famine swept the grain-growing areas. Some 4 to 5

million died in Ukraine, and another 2 to 3 million in the North Caucasus
and the Lower Volga area. Both the dekulakization terror of 1930–32 and
the terror-famine of 1932–33 were particularly deadly in Ukraine and the
Ukrainian-speaking area of the Kuban. They were accompanied by a
series of repressive...

o purge trials (in Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (historical state,

Eurasia): Internal, 1930–37)

...The country was submitted to an intensive campaign against hidden

“enemies of the people.” This manifested itself both in a series of public,
or publicized, trials, and in a massive terror operation against the
population as a whole.

role in

• anarchism (in anarchism: Anarchism as a movement, 1870–1940)

...The first acts were rural insurrections intended to arouse the illiterate masses of
the Italian countryside. After the insurrections failed, anarchist activism tended to
take the form of acts of terrorism by individual protesters, who would attempt to
kill ruling figures to make the state appear vulnerable and to inspire the masses
with their self-sacrifice. Between 1890 and 1901 several...
• Basque nationalism (in ETA (Basque organization);

Basque separatist organization in Spain that has used terrorism in its campaign for
an independent Basque state.

in Spain: Security;

...accepted by the Spanish people and by their political organizations, with one
significant exception—the militant Basque nationalist movement, which has
sought total independence and used terrorism as its principal method. As a result,
domestic terrorism is a major concern of the Spanish police.

in Spain: Franco’s Spain, 1939–75)

Peripheral nationalism constituted an intractable problem. In the Basque

provinces the nationalists could count on the support of the clergy, and Basque
nationalism developed a terrorist wing, ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatsuna; Basque:
“Basque Homeland and Liberty”). The Burgos trials of Basque terrorists in 1970
discredited the regime abroad, and the following year the Assembly of...

• diplomacy (in diplomacy: New styles of diplomacy)

...sufficient if host governments turned a blind eye to breaches of

extraterritoriality. As the 20th century drew to a close, attacks on diplomatic
missions and diplomats grew in scale and frequency. Terrorists succeeded in
taking the staffs of some diplomatic missions hostage and in blowing up others,
with great loss of life. Some embassies came to resemble fortresses.

• guerrilla warfare (in guerrilla warfare (military tactics): Terror)

Terror is one of the most hideous characteristics of guerrilla warfare yet one of its
most basic and widely used weapons. It is employed on several levels for several
reasons. Tactically, its purpose is to intimidate the military-police opposition—for
example, by slitting the throat of a careless sentry or by tossing a grenade into a
provincial police outpost. At a slightly higher level...

• hijackings (in hijacking (international law))

...in Israel or some other location. Some of these hijackers also held the
passengers and crew captive and demanded large ransom payments from the
hostages’ governments. The climax of this new form of terrorism occurred in
September 1970, when an 11-day sequence of hijackings resulted<script
src="http://eb.adbureau.net/jnserver/acc_random=1069704874/site=DARWIN/are
a=ARTICLES/source=other/aamsz=300x250/topicid=null/pos=rec1/pageid=5265
9"></script> in 300 passengers being held hostage for a week and the destruction
of four jet aircraft (on the ground) worth a...
role of

• bin Laden (in Osama bin Laden (Saudi Arabian militant))

mastermind of numerous terrorist attacks against the United States and other
Western powers, including the 1993 bombing of New York City’s World Trade
Center, the 2000 suicide bombing of the U.S. warship Cole in the Yemeni port of
Aden, and the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in ...

• Corsican National Liberation Front (in Corsican National Liberation Front

(political organization, Corsica))

The main method of the FLNC was bomb attacks, and the main targets were the
property of non-Corsican settlers. The group also targeted police stations,
government offices (in both Corsica and France), banks, and other such buildings.
In 1980 more than 375 bombings in Corsica alone were attributed to or claimed
by the FLNC. For most of 1981, during the establishment of the socialist...

• Tamil Tigers (in Tamil Tigers (revolutionary organization, Sri Lanka))

...in the implementation of a complete cease-fire. However, following the

withdrawal of the IPKF in March 1990, the Tigers grew in strength and conducted
several successful guerrilla operations and terrorist attacks. On May 21, 1991, a
suicide bomber killed former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi while he was
campaigning in the ...

use of

• anthrax (in anthrax (disease): Anthrax as a biological weapon)

Terrorists have used anthrax in an attempt to kill and frighten victims in both
Japan and the United States. The AUM Shinrikyo religious sect released anthrax
in Tokyo on three separate occasions in 1993, targeting downtown crowds and
members of the Japanese legislature. In 2001 a number of anthrax-laced letters
were sent through the mail...

• biological weapons (in biological weapon: Biological weapons proliferation)

...investment and a few dozen biologists, all of which could be secretly housed
within a few buildings. In fact, a biological weapons program might also be
within the technical and financial reach of a terrorist organization. In summary,
the degree of biological weapons proliferation is highly uncertain, difficult to
detect, and difficult to quantify.

• chemical weapons (in chemical weapon: Chemical weapons and terrorism)

 Until the 1990s, terrorists had rarely possessed or employed chemical weapons.
However, several states that have sponsored terrorism have also possessed
chemical weapons—Libya, Iran, and Iraq—and there is a concern that they and
groups they sponsor might use chemical weapons in the future.

• civil defense (in civil defense (war))

In the early 21st century, terrorism became as great a concern to the defense of
many countries as conventional warfare had been in previous generations. In the
United States the September 11 attacks in 2001 set in motion a massive civil
defense initiative with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security....

• alliance (in alliance (politics))

...forged a diverse coalition comprising a variety of old (e.g., the United

Kingdom) and new (e.g., Uzbekistan) partners to combat international terrorism.

• intelligence (in intelligence (international relations): Intelligence in the modern

era;

Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, nonstate
actors (e.g., terrorist organizations, militias, and drug cartels) have developed
sophisticated intelligence and counterintelligence capabilities that rival those of
some states. The Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda, which organized the
September 11...

in intelligence (military): Counterintelligence)

...terrorist attacks, or assassinations conducted on behalf of foreign powers,

organizations, or persons. It is especially vital that nations identify the capabilities
and intentions of international terrorist organizations so that their operations can
be thwarted; in the event that a terrorist attack is successful, identifying the culprit
allows for reprisals, which are crucial to combating...

• Internet (in Internet (computer network): Free speech)

...of the Internet’s openness to spread a variety of political messages. The

Ukrainian Orange Revolution of 2004 had a significant Internet component. More
troubling is the use of the Internet by terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda to recruit
members, pass along instructions to sleeper cells, and celebrate their own horrific
activities. The Iraq War was fought not only on the ground but also...

• piracy (in piracy (maritime law))

...piracy declined dramatically in the 19th century, the practice of hijacking ships
and airplanes developed into a new form of piracy in the late 20th century. The
 affinity between piracy and terrorism became of particular concern after the
hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise liner by Palestinian militants in 1985 and
after agents of al-Qaeda executed the September 11...

• right to self-defense (in international law: Use of force)

...11 attacks in 2001 against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the
United States, the Security Council emphasized that the right to self-defense also
applies with regard to international terrorism. Preemptive strikes by countries that
reasonably believe that an attack upon them is imminent are controversial but
permissible under international law, provided that the criteria of...

• weapons of mass destruction (in weapon of mass destruction (WMD)

(weaponry))

...War II. However, the relative ease with which both biological and chemical
agents can be prepared, packaged, delivered, and set off have raised fears that
they might become the weapon of choice of terrorists. Indeed, since the end of the
Cold War the main concern regarding all WMD has been proliferation, that is, the
potential for lesser powers, “rogue states,” or international...

terrorism - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)

The use of violence to achieve a political goal is called terrorism. The people
performing the action are known as terrorists. Terrorists seek to create a sense of
fear among a large number of people to bring attention to their cause or to control
the people. By doing something like bombing a building, terrorists not only hurt
the people who are in the building, they also make the public worry about what
building might be the next target.

terrorism - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Terrorists use violence in an attempt to achieve political goals. Their intent is to

bring about political change by creating a climate of fear within the society they
oppose. The targeting of innocent victims and symbolic locations for a high-
profile attack has long been the preferred method of terrorist organizations.
International conventions on terrorism set out obligations of states in respect to
defining international counter terrorist offences, prosecuting individuals suspected of
such offences, extraditing such persons upon request, and providing mutual legal
assistance upon request.

Contents
[show]

[edit] Types of International Terrorist Conventions

Broadly speaking there are two types of international convention on terrorism. First there
are truly international conventions which are open to ratification to all states. There are
thirteen of these international conventions at present, though as of Feb 2006 only 12 are
in force.

Second there are regional multilateral terrorist conventions, such as the Council of
Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism(2006); the Inter-American
Convention Against Terrorism (2002); and the Organization of African Union
Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism (1999) and Protocol (2004).

[edit] Other Relevant International Treaties and Instruments

Other international instruments may also be relevant in particular circumstances, such as

bilateral extradition treaties, the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and
the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

There are now a number of important United Nations Security Council and General
Assembly Resolutions on international terrorism, including UN Security Council
Resolution 1373 and three important Security Council resolutions dealing with Libya's
conduct in connection with the sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988,
which includes UN Security Council Resolutions 731 (January 21, 1992); 748 (March 31,
1992) and 883 (November 11, 1993).

[edit] Conventions which are open to ratification by all states

The following list identifies the major terrorism conventions open to ratification by all
states. A brief summary is provided in each case of the principal provisions in each
instrument. In addition to the provisions summarized below, most of these conventions
provide that parties must establish criminal jurisdiction over offenders (e.g., the state(s)
where the offense takes place, or in some cases the state of nationality of the perpetrator
or victim, or in the case of an aircraft, the State of registration).
1. 1963 Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed On Board
Aircraft (Aircraft Convention)

• Applies to acts affecting in-flight safety;

• Authorizes the aircraft commander when necessary to ensure the safety of the
aircraft or its occupants and to maintain good discipline, to impose reasonable
measures including restraint on any person he believes has committed or is about
to commit certain acts; and,
• Requires contracting States to take custody of offenders and to return control of
the aircraft to the lawful commander.

2. 1970 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft(Unlawful

Seizure Convention)

• Makes it an offence for any person on board an aircraft in flight to "unlawfully,

by force or threat thereof, or any other form of intimidation, [to] seize or exercise
control of that aircraft" or to attempt to do so;
• Requires parties to the convention to make hijackings punishable by Requires
parties to the convention to make hijackings punishable by "severe penalties"
• Requires parties that have custody of offenders to either extradite the offender or
submit the case for prosecution; and
• Requires parties to assist each other in connection with criminal proceedings
brought under the Convention.

3. 1971 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil
Aviation (Civil Aviation Convention)

• Makes it an offence for any person unlawfully and intentionally to perform an act
of violence against a person on board an aircraft in flight, if that act is likely to
endanger the safety of the aircraft; to place an explosive device on an aircraft; to
attempt such acts; or to be an accomplice of a person who performs or attempts to
perform such acts;
• Requires parties to the Convention to make offences punishable by "severe
penalties"; and
• Requires parties that have custody of offenders to either extradite the offender or
submit the case for prosecution.

4. 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against

Internationally Protected Persons (Diplomatic agents Convention)

• Defines an "internationally protected person" as a Head of State, Minister for

Foreign Affairs, representative or official of a State or international organization
who is entitled to special protection in a foreign State, and his/her family; and
• Requires parties to criminalize and make punishable "by appropriate penalties
which take into account their grave nature" the intentional murder, kidnapping or
other attack upon the person or liberty of an internationally protected person, a
 violent attack upon the official premises, the private accommodations, or the
means of transport of such person; a threat or attempt to commit such an attack;
and an act "constituting participation as an accomplice".

5. 1979 International Convention against the Taking of Hostages(Hostages

Convention)

• Provides that "any person who seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure, or
to continue to detain another person in order to compel a third party, namely, a
State, an international intergovernmental organization, a natural or juridical
person, or a group of persons, to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or
implicit condition for the release of the hostage commits the offence of taking of
hostage within the meaning of this Convention".

6. 1980 Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material(Nuclear

Materials Convention)

• Criminalizes the unlawful possession, use, transfer or theft of nuclear material and
threats to use nuclear material to cause death, serious injury or substantial
property damage.

Amendments to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material

• Make it legally binding for States Parties to protect nuclear facilities and material
in peaceful domestic use, storage as well as transport; and
• Provide for expanded cooperation between and among States regarding rapid
measures to locate and recover stolen or smuggled nuclear material, mitigate any
radiological consequences or sabotage, and prevent and combat related offences.

7. 1988 Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports

Serving International Civil Aviation, supplementary to the Convention for the
Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation (Extends and
supplements the Montreal Convention on Air Safety) (Airport Protocol)

• Extends the provisions of the Montreal Convention (see No. 3 above) to

encompass terrorist acts at airports serving international civil aviation.

8. 1988 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of
Maritime Navigation (Maritime Convention)

• Establishes a legal regime applicable to acts against international maritime

navigation that is similar to the regimes established for international aviation; and
• Makes it an offence for a person unlawfully and intentionally to seize or exercise
control over a ship by force, threat, or intimidation; to perform an act of violence
against a person on board a ship if that act is likely to endanger the safe
 navigation of the ship; to place a destructive device or substance aboard a ship;
and other acts against the safety of ships.

2005 Protocol to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the
Safety of Maritime Navigation

• Criminalizes the use of a ship as a device to further an act of terrorism;

• Criminalizes the transport on board a ship various materials knowing that they are
intended to be used to cause, or in a threat to cause, death or serious injury or
damage to further an act of terrorism;
• Criminalizes the transporting on board a ship of persons who have committed an
act of terrorism; and
• Introduces procedures for governing the boarding of a ship believed to have
committed an offence under the Convention.

9. 1988 Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Fixed
Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf (Fixed Platform Protocol)

• Establishes a legal regime applicable to acts against fixed platforms on the

continental shelf that is similar to the regimes established against international
aviation.

2005 Protocol to the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the
Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf

• Adapts the changes to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts
against the Safety of Maritime Navigation to the context of fixed platforms
located on the continental shelf.

10. 1991 Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of
Detection (Plastic Explosives Convention)

• Designed to control and limit the used of unmarked and undetectable plastic
explosives (negotiated in the aftermath of the 1988 Pan Am flight 103 bombing);
• Parties are obligated in their respective territories to ensure effective control over
Parties are obligated in their respective territories to ensure effective control over
"unmarked"
• Generally speaking, each party must, inter alia, take necessary and effective
measures to prohibit and prevent the manufacture of unmarked plastic explosives;
prevent the movement of unmarked plastic explosives into or out of its territory;
exercise strict and effective control over possession and transfer of unmarked
explosives made or imported prior to the entry into force of the Convention;
ensure that all stocks of unmarked explosives not held by the military or police
are destroyed, consumed, marked, or rendered permanently ineffective within
three years; take necessary measures to ensure that unmarked plastic explosives
held by the military or police are destroyed, consumed, marked or rendered
 permanently ineffective within fifteen years; and, ensure the destruction, as soon
as possible, of any unmarked explosives manufactured after the date of entry into
force of the Convention for that State.

11. 1997 International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings

(Terrorist Bombing Convention)

• Creates a regime of universal jurisdiction over the unlawful and intentional use of
explosives and other lethal devices in, into, or against various defined public
places with intent to kill or cause serious bodily injury, or with intent to cause
extensive destruction of the public place.

12. 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of

Terrorism (Terrorist Financing Convention)

• Requires parties to take steps to prevent and counteract the financing of terrorists,
whether direct or indirect, through groups claiming to have charitable, social or
cultural goals or which also engage in illicit activities such as drug trafficking or
gun running;
• Commits States to hold those who finance terrorism criminally, civilly or
administratively liable for such acts; and
• Provides for the identification, freezing and seizure of funds allocated for terrorist
activities, as well as for the sharing of the forfeited funds with other States on a
case-by-case basis. Bank secrecy is no longer adequate justification for refusing to
cooperate.

13. 2005 International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism
(Nuclear Terrorism Convention)

• Covers a broad range of acts and possible targets, including nuclear power plants
and nuclear reactors;
• Covers threats and attempts to commit such crimes or to participate in them, as an
accomplice;
• Stipulates that offenders shall be either extradited or prosecuted;
• Encourages States to cooperate in preventing terrorist attacks by sharing
information and assisting each other in connection with criminal investigations
and extradition proceedings; and
• Deals with both crisis situations (assisting States to solve the situation) and post-
crisis situations (rendering nuclear material safe through the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA).

[edit] Regional Conventions

These are international treaties agreed under the auspices of particular regional
organisations, and generally the Conventions are only open to be ratified by members
states of those regional organisations. However some of those organisations permit other
countries to ratify the conventions concerned. The principal regional conventions of
particular note by region and/or regional organisation, are as follows

Europe

Council of Europe

1.
o European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism (Strasbourg,
January 1977)[1] and Protocol (Strasbourg, May 2003)[2].

"Article 1 of the Convention declares that for the purposes of extradition a

number of offences commonly associated with terrorism are not to be regarded as
political offences. These include hijacking and other interference with civil
aviation, offences against diplomats, kidnapping, offences involving the use of
bombs and firearms, and other serious offences involving acts of violence." "The
Convention, which requires three ratifications in order to come into force, was
signed on January 27, 1977, by all the member States of the Council of Europe
except Ireland and Malta."[1]:684

1.
o Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (Warsaw,
May 2005)[3]
o Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and
Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of
Terrorism [4] (Warsaw, May 2005)

European Union

1.
o The EU Framework Decision on Terrorism [5]

Commonwealth of Independent States

1.
o Treaty on Cooperation among States Members of the Commonwealth of
Independent States in Combating Terrorism (Minsk, June 1999) [6]

North and South America

1.
o Organisation of American States Convention to Prevent and Punish Acts
of Terrorism Taking the Form of Crimes Against Persons and Related
Extortion that are of International Significance (Washington, D.C.
February 1971)[7]
 o Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism (Bridgetown, June 2002)
[8]

Africa

1.
o African Union Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism
(Algiers July 1999)[9] and
o the Protocol to that Convention, Addis Ababa July 2004)[10] [as of 30
August 2005 the Protocol was not yet in force]

South Asia

1.
o SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism (Kathmandu,
November 1987)[11]
o and the Additional Protocol to the Convention, Islamabad, January 2004
[As of 30 August 2005 not yet in force].
o The ASEAN Convention On Counter Terrorism, Cebu, Philippines, 13
January 2007 [As of 17 February 2007 not yet in force][12]

League of Arab States

1.
o Arab Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism (Cairo, April 1998)[13]

Organization of the Islamic Conference

1.
o Convention of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on Combating
International Terrorism (Ouagadougou, July 1999)[14]

[edit] The International Criminal Court and Terrorism

During the negotiations on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,[15]
many states supported adding a specific offence of "terrorism" to the list of crimes over
which the court would have jurisdiction. This proposal was not adopted. However, the
Statute provides for a review conference to be held seven years after the entry into force
of the Statute. This review will consider (among other things) an extension of the court's
jurisdiction to include terrorism.

Despite the exclusion from the Court's jurisdiction of a specifically defined international
crime of "terrorism" , certain acts carried out by "terrorists" may fall within the Court's
jurisdiction because those acts fulfill the criteria of other offences which fall within the
Court's purview. Thus acts of terrorism carried out by parties to an armed conflict
constitute "war crimes" as prohibited by various articles in the Geneva Conventions, and
will fall within the Court's jurisdiction where they constitute "grave" breaches of the
Conventions. Furthermore some "terrorist" acts will constitute a "crime against
humanity" which is an international crime which also falls within the ICC's jurisdiction.
Article 7 of the ICC Statute defines a "Crime Against Humanity" as various acts,
including murder, extermination, persecution of various groups, when "committed as part
of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with
knowledge of the attack."

[edit] "Terrorists" and Laws of War/International Humanitarian

Law

The obligations which the international and regional conventions impose, as described in
sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 above, apply for the most part in situations where there is not an
ongoing "armed conflict" [i.e"war"]. When there is "armed conflict", in the sense in
which that term is understood under the laws of war/International humanitarian law
(IHL), then the laws of War/IHL apply. Under those laws combatants ("belligerents") are
subject to certain prohibitions. However an attack carried out on an enemy which results
in death and/or injury is lawful, so long as it meets various tests of necessity and
proportionalty.

Whether or not persons/groups which might be characterised by some as "terrorist" are

entitled to the privileges accorded to participants in an "armed conflict" depends upon
whether in the circumstances they are "combatants", within the meaning of that term
under the laws of War/IHL. The categorisation of any particular group as a "terrorist" or
"combatant" is a matter which often divides opinion. A state/government which is in
conflict with such a group is likely never to accord them the status of combatant, and in
most cases the acts of such groups will in any event constitute criminal acts under the
domestic law provisions in the jurisdiction concerned. However this is a different
question to whether person/groups are entitled to the status of "combatants" under
International Law. If they are so entitled their acts will not constitute crimes in
international law, and as a matter of international law they are entitled to be treated in
certain ways by their enemies [e.g. prisoner of war status if captured].

However under the Third Geneva Convention, a person is eligible for prisoner of war
status only if they "carry arms openly" and "respect the laws and customs of war". It also
requires that members of militias and other irregular groups have "a fixed distinctive sign
recognizable at a distance." Insofar as "terrorists" who are parties to an "armed conflict"
fail to adhere to those rules, any claims which they may make to special status will be
difficult to sustain. In such circumstances there is some debate [See unlawful combatant]
as to whether they are to be categorised as (a)civilians who have committed crimes; or (b)
a species of wrongdoer who, whilst not entitled to be treated as prisoner of war, may
nonetheless be death with outside of the ordinary civilian processes for prosecuting
crimes.
Matters are further complicated by the 1979 Optional Additional Protocol 1 (Protocol
Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection
of Victims of International Armed Conflicts) which applies in "armed conflicts in which
peoples are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist
regimes in the exercise of their right of self-determination"(Article 1:3) and furthermore
the following clause appears to give guerrilla fighters in such conflicts lawful combatant
and POW status, even if not wearing uniform, as long as they carry weapons openly
during attacks:

"In order to promote the protection of the civilian population from the effects of
hostilities, combatants are obliged to distinguish themselves from the civilian population
while they are engaged in an attack or in a military operation preparatory to an attack.
Recognizing, however, that there are situations in armed conflicts where, owing to the
nature of the hostilities an armed combatant cannot so distinguish himself, he shall retain
his status as a combatant, provided that, in such situations, he carries his arms openly: (a)
During each military engagement, and (b) During such time as he is visible to the
adversary while he is engaged in a military deployment preceding the launching of an
attack in which he is to participate."(Article 44:3)

Optional Additional Protocol 2 (Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12

August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed
Conflicts) may also apply in many "insurgencies", "terrorist campaigns" or "civil wars".
However this convention does not give non-government militants lawful combatant status
or POW status, although Article 6(5) does recommend "broadest possible amnesty to
persons who have participated in the armed conflict" after the end of hostilities. It also
specifies minimum standards for those detained or interned ("persons whose liberty has
been restricted"). The convention prohibits war crimes, "acts of terrorism" and
extrajudicial execution and sets standards for fair trials--although it does not prohibit
internment.