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Terrorism - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Terrorism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Log in / create account Article Discussion Read View source Terrorism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Navigation "Terrorist" redirects here. For other uses, see Terrorist (disambiguation). Main page It has been suggested that Terror be merged into this article or Contents section. (Discuss) Featured content There is no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law Current events Terrorism definition of terrorism.[1][2] Common definitions of terrorism Random article Definitions · Counter-terrorism Donate to Wikipedia refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create International conventions fear (terror), are perpetrated for a religious, political or Anti-terrorism legislation ideological goal, deliberately target or disregard the safety of Terrorism insurance Interaction non-combatants (civilians), and are committed by non- Types [citation needed] Help government agencies. Anarchist · Nationalist Communist · Conservative About Wikipedia Some definitions also include acts of unlawful violence and Left-wing · Right-wing Community portal war. The use of similar tactics by criminal organizations for Resistance movements Recent changes protection rackets or to enforce a code of silence is usually Religious (Christian · Hindu · Islamic) Contact Wikipedia not labeled terrorism though these same actions may be Single-issue terrorism labeled terrorism when done by a politically motivated group. (Eco-terrorism · anti-abortion) Ethnic · Narcoterrorism Toolbox [3] The word "terrorism" is politically and emotionally charged, Tactics and this greatly compounds the difficulty of providing a What links here Agro-terrorism · Aircraft hijacking (list) Related changes precise definition. Studies have found over 100 definitions of Bioterrorism · Car bombing (list) [4][5] Dirty bomb · Dry run · Cyber terrorism Upload file “terrorism”. The concept of terrorism may itself be Environmental Hostage-taking controversial as it is often used by state authorities to · Special pages Improvised explosive device [6] Permanent link delegitimize political or other opponents, and potentially individual terror · Insurgency · Kidnapping Cite this page legitimize the state's own use of armed force against Letter bomb · Nuclear Paper terrorism · Piracy Rate this page opponents (such use of force may itself be described as [6][7] Propaganda of the deed "terror" by opponents of the state). Proxy bomb · School shooting Suicide attack (list) Print/export Terrorism has been practiced by a broad array of political organizations for furthering their objectives. It has been State terrorism Create a book practiced by both right-wing and left-wing political parties, State sponsorship Download as PDF nationalistic groups, religious groups, revolutionaries, and State terrorism · Iran · Pakistan · Russia Printable version Sri Lanka · United States ruling governments.[8] An abiding characteristic is the indiscriminate use of violence against noncombatants for the Organization Languages purpose of gaining publicity for a group, cause, or Terrorist financing [9] Terrorist front organization individual. Terrorist training camp Aragonés Lone-wolf fighter Contents [hide] Clandestine cell system Azərbaycanca 1 Origin of term Bân-lâm-gú History of terrorism 2 Definition Беларуская Reign of Terror 3 Pejorative use Red Terror · White Terror Беларуская (тарашкевіца) 4 Types of terrorism Memorials Bosanski 5 Motivation of terrorists Victims of Acts of Terror Memorial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism[5/17/2011 9:04:27 PM] Terrorism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Brezhoneg 6 Democracy and domestic terrorism Museums Български 7 Religious terrorism House of Terror · Topography of Terror Català 8 Perpetrators List of organizations Cebuano 8.1 Terrorist groups Česky 8.2 State sponsors Charities accused of ties to terrorism Terrorist incidents Cymraeg 8.3 State terrorism Dansk 9 Funding v · d · e Deutsch 10 Tactics Eesti 11 Responses Ελληνικά 12 Mass media Español 13 History Esperanto 14 Terrorism databases Euskara 15 See also 16 References Fiji Hindi 17 External links Føroyskt Français Origin of term Gaeilge Galego See also: Terror and State terrorism "Terror" comes from the Latin verb terrere meaning "to frighten".[10] The terror cimbricus was a panic 한국어 and state of emergency in Rome in response to the approach of warriors of the Cimbri tribe in 105 BC. The Jacobins cited this precedent when imposing a Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.[11][12] After the Jacobins lost power, the word "terrorist" became a term of abuse.[6] Hrvatski Although the Reign of Terror was imposed by a government, in modern times "terrorism" usually Ido refers to the killing of innocent people[13] by a private group in such a way as to create a media Bahasa Indonesia spectacle.[14] This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who described himself as a Íslenska "terrorist".[15] Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group "People's Retribution" (Народная Italiano расправа) in 1869. עברית Basa Jawa In November 2004, a United Nations Secretary General report described terrorism as any act "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain [16] Kinyarwanda from doing any act". Kiswahili Kurdî Definition Къарачай-Малкъар Main article: Definition of terrorism Latina Latviešu The definition of terrorism has proved controversial. Various legal systems and government agencies Lietuvių use different definitions of terrorism in their national legislation. Moreover, the International community Lojban has been slow to formulate a universally agreed, legally binding definition of this crime. These [17] Magyar difficulties arise from the fact that the term "terrorism" is politically and emotionally charged. In this Македонски regard, Angus Martyn, briefing the Australian Parliament, stated that "The international community has never succeeded in developing an accepted comprehensive definition of terrorism. During the 1970s and 1980s, the United Nations attempts to define the term foundered mainly due to differences of opinion between various members about the use of violence in the context of conflicts over Bahasa Melayu [1] Nederlands national liberation and self-determination." These divergences have made it impossible for the United Nations to conclude a Comprehensive 日本語 Convention on International Terrorism that incorporates a single, all-encompassing, legally binding, Norsk (bokmål) criminal law definition terrorism.[18] Nonetheless, the international community has adopted a series of Norsk (nynorsk) sectoral conventions that define and criminalize various types of terrorist activities. Moreover, since http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism[5/17/2011 9:04:27 PM] Terrorism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Occitan 1994, the United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly condemned terrorist acts using the following political description of terrorism: "Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of Plattdüütsch terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any Polski circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, Português ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them."[19] Română Bruce Hoffman, a well-known scholar, has noted that: Русиньскый Русский It is not only individual agencies within the same governmental apparatus that cannot Саха тыла agree on a single definition of terrorism. Experts and other long-established scholars in Shqip the field are equally incapable of reaching a consensus. In the first edition of his Sicilianu magisterial survey, “Political terrorism: A Research Guide,” Alex Schmid devoted more Simple English than a hundred pages to examining more than a hundred different definition of terrorism Slovenčina in a effort to discover a broadly acceptable, reasonably comprehensive explication of Slovenščina the word. Four years and a second edition later, Schimd was no closer to the goal of his quest, conceding in the first sentence of the revised volume that the “search for an Српски / Srpski adequate definition is still on” Walter Laqueur despaired of defining terrorism in both Srpskohrvatski / editions of his monumental work on the subject, maintaining that it is neither possible to Српскохрватски do so nor worthwhile to make the attempt.”[20] Suomi Svenska Nonetheless, Hoffman himself believes it is possible to identify some key characteristics of terrorism. Tagalog He proposes that: By distinguishing terrorists from other types of criminals and terrorism from other forms of crime, we come to appreciate that terrorism is : ineluctably political in aims and motives Türkçe violent – or, equally important, threatens violence Українська designed to have far-reaching psychological repercussions beyond the immediate victim or target Tiếng Việt conducted by an organization with an identifiable chain of command or conspiratorial Walon cell structure (whose members wear no uniform or identifying insignia) and Winaray perpetrated by a subnational group or non-state entity.[21] 粵語 A definition proposed by Carsten Bockstette at the George C. Marshall Center for European Security Žemaitėška Studies, underlines the psychological and tactical aspects of terrorism: 中文 Terrorism is defined as political violence in an asymmetrical
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