Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 8

Terrorism - Essay Example The first component is use of violence or involvement of threat. Albeit the modern world has recorded the emergence of cyberterrorism where information and communication systems would be employed, physical violence remains a definitive feature of terrorism. Secondly, the violence should be quest for social or political objective. Finally, terrorism would not be aimed at any particular individual since the aim would be to cause psychological harm beyond the immediate objects or victims of the attack. This randomness aims at creating fear. Thus, a useful definition would outline terrorism as random use of violence or threats by an organized group in pursuance of political or social objectives. Examples of groupings that have met these features and thus considered as terrorists include Al-Qaeda, the Irish Republican Army, IRA and Aum Shinrikyo. There are various reasons that would cause a group to launch a terrorist attack. Political motivations have been reported over years. The traditional Irish Republican Army gives an appropriate example of a terrorist group with modest political objectives which fought what it considered as outside domination. Theirs involved small scale bomb attacks resulting into dozens of casualties to attract the attention of the world but not to a large extent alienate members of their community. Internationally, the dominance of few nations having massive political, economic and military power encourages acts of terrorism. Giving an example of Al-Qaeda, Shimko (299) argues on social and political goals motivated by specific forms of religious fundamentalism as probable causes of terrorism. The surges in terrorists that are religiously motivated have been on the increase since 1991. By 1995, they comprised more than half the recognized active international terrorist groups. The magnitude of the September 11 US terrorist attacks makes it unique. Considering it as war would limit action against perpetrators to military action thus the