Question

Explain the different type of International Terrorism

Answer 1

Terrorism in any form of its expression turned out to be one of the dangerous by its extent, unpredictability and consequences social-political and moral problems, which the mankind enters the 21st century with. Terrorism and extremism in any forms of its expression more than ever threaten the safety of many countries and their people, involve large political, economical and moral losses, subject large quantities of people to psychological stress, the further it goes, the more lives of innocent people it takes» [2]



The destruction of bipolar world and existing system of international relations revealed a row of problems. The so-called “Third world” that was shared by two superpowers and controlled by them got beyond the control and began to play its own game, choosing methods of violence for reaching the goals with increasing frequency. Vacuum of force in the system of international relations was quickly filled with different extremist and other destructive forces. It was expressed in surge of terrorism that covered the whole world and threatens the safety of many states» [3].

The issue of definition “international terrorism” as well as “terrorism” remains pending, there is no universal definition. Philosophers, political experts, historians, psychologists, legal experts, sociologists, linguists, etc. study terrorism regarding the objects of their researches, but all of them define the same features that are peculiar for international terrorism. Though, as social-political occurrence, international terrorism reflects conflict interaction of different forces that is based upon, as a rule, struggle for power or possession of material or spiritual values.

Political experts note that terrorism was never developing continuously or sequentially, on the contrary, it appeared there and then, where and when there was a ground favorable for its occurrence. Considering global experience it is clear that eruptions of terrorism happened at those historical periods that were characterized by the escalation of contradictions in social-political sphere, breaking of public relations, changing of state structure, lack of stability, acts of nationalism and separatism, spread of criminality.

The main features of international terrorism are the following: global demonstration, severe and negative dynamics, need of immediate solution, etc. But together with this international terrorism has its specific features as well. International terrorism is closely related to the main spheres of world community: national relationships, politics, religion, ecology and etc.

Modern burst of international terrorism represents the expression of acute contradictions caused by uneven development of countries in the world. This phenomenon is a specific reaction against “abjection and humiliation by established world order, one-side hegemony, reaction against the efforts to monopolize the right to apply legitimate violence and implant foreign values” [3].

According to A. I. Gusher’s opinion the activity of international terrorism in modern conditions is characterized by wide spreading, lack of expressed state borders, connection and interaction with international terrorist centers and organizations; fixed organizational structure that consists of management and operational level, intelligence and counterintelligence units, material and logistic assistance, battle groups and cover; strict conspiracy and careful selection of staff; presence of agents in law-enforcement and state authorities; good equipment competing and sometimes surpassing equipment of government troops; presence of extensive network of secret hideouts, training facilities and landfills.

It is characteristic that when international terrorism gets modern means of conducting information war in its hands, it imposes its ideas and evaluation of the situation upon people, widely and successfully settles mobilization tasks on attracting young people, say nothing about professional contractors.

International terrorism, as well as terrorism in general, can be expressed in different forms, such as political, nationalistic, religious, criminal and ecological.

Political terrorism is characterized by the fact that the participants performing political terror pursue the aim to do political, social or economical changes inside this or that state, and together with this break state-to-state relations and law enforcement.

Nationalistic (ethnic or separatist) terrorism has the aim to settle national issues in different multiethnic states.

Religious terrorism is an attempt of armed groups belonging to a particular religious denomination to fight against the state, where the other religion or other religious trend is practiced.

Crime terrorism is based on some criminal business (drug traffic, illicit trade in arms, drugs, smuggling, etc.). The purpose of this variety of international terrorism is creating tension and most likely obtaining extra profits in these circumstances.