Terrorism is a problematic issue for the whole globe. It is a policy based on systematic use of terror with political, social, cultural or economic purpose. This notion is commonly associated with such words as violence, intimidation, fear, death and so on. It interferes with safety and peaceful situation of the population. Every country defines terrorism in different way taking into account various aspects of this notion, that is why there does not exist a universally accepted legal definition of the term.
The European Union suggests the definition of terrorism for official purpose that provides the explanation that terrorists are criminal offenders that are associated with the most serious offenders who commit crimes against the humanity or its property and the nature of terrorists’ activity may cause serious damage to a particular country or an international organization. If being more precise, terrorist activity aims at: serious intimidation of the population; or compelling local government or international organization. As a result of terrorism, these political institutions have to abstain from performing their activity. According to the main points suggested by the European Union terrorism seriously affects all the structures of a country (Terrorism Definitions, 2013, p. 2).
The United States provide the definition of terrorism under the Federal Criminal Code. Title 18 of the United States Code declares that terrorism is a kind of activity that involves violent or life-threatening behavior towards humanity. According to that, terrorism presupposes law violation of the United States criminal law system. The United States treats terrorism as intended action performed in order to intimidate population. It influences the government policy and affects mass destruction. Terrorism causes assassination or kidnapping and may have negative impact on the territorial jurisdiction of any country in particular and the whole world in general (Terrorism Definitions, 2013, p. 2).
The Federal Bureau of Investigation concludes that terrorism presupposes law violation implementing force and violence against people or their property in order to intimidate a particular government, population or any other social institution taking into account political or social purposes (National Institute of Justice, 2011)
The United Nations Security Council Resolution gives a definition of terrorism claiming it as a set of criminal acts committed against civil people that aim at causing death or serious physical injuries. Terrorists create a terror state in the country in general and in a group of certain individuals in particular. Terrorist actions intimidate population, compel a particular government or an international organization that have to abstain from performing any action (United Nations Security Council, 2004, p. 2).
In fact, it is a noticeable fact that every definition takes into account the following concepts of the notion of terrorism such as the essence of terrorism, namely, violence with the purpose of intimidation, the subject of terrorist violence, in particular, individuals or NGOs, the object of violence, in other words, the authorities represented by individual civil servants or society represented by individual citizens and the target of violence, namely, the revolution that destabilizes society, independence of the territories, prestige of the authorities, political concessions from the government and so on.
Comparing definitions provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United Nations Security Council one can easily notice that both are focused on terrorism as the notion of cruelty, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation associates terrorism with violent acts committed towards individuals and the United Nations Security Council emphasizes that terrorism is related to death. The Federal Bureau of Investigation takes into account only political and social purposes of terrorism while the United Nations Security Council states that terrorism concerns any criminal act no matter what purpose it has as it may have political, social, cultural and economical reasons. Both definitions pay attention to the fact that the acts of terrorism are directly related to the particular government and must be solved by it.
Analyzing the given above definitions, it is important to notice that each of them reveals the essence of terrorism in four different ways. Still, the most accurate one is offered by the United Nations Security Council Resolution as it gives the clearest explanation of terrorism providing the readers with real associations to the notion of terrorism and emphasizing on the main categories of the humanity that are usually affected by terrorism. At the same time, this definition may be edited by adding purposes for committing terrorist acts and the consequences they lead to. That is why, this very definition may get the following look: “terrorism is regarded as criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act (United Nations Security Council, 2004, p. 2) based on political, social, cultural, ideological or economic purposes destabilizing society, independence of the territories, prestige of the authorities and political concessions from the government”.
Summing up those definitions, it is understood that the main criteria for defining terrorism include violence, governmental issue, terror state, destabilizing effect, criminal acts, purposeful violent activity and population. That is why terrorism may be also defined as purposeful criminal acts possessing violent character committed towards particular individuals or the whole population that cause the state of terror within particular country and have destabilizing effect on politics, economy, culture and the people influencing international security situation on the globe. This very definition pays attention to the main defining criteria of the notion and reveals the violent nature of terrorism including the circumstances and the consequences of the terrorist actions.
References:
National Institute of Justice (2011). Terrorism. Web. 12 Jan. 2016. Retrieved from:
http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/terrorism/pages/welcome.aspx
Terrorism Definitions (2013). Various Definitions of Terrorism. New York: Terrorism Definitions Context. Print.
United Nations Security Council (2004). Resolution 1566 (2004). New York: Security Council Resolutions and Records of Meetings.
