Some groups of people are participating on violent plans or actions which are intended to create fear or terror to the public for an ideological goal. These actions are defined as terrorism. The most common ideological goals for terrorists in the modern times are their political and religious beliefs (Pastor 19). There have been difficulties in defining terrorism in most countries since they may be controversial. It could be used by authorities of the nation in order to potentially legitimize the use of the state’s armed force against their opponents (Grothaus np). The type of terrorism also varies in different countries since they have different beliefs and ideologies. In the United States, four major terrorism types exists which are political, nationalist, environmental and cause-based terrorism.
Political Terrorism
Political terrorism is a philosophy which is used by groups of people in order to justify their acts based on their political ideologies. Political terrorism is based on economic goals in which the terrorist usually involve activities to gain money for their political goals (Pastor 21). They generate or create fear to the public for their own political purposes. They usually believe that their ideologies could improve their society and is better for their nation. Most of the political terrorist around the world does not abide the ethics or convention of war. They usually desire to establish long term fear in the public while short term fear for the banks since they often steal money for their political ends (Smith 110).
Political terrorists usually have the desire to influence the public or their audience about their political ideologies. In the United States, one of the considered a terrorist treat is the Aryan Nations. Aryan Nations is an organization which is considered as the armed forces of the Christian Identity Organization (Grothaus np). They believed in the white supremacy which is a type of racism. They believe that white people are more superior and they should maintain political and social domination. They are considered political terrorist due to their political ideologies leaning towards white people. Another considered political terrorist is the Ku Klux Klan or the KKK. They are considered as part of the right-wing extremism and they oppose the Civil Rights Movements. Although these groups originally are centered with their race issues, they emerged as groups fighting for their political ambitions (Pastor 19).
Nationalist Terrorism
Nationalist terrorism is a violent act motivated by the ideologies of nationalism. They are usually against powers or government which are occupying and imperial. Nationalist terrorism is also associated with the belief that there are oppression and denial of rights among their members or mostly common citizens. Some of the nationalist terrorist from other countries seek independent sovereignty while some seek greater autonomy (Pastor 23). Other nationalist terrorist also opposes immigration since they believe that they are threats to the nationalistic cultures. They mostly support the prosperity of the locals or the natives of their own nation or state (Grothaus np).
Nationalist terrorism could be associated with left wing or right wing and could also be motivated by religious terrorism. The most significant nationalist terrorist in the United States includes Aryan Nations and The Order. Although the Aryan Nations could be considered political terrorists, they are also considered white nationalists and neo-Nazis. The Order is also a white nationalist group which often used murder and bombing for their terrorism.
Environmental Terrorism
Environmental terrorism is unlawful and violent acts which usually destroys the natural environment and its resources. The environmental terrorists also deprives the others from using some of the natural resources mainly water, forest and land areas. Environmental terrorism is commonly associated with acts of unjustified destruction of the natural resources or the environment for the personal gains of people or individual. It is common to the corporate businesses especially to industries which usually have high levels of wastes and use toxic substances in their production (Pastor 23). In the United States, there are some individuals who are accused of eco-terrorism such as James Lee and Paul Watson who were whale and seal hunters. Some of the organizations are also accused by the United States government as environmental terrorist such as Earth First, and Earth Liberation Front (Smith 110). Although they intervene with the hunting of marine animals, they used direct actions such as bombing of ships which could damage the marine life.
Caused-Based Terrorism
There are other types of terrorism which are motivated with some major causes. These caused based terrorism exist in the United States although their effects to the society as a whole is only limited compared to the other types of terrorism (Smith 110). The most common type of cause-based terrorism is due to social injustice. People or groups of people tend to act violently in order to try to fight against social injustice that they experience. Some of the terrorists in the United States are also driven by their experiences of political injustices as well as moral injustices. They often act violently to try to correct these wrong doings.
Works Cited:
Grothaus, N. Types of Terrorism. Hands of Reason. Nd. Web. http://handofreason.com/2011/featured/types-of-terrorism.
Pastor, J. Terrorism and Public Safety Policing: Implications of the Obama Presidency. New York: Taylor and Francis. 2009. Print.
Smith, B. Terrorism in America: Pipe Bombs and Pipe Dreams. SUNY Press. 1994. Print
