Terrorism

Terrorism is broadly understood as the deliberate use of violence against people who are not actively fighting in a conflict, done to push a political or ideological goal. This term usually applies to such violence when it happens in peacetime or during war, but specifically targeting non-combatants. There is no single, universally accepted definition of terrorism. Different definitions tend to highlight its seemingly random nature, and the main point is often to create fear and cause an effect that goes far beyond the immediate harm done to the victims. Modern terrorism has grown out of earlier forms and uses a range of methods to reach political ends, often relying on fear as a strategic weapon to sway those in power. By striking crowded public places like transit hubs, airports, malls, tourist sites, and nightlife spots, terrorists try to create a broad sense of insecurity. This psychological pressure aims to force policy changes and erode public trust in security systems. The words "terrorist" and "terrorism" first appeared during the French Revolution in the late 1700s, but they became common worldwide in the 1970s, especially during the conflicts in Northern Ireland, the Basque region, and between Israelis and Palestinians. Suicide attacks became more frequent from the 1980s onward, with the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States being a key example. The Global Terrorism Database, run by the University of Maryland, notes over 61,000 incidents of non-state terrorism between 2000 and 2014, which caused at least 140,000 deaths. Many different groups and countries have used terrorism to reach their goals. These include left-wing and right-wing political groups, nationalist movements, religious organizations, revolutionaries, and even ruling governments. In recent years, hybrid terrorist groups have appeared that combine both military and political wings. State terrorism—where a government uses terror methods like massacres, genocides, forced disappearances, carpet bombings, and torture in an organized way—is generally deadlier than terrorism carried out by non-state actors. **Etymology and definition**

**Etymology**

The term "terrorism" was first used to describe the actions of the Jacobin Club during the French Revolution's "Reign of Terror." Jacobin leader Maximilien Robespierre said, "Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible." In 1795, Edmund Burke criticized the Jacobins for letting "thousands of those hell-hounds called Terrorists ... loose on the people" of France. John Calvin's rule over Geneva in the 1500s has also been called a reign of terror. The words "terrorism" and "terrorist" became widely used again in the 1970s because of groups like the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Basque Homeland and Liberty (ETA), and the Red Army Faction. In 1970, *Life* magazine described Leila Khaled as a terrorist. Many books on terrorism were published in the 1970s. The topic gained even more attention after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings, and then again after the September 11, 2001 attacks and the 2002 Bali bombings. **Definition**

No definition of terrorism has ever been universally agreed upon. This is partly because the term is highly politicized and emotional, there are double standards in how it is applied, and people disagree about what counts as a terrorist act and where the limits of self-determination lie. Harvard law professor Richard Baxter, an expert on the laws of war, was skeptical, saying: "We have cause to regret that a legal concept of 'terrorism' was ever inflicted upon us. The term is imprecise; it is ambiguous; and above all, it serves no operative legal purpose."

Different legal systems and government agencies use their own definitions of terrorism, and governments have been hesitant to create a single, legally binding definition that everyone accepts. In the United States, Title 18 of the U.S. Code §2331 defines terrorism as acts meant to (1) intimidate or coerce civilians, (2) influence government policy through coercion, or (3) affect a government's actions through mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping. The international community has been slow to agree on a universal, legally binding definition of this crime and has not been able to finish a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that would include one clear definition. This difficulty comes from the fact that "terrorism" is a politically and emotionally charged term. Instead, the international community has adopted a series of sectoral conventions, which do not treat terrorism as a single crime. Instead, they criminalize the various criminal acts involved in carrying out terrorism, such as homicide. Terrorism can be seen as a high-impact form of violent extremism. Counterterrorism analyst Bruce Hoffman has pointed out that not only do different agencies within the same government fail to agree on a definition of terrorism, but experts and long-time scholars in the field also cannot reach a consensus. In 1992, terrorism studies scholar Alex P. Schmid suggested a simple definition to the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, calling terrorism "peacetime equivalents of war crimes," but it was not accepted. By 2006, it was estimated that there were over 109 different definitions of terrorism. **History**

**Pre-modern terrorism** Early published studies, such as those by Paul Wilkinson, considered terrorism a product of 19th-century revolutionary politics.