Terrorism: Similarities and Differences with Insurgency - Term Paper Example

Terrorism Terrorism refers to the use of violence or force against people or property for various purposes like intimidation, ransom or coercion. The terrorists use threats and violence to instill fear among the public. They also attempt to show the people that their government is powerless when trying to prevent acts of terrorism. Terrorist attempt to achieve immediate publicity for their causes. Terrorism acts range from; car bombs, bomb scares, explosions of buildings, the mailings of dangerous materials and the use of weapons of mass distractions against civilians (Nasution 10). Similarities and differences with insurgency Insurgency is not a conventional war or terrorism. It shares with terrorism the use of force to obtain a political end. Difference that arises between the two is the degree of violence. Terrorism does not lead to political change on its own but insurgency tries to bring forth change use of force of arms. Insurgents use ways like hit and run attacks and laying ambushes on the security forces. Insurgency unlike terrorism gets significant support from a large portion of the population. Insurgency is a movement or a political effort that has an aim. The major difference between terrorism and the insurgency is the intent of their activities. Insurgency contains nothing inherent that will need the use of terror. However, there exist other successful insurgencies that used terrorism and the terror acts, other formed into conflicts where the tactics of terror and terrorism became predominant. Other insurgencies renounced the use of terrorism totally in their movement. The choice of using terrorism is to inspire increased resistance, destroying the government efficiency, and to mobilize support (Sageman 20). The goal of an insurgency is, to adequately challenge the present government for the control of the entire or a portion of its territory. Insurgents can also force different political concessions in sharing of political power. Insurgencies, however, need the tactic or active support of a portion of the involved population. The insurgents could also require support from foreign countries. This, however, does not bother them at all. A terrorist group does not need and minimally has empathy or support of a big fraction of the population. While the insurgents describe themselves frequently as guerillas or insurgents, the terrorists will never refer to themselves or their organization as terrorists. They describe or portray themselves using political or military terminology such as activists and freedom fighters. Terrorism depends on public impact, and relatively conscious of the benefits of avoiding the negative impacts of the term terrorists’ when identifying themselves (Simic 15). Terrorism acts do not try to fight the government forces directly, but will tend to change the perceptions as to the legitimacy or the effectiveness of the government in question. They achieve this by ensuring the greatest knowledge of terrorist acts of violence. The terrorists do not attempt to control any region, as this identifies them to a location which reduces their security and mobility. The terrorist avoid direct confrontations with the forces of government. Insurgents can have something to achieve from clashing with the government forces, like proving that they can efficiently challenge the government military and test their effectiveness. Terrorist organizations have nothing to gain from clashing with the governments. The terrorists groups will not engage in anything that resembles a fair fight or a war itself. They use ways that will neutralize the powers of the conventional forces. Terrorists tactics include; bombings of civilian targets where the military spend off duty time, ambushes of conveys that are not defended and the assassinations of poorly guarded individuals (Sageman 24). Insurgencies do not need the targeting of civilians, despite the fact that they expand the required legal definition of combatants to include the police and other security personnel together with the military. Terrorists, on the other hand, do not discriminate between non combatants and civilians. The deliberate de humanization and the criminalization of the perceived enemy in the mind of the terrorists justifies extreme measures to anyone they identify as hostile. Terrorists also expand their targets, and conduct operations against the newly acquired targets without issuing any warnings. Insurgency movements could adhere to the international norms pertaining to the law of war in reaching their goals, but terrorists conduct their criminal activities under both military and civil codes. According to the terrorists, if they adhere to any law of war or even accept any constraints on the issue of their violence, it would put them at a great disadvantage. Because the nature of the mindset of the terrorist is absolutist, their goals are the ones of immense importance (Nasution 12). Terrorism and crime Crime is any behavior that is socially unacceptable and leads to harm to individuals. Activities like theft, burglary, corruption, embezzlement, rape, killings and theft become easily classified as crimes. When it comes to terrorism, it is difficult to have a universal, acceptable definition. Even though, everybody accepts that terrorism is a form of crime, the fact that there exist martyrs has made the situation more confusing. There are laws designed to deal with different crimes in the societies and tough criminal punishments become put in place in accordance with the severity of the committed crimes. It is difficult to decide on the punishments for crimes of murdering thousands of people with just a single act of terrorism. Terrorism is an act that gets designed to develop panic and spread fears in the minds of the people (Sageman 28). In historical times, serious crimes carried sentences that were brutal in nature, and the thugs got punished in the open for everybody to see and take lessons from them. This was to strike fear in the people’s minds so that they do not do the crimes. The current system of crime and punishment becomes based on a judicial system, where the criminal has is able to plead guilty and sentenced to prison in relation to his crime. Nevertheless, even when a terrorist gets caught, he never accepts to be guilty and views his actions as appropriate, and that he has done the section of the population good (Sageman 30). Crime and terrorism acts can get distinguished on the basis of procedures of innocence or guilt and procedures for punishment. An ordinary criminal when he pleads guilty to a crime gets sentenced in relation to the crime and serves his time in prison. Terrorism, on the other hand, becomes employed on the basis of an idea that motivates people or individuals to participate in terrorism acts. According to them, it is the way of making their grievances heard. For example, if Bhagat Singh did bomb the British legislative assembly, the British administration considered it a terrorist act, but the whole of Indian population viewed him as a martyr, a hero and a symbol of resistance against British oppressions (Simic 15). Nevertheless, even though the government of Sri Lanka and the entire world considers LTTE as a terrorist group. The leaders of LTTE and its members see themselves as freedom fighters against the oppressive and the dictatorial regime, which is not taking into account the grievances of the Tamils people living in Sri Lanka. To the terrorist organizations, the suppression, oppression of the minorities, discrimination and the denial of human rights raises hatred to the government. These people that encounter these problems see terrorism as the only solution and the way of obtaining justice (Simic 17). Those who commit crimes and terrorists have the common enemy, the state. Both groups operate in secrecy and use similar facilities or infrastructures for their activities. Their tactics are the same. They participate in cross border smuggling, laundering, counterfeiting, kidnappings and other kinds of violence. They can cross paths, and they also help one another which mean that they are dependent on each other. Organized crime can use their connections in the political world to create economic and social context, which makes it profitable for their activities. Terrorists require funding to push their agendas forward. When they are small in numbers, they need little funding, but when the terrorist groups develop further they require massive financial funding. Both groups tend to recruit people from the same regions. These are regions that have become marginalized and are subject to political, social and cultural frustrations. They both have people who are ready to take risks, enjoy thrills and excitements, and not at any time respect the values of the society. The terrorists’ organizations bring in leaders while the organized crime produces individuals with the necessary survival and operational skills. They also poses a vital driving force, power (Sageman 33). In both organized crimes and terrorist movements, their leader is prominent. The groups are at times named after the leaders. However, both organized crime and terrorism get seen as two different forms of crime. Organized crime main objective is mainly on economic profit and getting much of the share of an illegal market as possible (Simic 19). Terrorism, on the other hand, becomes chiefly motivated by their ideological aims and the need for political change. Both can, however, combine to increase their benefits. Terrorists used to get benefits from the drug trade without any loss of their status, while the drug dealers who created alliances with the terrorists get more formidable and benefit in the political clout. Terrorism and warfare Warfare is a conduct against an act. It takes place between two different forces and it escalates from aggression. Warfare can also means something stupid like verbal argument to a full conflict with armed soldiers and would continue until one side accepts defeat. Terrorism gets used as a means of coercion. They focus on an ideal goal as opposed to warfare and targets non combatants. Similarly to warfare terrorism has become used by a number of political organizations for furthering their goals and objectives (Nasution 18). The similarity and distinction of warfare is not about the methods, forces, major reasons for fighting or about the legitimacy of the organization that is sponsoring the war. The difference is majorly on who is the target. When people target enemy combatants, this becomes defined as war. If the target is civilians, or the mass populations, it is terrorism. These main rules serve the purpose of allowing the community to fight wars without getting destroyed by them. If there exists no rules that form limited warfare, the losers would become devastated by the winners. The rules that govern limited warfare makes sure that the children and women are safe to have more citizens, protect the nation’s government, its bureaucracy and the social system from getting destroyed. It keeps the leaders safe by claiming that assassinations are against the rules (Nasution 25). The rules of warfare put the entire burden of fighting the wars on armies following the army rules. This means that any side with the possession of the best army wins. In a world of balanced economy, nations lose some war and win others. Wars get put under control specifically because of the present rules, and the pain gets endeared by the soldiers chosen to fight. The side with the best armies always wins. These are nations with high technology and lots of natural resources. Nevertheless, what if a person is from a small country, with only a few resources, poor economy and starving people? For example, a Palestinian and they are in conflict with the Israelites, a nation that has high technology and resources. They are simply going to beat the Palestinians at the war. The Palestinians will go to acts of terror. This is the way in which terrorists engage in war, when the people cannot win the wars in a fair fight. It is fighting dirty, and it is against all the rules of the limited warfare. Terrorism directly threatens the people who the rules of war protect. War becomes destabilizing and dangerous since the people behind the lines people in power and the social structures are now in danger. This means that if the terrorists are lucky, the side that has the best army will suffer more (Sageman 26) According to terrorism, war is not something that happens to other people. Terrorism destroys giving of war to soldiers and damages the imagined sense of neutrality when people are not fighting. Terrorism makes everybody a target and shows that war is not something that occurs to people. On the other hand, terrorism is a way of fighting when people would otherwise lose. Terrorism is a dirty and a nasty option other than surrendering. Fighting wars while following the set rules is like giving up when you get overpowered, and you have no luck in the fair fight of armies (Nasution 36). It is discouraging when people are in war, and regardless of how brave you think you are, you are still going to lose. Terrorism gives people options. It gives people the sense of control and power over what they can do. Terrorism and rebellion Rebellion and terrorism are two different things. However, rebellious people can engage in terrorism acts to achieve their goals. Terrorism is the use of terror. It goal can either be freedom, justice for popularity and influence. It involves acts of extreme violence like assassination, murder to force authorities to listen to their demands (Nasution 15). Rebellion is the complete overthrow of a government by its citizens. Rebellions can be bloodless or at times gruesome with mass murders and prolonged periods of warfare. Rebellions have occurred for a long time, and they vary in time. The effects of rebellions are economical, cultural and social. Rebellions behavior can include the use of non violent forms such as civil resistance, disobedience and even non violent resistant. Rebellions can also use violent ways. Those who engage in these armed rebellions become known as rebels. A rebellion that is small in number and not recognized by the government is an insurgency. In cases of large rebellions, the conflict becomes a civil war. Just like terrorists movements, rebels get funding from individuals or external governments. Both types fight the same cause, and that is to defy the government at all times. A number of rebellions have succeeded in bringing down the governments they oppose. Terrorist activities are sporadic and happen at any time, any place unlike rebellions that move from one region to another (Nasution 16). Works Cited Nasution, H. Fundamentals of Guerrilla Warfare. New York: Praege, 2005. Sageman, M. Understanding Of Terror Networks. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. Simic, Ivan. "Terrorism and War: Parallels, Differences and Sufferings ." Dominican Today (2001): 15-20. Read More