Terrorism - Research Paper Example

Bruce N. Waller defines terrorism as ‘an act that uses or threatens the use of force designed to bring about political change’. (Waller, 2011) “the organized use of violence to target noncombatants (innocents) for political purposes” (Waller, 2011 p. 331). In Chapter 10 of his book titled “Can Terrorism Ever Be Justified?” Waller explains that in the first place, war should be a last resort and if war has to take place, there should be a legitimate reason for it and the violence committed should be proportionate to the wrong acts created.

Secondly, the principles of discrimination and proportionality according to the tradition of just war, limits the degree of violence that could be made use of. (Waller, 2011) Under the Just war theory, terrorism is wrong and innocents like civilians should not be killed. However, in some cases terrorism can be justified when the opponent is guilty of a crime and needs to be punished. Waller also points out that soldiers too, are 2 innocent and though they are not civilians, they should not be killed in war.

In war, if innocents are killed, terrorism cannot be justified. Many critics hold the assumption that terrorism can be justified in certain cases, and rightly so. Arguably, the government holds the monopoly for violence and therefore when it is used by them, it is considered to be legitimate. However, if other groups make use of terrorism, it becomes a crime. Our ideals are based on principles which we like to safeguard and defend, when terrorism takes place, we try to support some causes which we take to be morally binding and therefore accept terrorism in those cases to be justified.

On the other hand, if we do not support certain causes and view it to be morally vicious, then terrorism here becomes unjustified. According to the ‘Just war’ theory’ terrorism should be used only if there is a legitimate reason to do so. For example, using terrorism on the Taliban seems justified because they were a terrorist group themselves who suppressed human rights, sponsored attacks against innocent people and held on to power through terrorism. (Brian Brivati, 2009) Therefore using terrorism on such a group to bring about peace and order and putting an end to the injustices done by them is justified.

In the light of Utilitarian Ethics, the onus of any decision lies solely on what is morally right or wrong in a certain situation. This approach is a straightforward method to determine the benefit or dangers which may result from a particular action. (Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez, Web, 2013) This particular approach would be quite apt in any situation involving justifiable terrorism. 3 In my opinion, any act of terrorism involving the killing of innocents whether civilians or soldiers cannot be condoned.

Making use of terrorism just for the sake of gaining power and in the course of it losing a lot of innocent lives is morally and ethically wrong under any circumstances and in any context. However, when terrorism is used to bring wrong-doers to book is justified because the group that is being dealt with most invariably would be terrorists themselves who wield their power and instill fear and terror in other human beings and kill innocents without any concern or moral binding. In such circumstances making use of terrorism is justified to bring peace and harmony to others.

Moral reasoning, I believe should be the basis for all decisions and more so when it has to do with terrorism. Every