The Origin and Definition of Global Terrorism - Assignment Example

The meaning of terrorism does change the definition of terrorism in that authorities should come up with a universally accepted definition for the term. Nevertheless, because of the differences in national legislation among countries, it is difficult to formulate a sole definition that perfectly fits with the numerous interpretations and meanings of the term. Why is it so difficult to define terrorism? Why do federal agencies and the military define terrorism differently? Terrorism is a universal event.

In other words, it involves different countries with varying national legislation, political ideologies, and which is emotionally charged. Therefore, the way terrorism is viewed differs from one country to another depending on the conditions present in each country. As a matter of fact, these differences in the national legislation, and political and emotional ideologies made it unfeasible for the United Nations to come up with a universally accepted criminal law definition for terrorism that is comprehensive and legally binding (Diaz-Paniagua, 2008).

Ultimately, the reason for this difficulty is due to its nature that is heavily knotted to politics and emotion. Perhaps, the ideal way of defining terrorism is to base it on the use of violence; however, violence itself is a wide-ranging term depending on which country the violence exists; hence, it is still difficult to come up with a sole definition for terrorism that is universally accepted. The federal agencies and the military define terrorism differently in order to describe the type of programs that a particular agency offers.

For instance, the FBI utilizes terms such as “counterterrorism” and “anti-terrorism” to refer to its anti-terrorism combat (GAO, 1997), and it goes the same with the military. Anticolonial terrorism and the development of modern and contemporary terrorism Anti-colonial terrorism campaigns are basically resistances against weeding out the pre-existing geopolitical heritage of a particular civilization. In other words, an anti-colonial terrorism campaign is entrenched in a sense of an inconsistency in the identity of the colonizer and the prospective colony.

This is crucial in that most terroristic activities arise from conflicts in cultural, religious, and political beliefs. Origin of terrorism: the past and present terrorism: do they differ? The earliest terrorism perhaps cropped up during the time of Sergey Nechayev, who considered himself as a terrorist (Crenshaw, 1995). This is after he formed the terrorist party called “Peoples Retribution”, which is heavily associated with the Nihilist movement. Changing gears a bit, whether there is a difference between the terrorism in the past and in the present depends on the way terrorism was viewed in the past and the way terrorism is viewed in the present.

Over time, new interpretations have been developed for the term “terrorism”; although, is always attributed to violence. But, considering that terrorism is influenced by political and emotional factors, indeed, there is a difference between the old and modern terrorism in that political and emotional ideas does not appear to be constant, at least, within the last century.