Introduction
This essay will talk about the much debated subject if a state can be a terrorist. Are terrorist activities only carried out by factional groups or can they be carried out by the state as well? Why states resort to terrorism, types of state terrorism and how states can control factional terrorism without themselves resorting to terrorist activities are a few points that the essay will address, supported by references to case studies.
Origin and definition of the word ‘terrorism’
‘Terror’ has been described by different authors in different ways, but generally the term is used to denote non-governmental terror activities. It is, however, interesting to note that the word terror was first used to describe Soviet governance during the time of Stalin, to describe counter-violence by France and to describe actions taken by Germany against Nazis (Jackson, 2008). The word terror is similar to ‘territory’ and has its roots in the violence perpetuated by state governments to exercise control over their territories.
Today, no single clear definition has been given to terrorism. Sederberg found that there are over 100 different definitions that try to describe terrorism (Sederberg, 2009). Today, terrorism is broadly categorised as any activity that is carried out for political reasons.Terrorist activities can be either targeted towards innocent people, as a tool to blackmail the government, or towards a small political group directly.
The most common means used to spread terror are hijacking, bombings and assassinations (Kummel, 2008). Such acts cause a massive and sudden upsurge of fear and panic in public and terrorist aim to use this to get their demands fulfilled. The media, unintentionally, spreads the news of terrorist activities, further spreading the fear to all the viewers as well. The underlying reason for the birth of terrorism is the belief by the terrorist group that they have been devoid of something which is theirs rightfully. These groups use terror as a means to try to achieve their right back.
State terrorism arises when the government is unable to control the people by conventional political means and they resort to spreading fear and terror to gain the support of the people in long term by oppressing them.
Case Studies
Most factional terrorist activities are instigated and perpetuated by the brutality imposed by the government on them. One such instance is the Algerian war. In the fight to attain independence from France, the nationalist group in Algeria, under the leadership if MessaliHadj used conventional means such as strikes to put forth their demand. However, when this did not work, a small group of aggressive people jointly formed the National Liberation Front (FLN) that used terror and sabotage as their methods. They indulged in killing of innocent people who they thought supported the French government.
In retaliation, France fought back and when FLN increased their violent activities, France resorted to “fight against terrorism” with FLN and an executive branch of the government was granted extra powers to treat these ‘terrorists’. The military was brought in for damage control and they did not conform to the standards of war as per international law.This power gave rise to state terrorism where the French state government intentionally assigned the task of gathering information to lower cadre military personnel who brutally tortured the civilians to extract information and to make them realise that they would have to pay a higher price if they helped the National Liberation Front (FLN) (Wilkinson, 2008).They had special powers to shoot-at-sight at any rebel or even a suspect. This strongly stoked state terrorism where the military had the power to kill anyone under summary execution and term them a potential terrorist on accounts of suspicious behaviour. When these acts of state terrorism were questioned, their justification was that these are acts of counter-terrorism and had to be quick and brutal since terrorist activities by FLN has started abruptly and so, the means to put an end to it must also be abrupt.
This gave rise to a widespread fear among the population of Algerians. Torture and extreme brutal violence were the tools used on almost anyone to instil fear in them (Cohen, 2008).
History has also shown that tyrants like Hitler and Stalin have been extremely barbaric in their ways and that state terror has caused more deaths than those caused by rebel group’s terror. The state authorities justify the use of terrorism to curtail crime of higher order and keep the law and order of a state in check; however, killing innocent people is never morally justifiable. The final essay will provide the commonalities and differences between the state terrorism acts exhibited by different states.
Types of state terrorism
Terrorism has been categorised as Nationalist Terrorism, Religious/Cultural Terrorism, Anarchist Terrorism, Left Wing Terrorism and Right Wing Terrorism. State terrorism has also been further divided as state-sponsored terrorism and state sponsored passive terrorism.
In state-sponsored terrorism, factional groups obtain military support, financial support and operational support from their state governments. The US has identified countries like Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya etc. as ‘state sponsors of international terrorism’ (Jackson, 2008).
In state sponsored passive terrorism, the state is inactive and this inaction supports terrorists; such as the British silence supports loyalist terrorism in Northern Ireland, the US silence supports anti-Contra terrorism etc.
The final essay will briefly describe the types of terrorism, with examples of their occurrences and will elaborate more about types of state sponsored terrorism. The essay will talk about the state sponsored terrorism exhibited by Iran against the United States and about the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Conclusion
There will always be some form of opposition or the other, propagated by facists, racists, separatists etc. state terrorism is definitely not a means to curb this. The best strategy adopted by the government is to keep a check on the nuclear technology and prevent it from falling into wrong hands. Generation of lethal weapons and ammunitions must be strictly monitored (Wilkinson, 2008). It is important to know what kind of enemy the state is dealing with because many terrorist groups have resources as organised as a micro-state would have; and therefore it would help to know their strengths and weaknesses and then curb them by non-terrorist means.Since terrorist activities begin when the group of terrorists believe they have not been given what is due to them and they do not find any legitimate means to get it, causing them to resort to terrorism, one possible way to address this problem can be to give them opportunities to demand their perceived rights in a peaceful manner(Kummel, 2008).
References
1. Armed forces and conflict resolution: sociological perspectives
By Gerhard Kümmel, p99-100, volume 7, 2008
2. Can a State be 'Terrorist'? Paul Wilkinson, 2008, International Affairs (Royal Institute
of International Affairs 1944-), Vol. 57, No. 3. (Summer, 1981), pp. 467-472.
3. Terrorism Myths: Illusions, Rhetoric and Reality, Sederberg P.C. (2009) p22-43
4. The French State Faced with the Algerian Nationalists (1954-1962):
5. A War against Terrorism? Samy Cohen (ed.), Democracies at war against terrorism,
Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, p.395-401
6. The Ghosts of State Terror: Knowledge, Politics and Terrorism Studies, Richard Jackson, International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Conference, 2629 March, 2008, San Francisco, USA.
Indicative Bibliography
State terrorism and neoliberalism: the North in the South
By Ruth Blakeley, Critical Terrorism Studies, 2009
The new dimension of international terrorism
By Stefan M. Aubrey
Terrorism in perspective, Pamala L. Griset, Sue Mahan
Trauma and healing under state terrorism
By IngerAgger, SørenBuus Jensen
Terrorism: the newest face of warfare
By Donald J. Hanle
Death squad: the anthropology of state terror
By Jeffrey A. Sluka
Community Preparedness and Response to Terrorism: Communication and the media
By James A. Johnson, Mark A. Cwiek
