Terrorism
The term "terrorism" is profoundly political, as can be seen by the numerous definitions of terrorism and the lack of a globally-agreed description. The myriad definitions show nations struggling to define "terrorism" in self-serving ways. Efforts to clarify and unify those definitions vary from legalistic to nearly bombastic. After listing many definitions from different nations and from within the United States, itself, this paper examines a legalistic attempt to lay the groundwork for a universal definition, then a more cutting attempt to dispel the self-serving political "fog" surrounding these definitions. The common thread in both approaches is the appeal to diplomatically weigh competing national interests in order to form a workable worldwide definition of "terrorism
Definitions of Terrorism
a. UN General Assembly Resolution 54/109 (1999)
"Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them."[footnoteRef:1] The UN Member States still have no universal definition of terrorism, which is a significant obstacle to worldwide anti-terrorism efforts.[footnoteRef:2] [1: (United Nations General Assembly, 2010).] [2: (Tiefenbrun, 2003, pp. 382-3).]
b. Arab Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism (1998)
"Any act or threat of violence, whatever its motives or purposes, that occurs in the advancement of an individual or collective criminal agenda and seeking to sow panic among people, causing fear by harming them, or placing their lives, liberty or security in danger, or seeking to cause damage to the environment or to public or private installations or property or to occupying or seizing them, or seeking to jeopardize national resources."[footnoteRef:3] [3: (Arab Convention on Terrorism, 2009).]
c. UN Security Council Resolution 1566 (2004)
"[C]riminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act."[footnoteRef:4] [4: (United Nations Security Council, 2004).]
d. The European Union (2002)
Set forth in Art.1 of the Framework Decision on Combating Terrorism (2002). This lists certain serious criminal offences against persons/property which: "given their nature or context, may seriously damage a country or an international organization where committed with the aim of: seriously intimidating a population; or unduly compelling a Government or international organization to perform or abstain from performing any act; or seriously destabilizing or destroying the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country or an international organization."[footnoteRef:5] [5: (The Council of the European Union, 2002, p. L164/4).]
e. The United Kingdom's Terrorism Act (2000)
Section 1(1): "Terrorism means the use or threat of action where the action falls within subsection (2) (i.e. violence, serious damage, endangering life, etc.) and (b) the use or threat is designed to influence the government or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and (c) the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause."[footnoteRef:6] In addition, acts of terrorism are further described in Section 1(2): Acts involving serious violence against a person, serious damage to property, acts that endanger a person=s life, other than that of the person committing the action; acts that create a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of the public, or acts designed seriously to interfere with or disrupt an electronic system."[footnoteRef:7] [6: (The National Archives, 2000).] [7: (Ibid.)]
f. France -- Criminal Code, Article 421-1 and -2
Characterizing terrorism as a crime against humanity, France lists serious criminal acts which it would also consider terrorism: "Acts are terrorist acts when they are intentionally committed by an individual entity or by a collective entity in order to seriously disturb law and order by intimidation or by terror."[footnoteRef:8] The Criminal Code also lists specific terrorist acts in 421-1: "Attempted murder, assault, kidnapping, hostage-taking on airplanes, ships, all means of transport, theft, extortion, destructions, and crimes committed during group combat, the production or ownership of weapons of destruction and explosives including the production, sale, import and export of explosives, the acquisition, ownership, transport of illegal explosive substances, the production, ownership, storage, or acquisition of biological or chemical weapons, and money laundering."[footnoteRef:9] Finally, the Criminal Code adds environmental terrorist acts in Article 421-2: "Placing in the air, on the ground, under the ground and in the water (including territorial water) any substance that would put the health of man...
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