Terrorism Different From Violent Crime Essay

Whether it is a matter of terrorism as revealed by the 9/11 attacks or that of the Tamil Tigers, the question remains on the legitimacy of the claims the groups are making. On the one hand, there is the matter of religious claims, which are common depending on the type of religion, and with which its adepts can identify, and on the other there are the ethnic groups, which support the terrorist movements providing them legitimacy. The religious part is most often associated with the Jihad whereas the ethnic nationalist terrorism is associated with groups as mentioned above. However, the ethnic groups tend to provide more legitimacy because they are based on more common history, geography and have more arguments in their favor.

Overall, the issue of terrorism, be it of any nature, is a rather sensitive aspect in the last decades. Ethnic nationalistic terrorism is often associated with a high degree of legitimacy from the group they come and this ensures even more power to their actions and a higher degree of difficulty for the state to tackle the actions of the terrorist groups and the effects their acts have on the population, on the state, and on the international scene.

References

Defining Terrorism: A Principled Approach. (n.d) Accessed 5 April 2013, from http://lawofwar.org/defining_terrorism.htm

O'Neill, William. "Concept Paper: Beyond the Slogans: How Can the UN Respond to Terrorism? In Responding to Terrorism: What Role for the United Nations?" International Peace Academy. 2002. Available from www.ciaonet.com

Pickert, Kate. "The Tamil Tigers." Time World. Online edition. 2009. Accessed 5 April 2013 from http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1869501,00.html

Townshend, Charles. "Terrorism: in search of the definite article." Open Democracy. 2007. Accessed 5 April 2013, from http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflicts/democracy_terror/what_is_terrorism

Wilkinson, Paul. The Strategic Implications of Terrorism. Terrorism & Political Violence. A Sourcebook Ed. Prof. M.L. Sondhi. Indian Council of Social Science Research. Har-anand Publications, 2000.