Terrorism is a very confused word and there is no perfect definition for it. I think there is a core definition then you get different types of terrorism which follow the core but have different layers to them. In my opinion the core definition is: the attack must be deliberate and pre-planned, it must be driven by a cause, the targets must be civilians and it must aim to cause fear and terror.
If you compare this core with the July 7 bombings you can see this is a terrorist act as it fits all the definitions. They July 7 bombings were planned; this is obvious, because all 3 bombs went off within 50 seconds of each other. It was driven by a cause as they wanted to make Muslim's treated fairly, it targeted civilians and it caused fear and terror across England and the World.There is also different types of terrorism the main five are: government terrorism, war terrorism, terrorism in wars of liberation, urban terrorism and international terrorism.Firstly urban terrorism, this type of terrorism is carried out by small cells of terrorists and takes place in highly populated areas.
For example the July 7 bombings this fits all the core definitions and it was carried out by a small cell, four people, and it was in the capital city so therefore fits all the definitions.Secondly war terrorism, this type of terrorism is violence used against a civilian population without a care who is killed even though the country is at war, for example, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atom bombs. These took place during World War Two against Japan and ordered by the United States in August 1945. They killed 220,000 people approximately, the overwhelming population was civilians, but this did lead to the surrender of the Japanese and therefore the end of World War Two; this is war terrorism because it was an attack on civilians seeing as the bombs had about a 1.6km radius so they could be aimed at a specific location and it took place during a declared war.
Next government terrorism, this is when governments kill or torture innocent victims just because they oppose the government, to keep power in a country. This intimidates people and the will not say what they think so the government can stay in power, a good example of this is the French Revolution, this happened in 1789-1799 between 12,000-40,000 people were killed for opposing or being suspected of opposing the government, this usually happened without a fair trial. This fits in government terrorism because the government were trying to stay in power by terrorising its people, by killing innocent civilians.Next terrorism in wars of liberation, also known as freedom fighters, this is usually used against the government, directly or indirectly, to achieve political aims but "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
" A good example is the July 7 bombings again, they believed that Muslims were not being treated fairly so tried to fight for their freedom. This is terrorism in wars of liberation because, it was used indirectly against the government and they were trying to achieve political aims.Finally international terrorism, this covers a lot of terrorist attacks and it is when an act of terror affects another country; a good example of this is 9/11 this affected the whole world in many ways, one was economically, not only was the American stock market affected but also the European stock markets sharply fell including a 4.6% decrease in Spain, an 8.5% decrease in Germany and a 5.
7% drop in the London stock exchange.Also, as you may have noticed, some acts of terror can fit into more than one category, the best example of this is the July 7 bombings, which could arguably fit in 4 out of 5 sections: it fits into urban because it was carried out by a small cell and took place in a highly populated area, it fits into international because it affected a lot of countries around the world, terrorism in wars of liberation because they believed it was for the freedom of Muslim people. It could be seen as war terrorism because Mohammed Sidique Khan said in a pre-recorded speech - "We are at war, and I am a soldier." So he obviously believed they were at war.As you can see there are a lot of similarities between the different types of terrorism like urban and international: if it takes place in a major city it probably will have international effects. But there are also some major differences for example government terrorism and terrorism in wars of liberation because how/why would a government fight against themselves to achieve political aims.In conclusion, you cannot have one word to define terrorism, it is such an open word and different people see it differently, I think the best example of this is the quote "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." This shows that terrorism is a confused word and it depends on personal opinion.
