CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL CONCERNS

TERRORISM

CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL CONCERNS

TERRORISM

Syllabus topic : Contemporary Global Concerns : Democracy, human rights, environment, gender
justice, terrorism, nuclear proliferation.

WHAT IS TERRORISM?
Terrorism has no precise global definition. One traditional and accepted definition of terrorism is the
use of violence or threat to use of violence inducing fear, for attaining certain political goals. It is said
to be the incarnation of an organised violence and an act of brutality leading to massive killing of
innocent human beings.
Hence, it can be defined as an act of violence and a method of intimidation or coercing a government
or community by a person or a group of persons to achieve a political objective. Terrorism is thus an
organised violence, coupled with some specific demands, mostly irrational.

Despite terrorism being recognised as a global phenomenon, attempts in the past for arriving at an
internationally accepted definition of terrorism have proved futile. This ambivalence is primarily
because of two reasons:
1. A ‘terrorist’ in one country may be viewed as a ‘freedom fighter’ in another, and
2. Some States encourage various kinds of criminal acts, through their own agencies or hired agents
to subvert or to otherwise destabilise another lawfully established government or in extreme
cases get important political or governmental personalities of another State assassinated. Hence,
there is an obvious lack of political will, if not resistance to any universal definition of terrorism.
There are two reasons why it is so important to define the word ‘terrorism’. Firstly, to understand the
problem, and secondly to have special laws for tackling terrorism within the country and to get
terrorists extradited from abroad.

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However, the definition given by Alex P. Schmid in his work ‘Political Terrorism: A Research Guide’ is
perhaps the most widely accepted one. According to him, “Terrorism is an anxiety inspiring method
of repeated violent actions, employed by (semi) clandestine individual, group or state actors, for
idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons; whereby in contrast to assassination - the direct targets
of violence are not the main targets. The immediate human victims of violence are generally
randomly chosen (targets of opportunity) or selectively (representative or symbolic targets) from a
target population, and serve as message generators. Threat and violence based communication
processes between terrorist organisation, imperilled victims, and main targets are used to
manipulate the main target, turning it into a target of terror, a target of demands, or a target of
attention depending on whether intimidation, coercion, or propaganda is primarily sought”.

An alternate short legal definition proposed by Schmid to the United Nations Crime Branch (1992) is
that “Act of Terrorism = Peacetime Equivalent of War Crime”.
In addition, the definition of terrorism proposed by the Secretary General of the UN in September
2005 was accepted by France. According to him, terrorism is “any act meant to injure or kill the
civilians and the non-combatants in order to intimidate a population, a government, or an
organisation and incite them to commit an act against the perpetrators or on the contrary stop them
from doing so”.

The main issue with these definitions is that they are far too broad. They would include under the
same rubric, an incredibly diverse array of phenomena.
The complexity in the definition of terrorist is that “One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom
fighter”.

DEFINITION OF TERRORISM AS PER GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

● The Government of India has defined a ‘Terrorist Act’ in the rule of Terrorist and Disruptive
Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), 1985.
● It is defined as “Whoever with the intent to override the government established by law, or to
strike terror in the people, or any section of the people or to alleviate any section of the people,
or to adversely affect the harmony among different sections of the people, does any act or thing
by using bombs, dynamite or other explosive substances or inflammable substances or fire-arms
or other lethal weapons or poisons or noxious gases or any other substances of a hazardous
nature in such a manner as to cause or be likely to cause death of or injuries to, any person or
damages to it or destruction of property or disruption of any supplies or services essential to
the life of the community, commits a terrorist act.”
● This exhaustive definition very precisely suggests that the terrorism is an act of violence to
terrorise which aims to induce fear among the Government and the people by using such lethal
weapons which may cause death or injuries or may cause damage to the people and their
property.
● To a few other groups, the terrorist activities are viewed as an act of heroism and patriotism. For
example, the group of LTTE terrorists are regarded as patriots among Sri Lankans.
● Contrary to this the British rulers have accused Chandra Sekhar Azad, an Indian freedom fighter
as terrorists.
● Thus, acts of terrorism are viewed very differently, the way the blind men defined an elephant.

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ORIGINS OF MODERN TERRORISM:

In the modern age of terrorism, analysts have identified four waves of terrorism:
1. Anarchist wave (1878–1919): The 1st wave beginning at the end of the 19th century was
characterised by anarchism as a motive and assassination as a method. This included the
assassination of the Austrian ArchDuke Sarajevo in 1914 that sparked World War I.
2. The Anti-Colonial wave (1920s–early 1960s): The 2nd wave was primarily a reaction to
decolonization after WWI & WWII and involved groups fighting for national self-determination.
3. The New Left wave (mid-1960s–1990s): The 3rd wave came in response to the criticism of the US
in Vietnam & Israel in the Middle-East. This wave was more trans-national in character & airline
hijacking was the most popular method used.
4. The Religious wave (1979–?): The 4th wave, beginning with the Iranian revolution in 1979. They
have turned to suicide bombings as their preferred attack method and reasserted the “martyrdom
theme” used in the first wave.

DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT ON THE ROLE OF TERROR ORGANISATIONS

Realists: While placing a strong emphasis on the state/non-state dichotomy, realists view terrorism as
a violent challenge to the established order by non-state actors as a part of a bid for power. From this
perspective, the main motivation is ‘strategic’ in character.
Liberals: Like realists, they also view terrorism as an activity primarily engaged in by non-state actors.
But unlike realists, they emphasise more on ideology rather than simple power seeking as its
motivation. Therefore, liberals recognise the role of terror organisations in influencing political or
religious ideology that creates an exaggerated sense of injustice and hostility. They view terrorism as
an attack on the very principles of liberal-democratic society such as openness, debate and toleration.
Critical theorists: Scholars such as Noam Chomsky and Falk view terrorism as something engaged in
by both state and non-state actors. Noam Chomsky calls the USA the ‘first terrorist state in the world'.
In his view, ‘state terrorism’ (wholesale terrorism) is much more significant than 'non-state’ (retail
terrorism) because states have more coercive capacity.

TYPES OF TERRORISM
Depending on the objectives of the group, the nature of terrorism differs. The major types of terrorist
operations commonly identified globally include:

1) Ethno-Nationalist Terrorism
Ethnic terrorism can be defined, according to Daniel Byman, as deliberate violence by a
subnational ethnic group to advance its cause. Such violence usually focuses either on the creation
of a separate nation or on the elevation of the status of one ethnic group over others. Tamil
Nationalist groups in Sri Lanka and insurgent groups in North East India are examples of ethno-
nationalist terrorist activities.

2) Religious Terrorism
Present-day terrorist activities around the world are motivated largely by religious imperatives.
Practitioners of terrorism motivated either in whole or in part by a religious imperative consider
violence as a divine duty or a sacramental act. For example, groups such as ISIS.

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3) Ideology Oriented Terrorism

Any ideology can be used to support the use of violence and terrorism. Ideology oriented terrorism is
generally classified into two types: Left-wing terrorism and Right-wing terrorism.
Left-wing Terrorism: Violence against the ruling elite mostly by the peasant class motivated by what
are called leftist ideologies have occurred many times in history. However, the ideological basis for
the left and subsequent violent movements was provided by the writings of Karl Marx and Engels. This
was supported by the writings and speeches of later communists like Lenin and Mao. Leftist ideologies
believe that all the existing social relations and state structures in capitalist society are exploitative in
character and a revolutionary change through violent means is essential. Examples include the Maoist
groups in India and Nepal.

Right-wing Terrorism: Right-wing groups generally seek to maintain the status-quo or to return to
some past situation that they feel should have been conserved. Sometimes, groups espousing rightist
ideologies might assume ethnic/racist character. They may force the government to acquire a territory
or to intervene to protect the rights of an ‘oppressed’ minority in a neighbouring country (i.e : the Nazi
Party in Germany). Violence against migrant communities also comes under this category of
terrorism.

4) State-sponsored Terrorism
Today along with religious terrorism, state-sponsored terrorism has considerably altered the
nature of terrorist activities around the world. One distinction of state sponsored terrorism from
other forms of terrorism is that it is initiated to obtain certain clearly defined foreign policy
objectives rather than grabbing media attention or targeting some potential audience. Given this
character, it operates under fewer constraints and causes greater casualty on the target. In a cost
benefit analysis, state-sponsored terrorism is the most effective means of terrorism from the
perspective of the perpetrator.
This type of terrorism was widely employed in Central Asia in the nineteenth century. Russians
supported their fellow Slavs in the Balkans. Countries like Iran, Iraq, Sudan, North Korea have been
engaged in sponsorship of political violence of different nature in their ‘enemy’ countries. India

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has been facing this problem from Pakistan since Independence in 1947.
5) Narco-terrorism
It falls in the category of either ‘Types of Terrorism’ or ‘Means of Terrorism’, depending on how it
is defined. The term was first used in 1983 by the former President of Peru, Belaunde Terry to
describe campaigns by drug traffickers using methods such as the use of car bombs, assassinations
and kidnapping against the anti-narcotics police in Colombia and Peru. Narco-terrorism has been
defined by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as “the attempt by narcotics traffickers to
influence the policies of the Government by systematic threat or use by violence”.

MEANS OF TERRORISM
1) Environmental Terrorism: While eco-terrorism is to protest against the destruction of the natural
environment, environmental terrorism is the premeditated damage caused to the natural world
to gain traction for demands.
2) Weapons of Mass Destruction: Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) are weapons that can
inflict heavy and indiscriminate damage on a given target. Nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons are the commonly identified weapons of mass destruction.
3) Chemical Weapons: A chemical attack could be the release of toxic gas caused by attacking an
industrial facility, or releasing a chemical that has been stolen from its legitimate users to inflict
heavy damage on the enemy group.
4) Nuclear weapons: Although, there are no accounts of terrorist attacks using nuclear weapons,
there are clear indications that from the late 1990s onwards, Al-Qaeda has constantly been trying
to acquire it with the help of different State agencies such as Pakistan.
5) Cyber-terrorism: It is the convergence of terrorism and cyberspace. It is generally understood to
mean unlawful attacks and threats of attacks against computers, sensitive networks, and the
information stored therein when done to intimidate or coerce a government or its people in
furtherance of political objectives.
6) Biological Weapons: Bio-terrorism is a relatively new form of terrorist activity that has emerged
as a result of the advancements in biotechnology being accessible to terrorist groups. The
American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines bio-terrorism attack as “the
deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, or other germs (agents) used to cause illness or death in
people, animals or plants”.
7) Suicide Terrorism: The assassination of Shri Rajiv Gandhi took place on May 21, 1991 which
brought into focus the capability and ruthless brutality of LTTE in suicide terrorism. Since then,
there have been several instances of suicide attacks by the LTTE, the most notable of which was
the killing of the Sri Lankan President Premadasa in 1993. Even the Jihadi terrorists took to suicide
terrorism in the 1990’s.

GLOBAL TERRORISM AND UN

The United Nations’ counter-terrorism work can be organised under three headings:
1. Norm-setting role that includes the development of a Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and
efforts to counter violent extremism through a set of international conventions, and far-reaching
Security Council resolutions imposing counter-terrorism obligations on member states.
2. Capacity building activities to help countries meet these obligations.
3. Security Council mandated sanctions.

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International Conventions by UN
Many international conventions have been negotiated under the UN’s auspices criminalising specific
acts of terrorism. Some of these conventions, such as the 1999 Convention on Terrorist Financing,
enjoy near universal membership. However, none of the treaties contains a monitoring and follow-
up regime. Hence, the treaty framework constitutes a necessary but insufficient condition for
effective counter-terrorism.
Unfortunately, efforts to adopt an all-encompassing comprehensive counter-terrorism convention
have eluded the UNO. This is because member states have been unable to agree on a definition of
terrorism, in particular on the questions of whether the definition should include so-called “state
terrorism” (i.e. acts carried out by the military forces of a state against civilians) and whether people
under foreign occupation should retain the right of violent resistance.
Sanctions Against State Sponsors of Terrorism: During the Cold War, the UN Security Council (UNSC)
was largely silent on terrorism and much of the UN's counter-terrorism activity took place in the
General Assembly. This began to change in the early 1990s against the backdrop of a rise in state
sponsored acts of terrorism. The Security Council imposed sanctions against Libya in 1992 over
Tripoli’s non-cooperation with the investigation of two airline bombing incidents; against Sudan in
1996 for alleged involvement in an assassination attempt on Egyptian president Mubarak; and
against the Taliban regime of Afghanistan in 1999 for harbouring the leadership of Al-Qaeda.
However, during the 1990s, the Council refrained from taking action against a number of other
states, such as Iran, whose sponsorship of terrorism was established in a Berlin court in April, 1997.
Security Council-led Counter-Terrorism Action in the Aftermath of 9/11: Resolution 1368, adopted
on 12 September 2001 established an important precedent by invoking (for the first time) ‘the right
to self-defence against terrorist attacks’ under Article 51 of the UN Charter, providing an
international seal of legal approval to the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan. Less than two
weeks later, the Council adopted Resolution 1373, imposing legally binding obligations on all UN
member states to enhance legislation, strengthen border controls, and increase international
cooperation to combat terrorism. In 2004, the Council further broadened its counter-terrorism
program, embarking on an ambitious effort to keep weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) out of
terrorist hands. The Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1540, which requires all UN member
states to take legislative and regulatory steps to prevent terrorists and other non-state actors from
acquiring weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.
It was in this backdrop that the US under President Obama created the Global Counter-Terrorism
Forum in 2011, which was an “action-oriented” platform outside the UN framework to foster
effective multilateral cooperation in counter-terrorism, in particular with respect to capacity
building.
Richard Barrett, the former head of the UN expert panel monitoring implementation of sanctions
against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, concluded that “The UN is too political, too uncoordinated, too
focused on process rather than outcomes and follow-up, and too far removed from the people
who actually deal with the problems of terrorism on the ground to make much of an impact, or
even to appear relevant.” While it is true that the UN’s operational counter-terrorism activities have
faced severe shortfalls and limitations, the UN has proven itself as a useful venue for establishing
broad normative and cooperative frameworks for collective counter-terrorism action. Thus, it
provides a conducive background that can be helpful to those member states who want to embark
on comprehensive counter-terrorism efforts in line with human rights and international law.

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However, the UN’s norm development has proven too weak to offset the negative effects of
counterproductive counter-terrorism policies by Member States that ultimately exacerbate the
terrorist threat.

IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON TERRORISM

The development of terrorism into a transnational event is generally associated with the advance of
globalisation. This is because increased cross-border flow of people, goods, money, technology and
ideas, have generally benefited non-state actors at the expense of states and terror groups have
proved to be particularly adept at exploiting this 'hyper-mobility’.

Factors leading to integration of globalisation and terrorism

1. Cultural factors: Terrorist groups often consider violence as the only possible method to preserve
their traditions and customs from western values of globalisation.
a. The spread of thoughts like neoliberal capitalism and social changes brought by globalisation
make societies in the global South isolated and insecure.
2. Economic factors: Marxist scholars view the neoliberal globalisation as the spread of western
imperialism. As per the World Systems theory of Immanuel Wallerstein, the world is divided into
Core, Periphery and semi-periphery parts.
a. The policies and actions of the north world have direct and indirect impact on the global South
as it disturbs the social, economic as well as political fabric of these countries and thus,
threatens the traditional basis of authority.
b. Thus, while globalisation plans to integrate these nations into global supply chains, it also
hugely drains them of their wealth and mineral resources. The resulting discontent is used to
their benefit by terrorist groups like ISIS.
c. For example, many educated youths are said to have joined ISIS and other terrorist groups
due to high unemployment and rising inequality.
3. Political factors: The huge rise in inequality, fundamentalism in even advanced industrial societies
has resulted in hollowing out of the middle class.
a. Thus, this disempowered group joins the terrorist groups which then aim to overthrow the
present 'unjust' political order and establish a new political order based on either religious
principles or on some kind of 'utopia'.
b. It also leads to an increase in the cases of state sponsored terrorism, as seen in the case of
Pakistan, Iran’s Houthi rebels in Yemen etc.
c. Countries like Pakistan have also used terrorism to initiate proxy wars in India, leading to
threatening of security structure between the two countries.
4. Religion: New global jihad against western countries and non-Islamic world is in reality a reaction
against oppression of Minorities and spiritual bankruptcy of the West.
a. In addition, the rise in views like individualism and migration due to forces of globalisation
has also resulted into isolation of the man as theorised in Marx’s theory of alienation.
b. These youths get largely attracted to radical ideologies of terrorist groups.

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INDIA AND COUNTER-TERRORISM REGIME

● India firmly believed that the underlying causes have to be mitigated in order to end the menace
of terrorism. India had played an important role in the drafting of the General Assembly
Resolution 40/6 in 1987. India also recognized the difference between terrorism and movements
of self-determination and at the same time was wary of terrorism perpetrated by mercenaries
with a view to undermining territorial integrity.
● With regard to terrorism and human rights, after the Declaration of Human Rights in 1993, India
held that terrorism was the greatest impediment to the realisation of human rights.
● At the plenary of the General Assembly in 1995, India was critical of the United Nations doing
nothing to defend democracies from extremists and other violent threats.
● After the adoption of the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings in
1997, India pushed the General Assembly to fulfil the commitment made under Resolution 51/210
and to set up an Ad-Hoc Committee to adopt an international convention for the suppression of
acts of nuclear terrorism and, then a comprehensive convention on international terrorism.
● In 1996, India tabled the Draft International Convention on Suppression of Terrorism in the
General Assembly, which aimed to deal with state supported terrorism. India was much ahead of
developed states in pointing out the menace of state sponsored terrorism.
● In 1997, India co-sponsored a draft resolution on Human Rights and Terrorism, which was finally
adopted in 1999.
● In 2000, the General Assembly took up for discussion India’s Draft Comprehensive Convention of
International Terrorism.
● In 2002, India co-sponsored the Draft Resolution on Hostage Taking and introduced the
Resolution on measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction in the
UN General Assembly.
● In 2006, India supported and joined the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy adopted by the UN
General Assembly.

Also, India has been consistent in its commitment to the counter-terrorism regime by submitting
reports to the concerned UN committees regarding the action it has taken at the national and
international levels to curb the menace of terrorism. India has also been very vocal in pointing out the

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problems of non-compliance with anti-terrorism conventions and has urged that a way be found to
punish states that abet terrorism. India has made suggestions to make the Counter-Terrorism
committee more effective and accountable through more feedback from countries, increase in
interaction between countries and seeking reports to identify violations.

India stands committed in all efforts to counter terrorism by exchanging information, capacity building
for effective border controls, monitoring and curbing illicit financial flows, preventing misuse of
modern technologies and cooperating in investigation and judicial procedures.

WHAT IS NEEDED?
● Collective inter-State efforts are required at regional as well as sub-regional levels. Normative
efforts at the United Nations need to be coordinated through collaboration with other forums like
the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Terrorism can be countered only by sustained international
efforts and the UN may be best suited for taking forward effective global efforts preventing and
countering terrorism.
● Even Prime Minister Modi in his address to the 75th UNGA debate observed “One could say that
we have successfully avoided a third world war, but we cannot deny that there have been
several wars and many civil wars. Several terrorist attacks shook the world and there has been
immense bloodshed. India will not hesitate in raising its voice against the enemies of humanity,
human race and human values (including) terrorism, smuggling of illegal weapons, drugs and
money laundering”.
● It is high time to try and strengthen efforts to achieve the objective of putting in place a global
legal framework in the form of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism to
counter a global scourge. This will provide a legal basis for the global fight against terrorism as all
member states will have a multilateral platform to counter terrorism.

COMPREHENSIVE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

● The Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) is a proposed treaty which
intends to criminalise all forms of international terrorism and deny terrorists, their financiers and
supporters access to funds, arms, as well as safe havens. India proposed this convention in 1996.
● The convention has been under negotiation by the United Nations General Assembly in 1996, but
as of 2021, no consensus has been reached for the adoption of the convention.
● Although the consensus has not yet reached its intended end, discussions have yielded three
separate protocols that aim to tackle terrorism:
1. International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, adopted on 15 December
1997.
2. International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, adopted on 9
December 1999.
3. International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, adopted on 13
April 2005.
The key sticking points in the draft revolve around several controversial yet basic issues, including the
definition of 'terrorism'. For example, what distinguishes a ‘terrorist organisation’ from a 'liberation
movement'? Do you exclude activities of national armed forces, even if they are perceived to commit
acts of terrorism? If not, how much of this constitutes 'state terrorism'?

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NOTE- India has been pushing for the treaty consistently, particularly in the wake of the 2008
Mumbai attacks.

CONCLUSION
● With an aim to create an effective global counter terrorism regime, the first step should be to
arrive at consensus on the definition of terrorism.
● There is also a need to make the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism reach its
logical end for the world community. There also needs to be formation of various global alliances
which will be based on overlapping consensus & should not be merely alliances of convenience as
per every country's real political gain.
● Many scholars have also suggested imposing sanctions and to isolate the state-sponsored terrorist
nations like Pakistan to achieve immediate results.
● In the words of US diplomat Hillary Clinton, “It's like an ancient story. You cannot keep snakes in
your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours. Eventually those snakes are going
to turn on whoever has them in the backyard too”.
● Some scholars like Praveen Swami also suggest better intelligence services, strong military, police
and most importantly the formation of better political alliances.
● Brahma Chellaney has also suggested the launching of a concerted information campaign to
discredit radical ideology in countries of West Asia and Central Asia.

Terrorism is a complex and a dynamic phenomenon. Its related motivations, financing and support
mechanisms, methods of attack and choice of targets are often evolving, thereby compounding the
challenges of ensuring the existence of an effective strategy to counter it. In this situation global
cooperation is of paramount importance if we want to get rid of this threat.
Hence, India should play a proactive role to neutralise any threat of terrorism. There is a need for the
world to join hands and take concrete multilateral initiatives to ensure that terror groups are dealt
with a heavy hand. Accepting and ratifying the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism
(CCIT) proposed by India would be a good first step.

PYQs
1. Discuss the efficacy of global conventions to combat international terrorism. (2022, 200, 15)
2. Is ‘terrorism’ an essentially ‘contested’ concept ? What are the different manifestations of
‘terrorism’ as a concept, and as practice?(2012, 200, 15)
3. Do you agree that the U.N. has ·failed to contain transnational terrorism? Elaborate your
answer with examples.(2014, 150, 10)

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