State-sponsored terrorism

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 388.

State terrorism

TYPES OF TERRORISM

TEXT C

1. Nationalist

2. Religious

3. Left-wing

4. Right-wing

5. State

6. Islamic

7. Ethnic

8. Bioterrorism

9. Narcoterrorism

10. Domestic

11. Nuclear

12. Anarchist

13. Cyber

14. Political

State terrorism, is a controversial term that is separate from the more common term, State sponsored terrorism. State terrorism is defined by some as violence upon a national population committed by national governments or their proxies. State terrorism can be effected directly, at the hands of national military or security forces, or indirectly, through state sponsored terrorist organizations. States can terrorize their own populations, to secure rule and suppress dissent, or foreign citizens, to support favoured or destabilize unfavoured foreign regimes.

For many years, terrorism was perceived as a contest between two sides: on the one hand, a group of people or an organization, and on the other, a sovereign state. However, during the course of the second half of the twentieth century, various countries began to use terrorist organizations to promote state interests in the international domain. In some cases, states have established "puppet" terrorist organizations, whose purpose is to act on behalf of the sponsoring state, to further the interests of the state, and to represent its positions in domestic or regional fronts. In other cases, states sponsor existing organizations, on the basis of mutually interests.

The patron state provides its beneficiary terrorist organization with political support, financial assistance, and the sponsorship necessary to maintain and expand its struggle. The patron uses the beneficiary to perpetrate acts of terrorism as a means of spreading the former's ideology throughout the world, or in some cases, the patron ultimately expects the beneficiary to gain control of the state in which it resides or impart its ideology to broad sections of the general public.

State sponsored terrorism can to achieve strategic ends where the use of conventional armed forces is not practical or effective. The high costs of modern warfare, and concern about non-conventional escalation, as well as the danger of defeat and the unwillingness to appear as the aggressor, have turned terrorism into an efficient, convenient, and generally discrete weapon for attaining state interests in the international realm.