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Abstract
Terrorism is the use of violence which in most cases it is supposed to destabilize the
government. Terrorism has taken various forms and it is not associated with a particular group or
ideology. Terrorism is carried out by different kinds of people such as cults, gangs and terrorist
groups. These groups appear to have fundamental differences in structure, behavior, and cognitive
processing. Compelling reasons exist against drawing firm parallels between all three groups: lack of
empirical and generalizable data and important differences in group structure.
Defining terrorism has proven to be difficult since it is hard for people to agree on the
basis for determining when the use of violence is legitimate. This has led to the modern
definition of terrorism being controversial. The use of violence for the achievement of political
ends is common to state and non-state groups. Most of the definitions that are being used
currently have been written by agencies directly associated with the government and most of
these definitions are systematically biased to exclude government from the definition.
The contemporary label of terrorist denotes a lack of legitimacy and morality. On the
other hand, terrorism is a tactic that is committed by the actors as part of a larger military agenda.
The department of state focuses on subnational groups when defining terrorism. They defined
terrorism as a criminal act intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general
public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purpose are in any circumstances

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unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic
or any other nature may be invoked to justify them (McEntire,2008).
The UN member states still have not agreed upon the definition of terrorism and this fact
has been a major obstacle to meaningful international counter measures. The Arab Convention
of the Suppression of Terrorism was adopted by the council of Arab Ministers of the interior
and the Council of Arab Ministers of Justice in Cairo, Egypt in 1998.In this convention
terrorism was defined as an act or threat of violence whatever its motive or purpose 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 ,seeking to cause damage to the environment or to public or private
installations or property or even seeking to jeopardize national resources.
The UN Security Council Resolution defines terrorism as criminal 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, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do
or abstain from doing any act. The UN panel described terrorism as any act that is intended to
cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of
intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or
abstain from doing any act (Saul, 2008).
The European Union defines terrorism for legal or official purposes in Art I of the
Framework Decision on Combating Terrorism. This provides that terrorist offences are certain
criminal offences that are set out in a list that is comprised largely on serious offences against
persons and property which: given their nature or context may seriously damage a country or an

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international organization where committed with the aim of seriously intimidating a population
or unduly compelling a Government or international organization to abstain from performing any
act.
The United Kingdom Terrorism Act 200 defines terrorism as an act designed seriously to
interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system. An act of violence is not necessary
under this definition. The United States defines terrorism under the Federal Criminal Code. Title
18 of the United States Code defines terrorism and lists the crimes associated with terrorism.
Terrorism is defined as activities that that involve violent or life threatening acts that are a
violation of the criminal laws of the United States or any State. It appears to be intended to
intimidate or coerce a civilian population or to influence the policy of a government by
intimidation or coercion.
The Department of Defense defines terrorism as the calculated use of unlawful violence
or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear, intended to coerce or to intimidate governments
or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious or ideological. The
Federal Bureau of Investigation defines terrorism as the unlawful use of force or violence against
persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population or any segment
in furtherance of political or social objectives. The department of Homeland Security defines
terrorism as any activity involving an act that is dangerous to human life or potentially
destructive of critical infrastructure or key resources (Wardlaw, 1989).
Some similarities do exist in the individual experiences of group members. All of the groups
appear to appeal to individuals who feel marginalized by society and who are looking to satisfy the
need to belong. It also appears that the process of joining one of these groups may involve trigger

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moral disengagement processes as the individual conforms to the mores of the group. In all groups,
the individual gives up some level of autonomy.
Terrorism
Terrorism is referred to as the use of physical and psychological violence by an individual or a
group of people to terrify a certain population due to certain reasons such as to ratify political change
or to draw attention to a certain cause. There are various types of terrorism which are as follows:
State terrorism, this is where a certain regime uses power so that it can be in a position to control its
population (Baudrillard, Baudrillard, & Baudrillard, 2003)
State terrorism is totally different from state sponsored terrorism since state sponsored
terrorism is normally executed by individuals in a certain country that has power and in this case
they are not normally in the government. State-sponsored terrorism was the original form of
terrorism. The first instance of state terrorism was from the French Revolution which was
in1793and most rulers have been using it to control their subjects for many years now.
The major example of state terrorism is as mentioned above the French Revolution through
state terrorism is widely spread in other areas. Religious terrorism is another type of terrorism. This
type of terrorism is normally motivated by principles and criticisms of religion. This is one of the
most dangerous types of terrorism since the fanatics who practice religious terrorism go the extent of
even being ready to sacrifice them for the cause.
In most cases religious terrorists use all methods to achieve what they want such as suicide
bombings. The religious teachings in which they believe in make it possible for them to sacrifice
themselves since the teachings encourage as well as justify this act of self-sacrifice. The most
prominent example of religious terrorism is the Al-Qaeda. This is group that is well known for

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religious terrorism. Right and left wing is another type of terrorism (Schmid, Jongman, Stohl,
Horowitz, & Harvard University 1988).
The right wing terrorism mainly focuses on eliminating governments that are liberal as well
as preserve traditional social orders. This type of terrorism is mainly characterized by militias and
gangs. These groups are in most cases motivated by the races and their main aim is normally to
downgrade the few people in a given state. Examples of groups of modern wing terrorists are such as
Neo-Fascists and Ku Klux. Such groups of people are mainly found in Germany, Russia and the US.
The left wing terrorist consists of groups of people whose aim is come up with communist regimes in
the area.
They normally work towards overthrowing the capitalist democracies. These groups of
terrorists were very common during the cold war and their aim is normally to attack systems that
are already established so as to get rid of class distinction. Examples of left-wing groups are the
Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party that is in Turkey and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Columbia (McEntire, 2008). The different types of terrorism discussed have similarities as well as
differences.
The differences and similarities mainly revolve around the people who carry out the terrorist
activities. The terrorist types are carried out by different people such as cults, gang or terrorist
groups. These paralle...