Running head: INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
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INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
International Terrorism
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International and national actors and other critical institutions have diverged approaches to international terrorism, international criminal law, and principles of international criminal justice. These variations in understanding international criminal justice and international terrorism generates different definitions of global terrorism.
The United Nations-based definition of global terrorism is widely acceptable. According to the definition, global terrorism refers to malicious actions triggering a state of terror to the country’s general public, citizens, and particular groupings to gain political favor. Actions in global terrorism are justifiable and segregate the country’s (region or group of countries) population based on religious inclinations, ethnicity, race, and philosophical and ideological differences (Jackson, 2011). The security council’s definition of global terrorism is actions against a country’s citizens and civilians intending to cause severe bodily harm or death or hold citizens captive to trigger a state of terror and intimidation to a particular group and general public. The critical components in the definition of global terrorism comprise the acts’ intention of triggering a state of terror and causing bodily injury and death to particular groups and civilians of a country (Jackson, 2011). Other components include the intention to intimidate civilians and blackmail a government or international organization in undertaking or abstaining from policies, actions, and decisions.
The difficulty in achieving international cooperation on counter-terrorism is divisions and unrest in regions and countries, particularly in the Arab world. Turmoil in the Arab world triggers an environment of lawlessness, conflict, and wars. Jihadism, extremism, and terrorism thrive in a chaotic environment such as the Arab world. Some Arab world countries work against counter-terrorism efforts by financing, concealing, and protecting perceived terrorists (Pitfalls, n.d.). These actions are counterproductive against the international corporation on counter-terrorism. On the other hand, international actors exhibit differences in national and global interests. Countries in the Middle East possess ideological and philosophical differences from the United States, leading to differences in interests. Countries with different regional and global interests cannot attain international cooperation in counter-terrorism (Pitfalls, n.d.). Differences in the global and regional interests between the United States and Iran jeopardize the quest for international cooperation to achieve counter-terrorism efforts against al Qaeda and ISIS groups. Iran’s interest in the Middle East leads to its destabilization of the region through aggravating sectarian conflicts. This practice escalates jihadism, extremism, and tourism in the region.
Fighting terrorism requires finding balances between policies and military actions to stifle terrorist environments. An imbalance of all the policies and military actions is a potential pitfall in achieving counter-terrorism efforts. Global terrorism does not have a definitive description, but its definition must possess crucial components.
References
Pitfalls, C. T. What the US Fight against ISIS and al-Qaeda Should Avoid. Retrieved from https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/iraq/003-counter-terrorism-pitfalls-what-us-fight-against-isis-and-al-qaeda-should-avoid
Jackson, R. (2011). In defence of ‘terrorism’: finding a way through a forest of misconceptions. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 3(2), 116-130.