Classification and Forms of Terrorism

Terrorism has always been leaving the impression of being uncivil because with its actions (disrespect of human lives, including its own) it creates the state of uncontrolled brutality and unlimited cruelty, while at the same time refuses to accept established norms, laws and properties of society. Considering the nature of this phenomenon, the necessary adjustment in accordance with social processes, it’s easy to conclude that it doesn’t have firm and simple, but rather a complex and fluid form, which is why it is not easy to separate and classify it. However, according to today’s understanding of terrorism, the most common typology is done according to: causes and goals, areas and the means of actions, and subjects and targets.

Nowadays, the terrorism is represented by various causes and purposes. It has been used in anti-colonial conflicts, such as the ones in Britain, Algeria and France. It is also used when dealing with conflicts between different ethnical and national groups in dispute over territory, such as Serbia and Kosovo, then Palestine and Israel, etc. It is also present in religious disputes, for example the conflict between Catholic and Protestants in Northern Ireland and in internal conflicts between revolutionary forces and newly-formed governments, for example Argentina and Nicaragua… However, the most common forms of terrorism at the moment are ethno-separatist and religious ones.

The form that is getting more and more pervasive is suicide terrorism, reaching global scales, because it is no longer tied to the area of Middle East and Islamic fundamental organizations. It can, from its points of origin (the Middle East, North Africa and Chechnya), reach any part of the world if that is decided by the terrorist organizations, that more and more consider it to be purposeful, because of its effectiveness and relatively simple and cheap performing. The main social factors that contribute to emerging and evolution of suicide terrorism are: in the first place, the terrorist organization as an organizer and sponsor of this type of extremist activity in order to achieve certain political goals, ideological foundation (most commonly religious – Jihad) that launches it, secondly, the personal motivation of the perpetrator and, last but not least, the social environment that supports and encourages such behaviour.

The question has always been, and especially after the suicide attacks of 9/11 – who are the terrorists and what kind of people are they? To properly answer this question it is necessary to make a profile of terrorist personality, which is a very complex and difficult task, and the final result can never be completely precise and accurate. Even though it is impossible to create a terrorist personality profile that is complete and temporarily sustainable, it is clear that nowadays those are mostly young and very intelligent males that have certain cold-bloodedness, tenacity, wits, confidence, capability and endurance. They are, firstly, strong personalities, politically motivated, and mostly religiously inspired, and determined to fulfil their assignment at any cost. Although they have a normal appearance, terrorists are sociopaths that in their desire and determination to succeed in performing their actions became completely insensitive to human traumas and tragedies that are caused by those very same actions. Research and statistic show that the modern terrorists are mostly a category of sagacious and conscious individuals for whom the terrorism is a rational choice and devastation and bloodshed are justified means for achieving their own political goals. They don’t see themselves as the initiators of injustice, as perpetrators of the atrocity, but more as those who are trying to correct such atrocities and punish the ones that are responsible. A terrorist considers that the act that he had committed is not his fault, but that the fault lies with the one who didn’t fulfil his request, which lead to the crime.

Today there are around 200 international terrorist organizations and groups, and most of them are located in the Middle East, and they are mostly Islamic. These ones in particular, lead by the Al-Qaeda and so called “Islamic State”, which can be considered as a synonym of global terrorism, represent the biggest threat to the modern society. The main factors of development and expansion of terrorism in that area are, among others, the conflict between Israel and Palestine that goes on for several decades and the previously mentioned globalization, based on “modernization” of the society through secularization (the decline of religiousness, in society, as well as in the consciousness of an individual), that hasn’t been put to past, but that a planned process of “democratization” and “modernization” in Islamic countries has lead to emerging of powerful and widely spread anti-globalist movements and organizations, out of which many have resorted to violence (terrorism). Also, it is quite clear that the US’s foreign policy, at least to a certain degree, is responsible for political extremism in the Islamic world. The results of it’s policy represent some of the main reasons for the frustration that is easily becoming intolerance in the Muslim population and that is manifesting in violence towards abhorred West.

It should also be noted that the connection between religion and the majority of important political processes, out of which some are extremely violent, has always been evident, but that many of those processes were also consequences of religious conflicts. However, Islamic terrorism itself has lead to the realization that Islam as a religion is completely and directly abused and politically instrumentalized, which has caused, however hard it may be to admit, global intolerance towards Muslims. And that is how the bloody attack in New York in 2001 was experienced and convicted by many as a Muslim crime, which shouldn’t have happened, because, just like Auschwitz, Jasenovac and etc., do not represent Christian crimes. Those who committed these crimes have names and surnames, and in these cases well organized structures. Aside from that distorted interpretation of Islam by those who misuse it, it should be taken into consideration that it has been, ever since the Palestinian conflict against Israel, and then the wars between Iraq and Iran, in a way “demonized” as a terrorist cult, that prompts suicide attacks, which is the exact opposite of what this religion stands for.

It is a fact that Islamic terrorism aspires to have as much victims as possible and uses the most brutal method of suicide that disgusts the whole world. Organizations of this kind have been the most active since the end of the last and the beginning of this century, and they aspire to establish social values that are based on the wrong interpretation of Islam. The main characteristics of their members are: dedication to Islam as the only true religion and dedication to ideology (Islamism - that represents the entirety of all other Muslim ideologies such as those that are most extreme – Jihadism and AlQaedism), sacrifice, obedience and allegiance towards their leadership, and also willingness to sacrifice for the greater good.