Terrorism
1
Unit II
Introduction to Terrorism
August 26, 2019
Columbia Southern University
Terrorism
2
Terrorism is an act of violence that we have seen for centuries. It is the unlawful threat of
violence to frighten people to achieve political objective or goals. To better understand terrorism,
David Rapoport identifies typologies of terrorism into four waves; Anarchist, anti-colonial, new
left, and religious. It is a cycle of activities in a given time period and the wave is composed of
organizations. The most common terrorism typology is motivation-based. Motivational-based
typologies vary from one another. According to
Taylor, R. W. & Swanson, C. R. (2016), “state-
involved terrorism occurs when a national government supports, fosters, or commits acts of
terrorism” (p. 161). State-involved terrorism includes four components such as, state-terrorism,
state-enabled terrorism, state-sponsored terrorism, and state-perpetrated/international terrorism.
When a state targets its own citizens or even against foreign targets, this is state terrorism.
It is the act conducted by the national government inside its own borders. This act represses its
citizens and instills fear to all to consolidate the ruling regime’s power and maintain control over
the civilian population (Taylor, R. W. & Swanson, C. R., 2016). State terrorism includes
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- Spring '15
- Cuban Missile Crisis, Fidel Castro, The Land, President of the United States, State-involved terrorism
