2 ms·
A key point is that terrorism needs to intentionally cause terror in the furtherance of the political goal.
by alasdair_ 6y ago
A key point is that terrorism needs to intentionally cause terror in the furtherance of the political goal.
- AmericanChopper 6y agoThis is certainly not a relevant point at all. All mainstream definitions of terrorism center around the type of acts that are included in the definition (eg violence against people vs violence against property), and the types of motive (political, ideological, religious, revolutionary for example, though all of those could reasonably be described as ‘political’). Whether or not the perpetrator intended to strike terror into people’s hearts is irrelevant to the definition, because it is presumed that the types of acts covered by the definition are terrorizing. A revolutionary destroying infrastructure with the sole intention of disabling the capabilities of the state would would fit into almost all definitions of terrorism, even though terrorizing people may have played no role in the perpetrator‘s motive.
- alasdair_ 6y agoI completely disagree and, while I don’t consider myself an expert in “all mainstream definitions of terrorism”, I’d suspect Merriam Webster would be “mainstream” enough for many readers: “ Definition of terrorism : the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terrorism https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terrorism