| >nobody seems to be able to agree on exactly what Terrorism is, I don't think that's true. Without looking anything up, I'd define terrorism as a tool to advance political goals through the use of violence and intimidation to create fear/terrorize target groups. That's a very general description, of course. However, I think it sums up "terrorism" pretty well. I'll now go and look up some definitions and see if I'm right. Please stand by... "the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion"[0] "the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes."[1] "Terrorism, the calculated use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective."[2] As you can see above, from the English language definition of the word standpoint, my definition seems accurate. That said, legal definitions of 'terrorism' by various governments (as well as sub-classes of terrorism) are not as clearly defined. For example (not including quotes, as they're all fairly long): US Law[3] Defines "international" and "domestic" terrorism separately. The UK[4] has it's own definition as well. As does the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.[5] However, all of these include the more general definition I and the various dictionaries/encyclopedia quoted put forward. So, no. I think we all, in general, agree what "terrorism" is. The difference is in how legal codes treat such activities. It's possible that I'm missing the point here. If so, please elucidate that statement. [0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terrorism [1] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/terrorism [2] https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism [3] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2331 [4] https://www.cps.gov.uk/crime-info/terrorism [5] https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/terrorism/module-4/key-issues/d... Edit: Fixed typos, clarified language. |