Guerrilla warfare definition
The following exchange took place between Ned Walker, Assistant to the Undersecretary for Middle East Affairs at the U.S. The relationship between crime and terrorism The relationship between guerilla warfare and terrorismħ. Can terrorism be legitimate? What gains justify its use?Ħ. Is terrorism a sub-category of coercion? Violence? Power? Influence?ĥ. Separating terrorism from simple criminal acts, from open war between “consenting” groups, and from acts that clearly arise out of mental illnessĤ. Whether government terrorism and resistance terrorism are part of the same phenomenonģ. The boundary between terrorism and other forms of political violenceĢ. Respondents were also asked the following question: “What issues in the definition of terrorism remain unresolved?” Some of the answers follow:ġ. From these definitions, the authors isolated the following recurring elements, in order of their statistical appearance in the definitions: Violence, force (appeared in 83.5% of the definitions) political (65%) fear, emphasis on terror (51%) threats (47%) psychological effects and anticipated reactions (41.5%) discrepancy between the targets and the victims (37.5%) intentional, planned, systematic, organized action (32%) methods of combat, strategy, tactics (30.5%). In their book Political Terrorism, Schmidt and Youngman cited 109 different definitions of terrorism, which they obtained in a survey of leading academics in the field. Others emphasize the motivations and characteristics of terrorism, the modus operandi of individual terrorists, etc. Some definitions focus on the terrorist organizations’ mode of operation. Defining Terrorism: The Present SituationĪcademics, politicians, security experts and journalists, all use a variety of definitions of terrorism.
In the struggle against terrorism, the problem of definition is a crucial element in the attempt to coordinate international collaboration, based on the currently accepted rules of traditional warfare. However, when dealing with terrorism and guerrilla warfare, implications of defining our terms tend to transcend the boundaries of theoretical discussions. The matter of definition and conceptualization is usually a purely theoretical issue-a mechanism for scholars to work out the appropriate set of parameters for the research they intend to undertake. The statement, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” has become not only a cliché, but also one of the most difficult obstacles in coping with terrorism. The author would like to dedicate this article to Yair Arazi whose perseverance and courage in the face of adversity have served as an inspiration. -Boaz Ganor