Terrorism

The term terrorism is largely synonymous with "political violence," and refers to a strategy of using coordinated attacks which typically fall outside of the time, place, and manner of conduct commonly understood as within the bounds of conventional warfare.

Related Topics:
Violence - Strategy - Manner of conduct - Conventional warfare

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By most definitions, "terrorist attacks" are characterized as "indiscriminate," "targeting of civilians," or executed "with disregard" for human life —hence they are widely considered to be a violation of contemporary traditions for the conduct of conventional warfare.

Related Topics:
Human - Conventional warfare

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According to definitions typically held by states, "terrorists" are actors not belonging to or adhering to the rules and traditions of any established national armed forces, and thus are considered to be "rogue actors" —lacking any centralized coordination for their attacks, political goals, or unitary consensus to act.

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Hence the term "terrorism" is often used in its relative sense to assert that the political violence of an enemy is immoral, wanton, and unjustified, when compared to the violence of state actors.

Related Topics:
Relative - Enemy - Immoral

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Those accused of being terrorists rarely identify themselves as "immoral" or "unlawful," and often instead use terms which reference their overall struggle —such as separatist, freedom fighter, liberator, militant, activist, insurgent, paramilitary, guerrilla, (from guerra —Spanish for "war"), rebel, jihadi and mujaheddin (both meaning "struggler"), or fedayeen ("prepared for martyrdom").

Related Topics:
Separatist - Freedom fighter - Militant - Insurgent - Paramilitary - Guerrilla - Spanish - Rebel - Jihad - Mujaheddin - Fedayeen

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