The global problem of terrorism in the modern world: identifying the nature, characteristics, directions, causes and justifications

The problem of terrorism in the modern world in all its manifestations has become one of the most sore topics for the world community. It entails massive casualties among the innocent civilian population. As a result of the actions of bandits, cultural and material values ​​are destroyed, which are very difficult to restore within a few years. Terrorist attacks create hatred and mistrust between national groups. They made the authorities of many countries think about the international struggle against them.

For many people and organizations, terrorism has become a way to solve political, national and religious problems. Terrorist attacks belong to those types of crimes, the victims of which are mostly innocent citizens, children and the elderly. They have nothing to do with emerging international conflicts. The scale and cruelty of the manifestation of modern terrorism compels us to raise the question of new legal methods of combating it.

What it is?

To identify the essence of the problem of terrorism in the modern world, you should find out what this term means. The word "terrorism" means one of the options for political struggle associated with ideologically motivated violence. Its essence is violence to intimidate the population. As a rule, attacks are prepared by individuals or organizations. Their goal is power represented by individual officials or society represented by civilians. Also, terrorists can strike at private or state property, at important infrastructures and life support systems. The purpose of the criminals is to achieve the desired course of events for them, as a rule, this is a destabilization of the situation in the country, inciting a revolution, declaring war, gaining independence of a certain territory, receiving concessions from the current government, and more.

Although terrorism is a global problem of the modern world, lawmakers from different countries have not come to a consensus in its definition. In most states, acts that are dangerous to society are considered terrorism. Moreover, they were committed to intimidate the population or its social groups. The goal of the terrorist is to attract as much attention as possible to the crime. At the same time, he wants to influence any decision previously made by the country's authorities. Terrorism is closely linked to a more general concept - terror, which is one of the ways to control popular opinion through intimidation. This method of influence is resorted to by both states and various organizations that try to solve political issues in this way.

Appearance conditions

Many people ask themselves: what is the characteristic feature of the problem of terrorism in the modern world? An important feature of world terrorism is that a prerequisite for the commission of a criminal act is to attract the maximum attention of the world community to this act. The wide resonance, the dissemination of as much information as possible about the crime only plays into the hands of bandits. A little-known or classified act of violence loses all meaning.

The widest possible dissemination of information about a perfect act of terrorism is necessary for criminals to change the mood in society, because mass killings affect mass psychology. Organizations carrying out inhumane crimes demonstrate their strength and capabilities by declaring that they are ready to go to the end in order to achieve their goal. Bandits sacrifice not only their lives, but also the lives of innocent people. They declare to everyone that there is a force in society that under no circumstances will come to terms with the existing order of things and will continue to struggle.

What are the terrorists doing?

To find out what the problems of terrorism are in the modern world, it is necessary to briefly describe the goals of the criminals that they pursue when committing an act of violence. They are as follows:

1. Demonstration of powerlessness. In the place where the crime occurred, the government lost its power. At this point, laws and morality were violated, an alternative to the current administration was established.
2. Propaganda action. The act of violence made some members of society sympathize with the terrorists, as well as join their ranks.
3. The emergence of anti-government sentiment, the intensification of the work of opposition forces, since the attack is interpreted as a sign of a weak state system. All these actions push the authorities to make concessions.
4. The crime negatively affects the economy of the country where the incident occurred. The image of the city worsens, the flow of tourists decreases.
5. Terrorists are pushing the country to change their political course. Often the goal of bandits is to transfer power to an authoritarian form of government.

The problem of terrorism in the modern world is that a terrorist act is the most dangerous form of destabilizing society. Other methods, such as starting a civil war, strikes, uprisings, military destabilization, riots, require a lot of effort, resources. Also, the implementation of plans will require the support of other anti-government forces. To organize a terrorist act, the support of terrorists with a narrow layer of society is enough. Also, criminals will not need large technical resources.

The problem of terrorism in the modern world is that any act of terrorism is one of the ways to weaken power and destroy the political system. Lawyers classify terrorists as criminals who go against the constitutional foundations of the country. They threaten the security of the entire state as a whole.

Society and terrorists

The main problem of countering terrorism in the modern world is that a terrorist attack requires nationwide, and even better, global publicity, so it needs an information society to exist. It first appeared in the 19th century in Europe. It is there that an enlightened society reads newspapers daily. Over time, the media becomes a more powerful force. The greater the role of journalists in shaping public opinion, the wider the wave of terrorism can be.

Another global problem of terrorism in the modern world is the development of technologies that allow you to instantly disseminate information about a terrorist attack around the globe. As scientific and technological progress develops, the industrial environment becomes more vulnerable. In the world of modern technology, humanity is facing disasters that occur without the intervention of criminals. Also, the problem of countering terrorism in the modern world is that the ability of the state to control the activities of each person or group of people is extremely limited.

The emergence of terrorism is also affected by a change in society that seeks liberal values. The idea of ​​a social contract, where security and human life should be guaranteed by the state, is getting closer and closer to citizens. By their actions, terrorists are trying to prove to the whole world that officials and law enforcement agencies are not able to guarantee a calm and peaceful existence for their citizens. Therefore, the authorities should be held accountable for the crimes of criminals. If society, on the contrary, tries to rally against a common misfortune, while supporting the power with all its might, then terrorist acts lose their force.

In prosperous countries, there are such manifestations of terrorism when mentally unbalanced people commit acts of violence. However, such phenomena are observed quite rarely. Most often, the grounds for the massacre of citizens are liberation movements, as well as religious and national conflicts.

The problem of international terrorism in the modern world is that these bandits can exist only on the condition that some of the citizens will sympathize with them. Unlike trained military saboteurs who can work alone, terrorists need moral and physical support from citizens. In this they are much like partisans. If support faded, then a terrorist organization will not be able to exist for long.

The essence of the problem of terrorism in the modern world is that its appearance is an indicator of the crisis in the country. This is a mechanism of communication between society and power, between a separate cell of society and the entire population of the state. Such crimes indicate adversity in the social space. In this case, it is unlikely that it will be possible to solve the problem only by force. Suppression and localization of bandit organizations are only part of the solution to problems. Other methods of struggle should be political and cultural transformations that will remove the need for a radical resolution of the problem by society.

Varieties

The division of terrorism into types and classes is a difficult task, given its diversity. Nevertheless, experts share the problem of terrorism in the modern world into areas depending on the type of activity of criminals:

1. An individual criminal who commits a crime alone. In today's world, terrorists rarely act without the support of an organization. Therefore, an example of the manifestation of such criminal activity is the attack on the official Vera Zasulich in 1878.
2. Collective terrorist activities are planned and carried out by a large organization. In our time, it is organized terrorism that most often occurs.

Also, terrorists pursue various goals. Depending on this, the following types are distinguished:

1. Religious. It is associated with the struggle of adherents of one religion with adherents of another. Sometimes terrorists want to change power from secular to religious.
2. National. The bandits in this case pursue separatist goals.
3. A social and ideological view that requires a change in the political and economic policy of the country. Sometimes this type of protest is called revolutionary. The Socialist Revolutionaries, Anarchists and Fascists can be cited as an example.

Terrorist methods

The terrorists have several methods to draw attention to themselves. Let's consider them in more detail:

1. Explosions of important state or military buildings, transport hubs, residential buildings, theaters, restaurants.
2. The abduction of statesmen, journalists, high-ranking military. The main purpose of kidnapping is blackmail to exchange for accomplices.
3. Political killings of officials, police, military.
4. Capture of buildings in which a large number of people are located. After such a step, usually terrorists want to negotiate with the authorities. Hostages are either killed or released. Such a manifestation of terrorism is gaining popularity in our time.
5. Capture of transport aircraft, ships, buses with hostages. Most often, this form of terrorism manifested itself in the 80s of the last century.
6. Robberies of banks, shops, private houses, kidnapping for ransom. This is a secondary form of terrorism, but it brings profit to the bandits.
7. Beating and bullying people. Terrorism in this manifestation is an act of psychological pressure on a person.
8. Biological weapons terrorism. An example is the distribution of letters containing a poisonous substance.
9. Poisoning of victims by radioactive elements.

The arsenal of terrorists is constantly expanding. Recently, computer terrorism is gaining popularity. The authorities need to be prepared for the fact that any technically complex objects and storage facilities can become a goal for radical organizations.

Modern terrorists

Often people want to understand the causes of the problem of terrorism in the modern world. Let us briefly try to describe them further. Terrorism activated with renewed vigor at the dawn of the 20th century. There are several reasons for this phenomenon, for example, the economic crisis, the sale of weapons and explosives on the black market, the weakening of state institutions, the growth of criminal structures, uncontrolled migration, and local conflicts.

The problem of terrorism in the modern world is that some attacks are carried out by radical groups, for example, the explosion of a monument to Tsar Nicholas II in 1998 near Moscow, as well as the mining of a monument to Peter I in the capital of Russia. Both listed actions ended without casualties among the population. However, such crimes can undermine confidence in the authorities, because such acts were committed in the very center of Russia.

A much more serious problem of the fight against terrorism in the modern world arose when attacks related to the war in Chechnya were committed. The bandits blew up houses, markets, took hostages in several cities of Russia. Most often, the crimes occurred in Moscow, Dagestan and Volgodonsk. Chechen terrorists are very organized and have a stable source of income.

Among the most high-profile crimes is the capture by criminals led by Basayev of a maternity hospital in Budennovsk at the end of the 20th century. It ended with the return of terrorists to the territory not controlled by Russia. Another high-profile hostage-taking took place in Moscow, on Dubrovka, during the musical “Nord-Ost”, in 2002. As a result of the crime, several dozen hostages died, all the terrorists were eliminated during the assault.

The new kind

The problem of the fight against terrorism in the modern world is now aggravated with a new force, because at the moment nuclear terrorism threatens the world. Also, kidnapping for blackmail or ransom is becoming an increasingly common occurrence. The cause of the problem of terrorism in the modern world lies in the attitude of ordinary people to terrorists in the country. It depends on the attitude of society to the current political system, as well as on the goals that criminals dream of achieving. Also, the condemnation or support of terrorists by the civilian population depends on the liberal values ​​of a particular state, the price of human life, the level of education and legal awareness of citizens.

If terrorism has arisen due to social, political or cultural problems, then a small part of society, especially suffering from the crisis in the country, will support terrorists in various ways. Thanks to a positive attitude towards themselves, bandits who kill civilians and organize terrorist attacks will have a chance to recruit more people. The resolution of urgent problems removes tension in society, eliminates the split between warring organizations, and robs terrorist groups of support from the population.

Citizens who are faced with a terrorist threat, as a rule, change their attitude to this phenomenon. The shock associated with the attack of bandits on civilians splits society. Some reject terrorists, denouncing their actions. Others justify the action of the bandits, recognizing that in certain situations it is impossible to do without radical measures. If terrorist groups become more active in the country, committing more and more crimes, almost the entire civilian population condemns their actions, seeing how innocent people suffer. A group that has previously supported terrorism is fundamentally changing its mind. The support of criminals from the population is dying.

The impact of evolution on attitudes towards terrorism

The historical evolution of the assessment of such a phenomenon influences people's attitudes to terrorist acts. Society treated these crimes differently at different stages of its historical development. So, during the appearance of the first terrorist organizations, their members were considered fighters for freedom, equality and independence.

In the early 1920s, organizations that organized acts of violence in hostile countries existed quite legally in their homeland. They were supported in every possible way by their native state. . -, .

1960 , . . . . .

To justify the problems of terrorism in the modern world, you should know that criminals often resort to mass killings, because they will not succeed in achieving their crazy goals in open battle. Violence against civilians has long crossed the national framework, turning into a global threat to all the peoples of the globe. Terrorism has become an effective tool for intimidating society during military and political conflicts. The eternal debate of two different worlds, significantly different from each other in their awareness of life, moral standards and culture, leads to significant casualties among the innocent population.