Catholic Distance University Terrorism and The U.S Government

Terrorism is an enormous, always emerging and evolving, amorphous phenomenon. In order to be able to dissect, analyze, discuss and understand it, we first must understand – or at least agree on – just what it is, and what it is not. To even begin to understand terrorism, therefore, the first question that must be asked – and answered – is “What is terrorism?”. What makes some action an act of terrorism as opposed to a pedestrian level crime of the same behavior? If I kill someone, what makes it a terrorist assassination as opposed to a mere homicide? What makes the taking of another person a terrorist abduction as opposed to a kidnapping? Many definitions of terrorism, especially international terrorism, exist. The U.S. government alone has been credited with having at least a dozen different definitions espoused by various laws and government departments and agencies. From the definition of terrorism contained in the reading develop your own definition and explain why it is superior to that of the U.S. government.

READING:

Laurent Murawiec, The Mind of Jihad (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press: 2008), pp. 1-58.

Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam (New York: Random House: 2003), Introduction.