
	Classification	Traditional Terrorrism Types	Bio/Chemical Terrorism	Cyber Terrorism	Nuclear Terrorism	Other Types of Terrorism

Types Of Terrorism

Traditional Terrorism Types

Nationalist Terrorism

The perpetrators of this type of terrorism are individuals or groups with strong nationalist ideas and goals. Sometimes they want to establish an independent state, or to take control of a certain region or country and sometimes to overthrow the government of a country or to accomplish the abolition of an entire political system to replace it with another, or to simply abandon it in favor of another, as in the case of ETA in Spain or Shining Path in South America. In the case of the Irish Revolutionary Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland. They want to free Northern Ireland from British rule and they are a good example of Nationalist Terrorism as well as the Irish Loyalists group which have exactly opposite goals to those of the IRA. Unfortunately both sides of this conflict have caused, in the past, the loss of numerous lives.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who want to establish an independent state in Sri Lanka, HAMAS and the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna in Spain, are also good examples of National Terrorist groups active today.

State Terrorism

Also called Establishment Terrorism. Te purpose of State Terrorism is to dominate and intimidate the population through violent acts or threats, to cause terror and repression and obtain obedience to strict rules dictated by the State or the participation in State activities, utilizing systematic punishment, communication media, monopoly and the creation of disciplinary centers for dissidents.

A variation of State Terrorism is the State-Supported Terrorism, in which terrorist groups are protected or funded by the government and they engage in violent attacks and general oppression of the people of a nation.

The Reign of Terror in France and the Holocaust in Germany are considered by some to be good examples of State Terrorism in history.

Global Terrorism

Up to the 90s, terrorism was mainly of the two traditional types above. However, in the 90's terrorism started taking a more gobal form and culminating in the most devastating global terrorist attack in USA on Sept 11 2001. From then on, more global terrorism followed and it will remain the number 1 security threat for many nations for many more years to come. This form of terrorism has spawned many derivatives such as bio/chemical and cyber terrorism. In view of the increasing importance of global terrorism, our team will focus on global terrorism and the derivatives of global terrorism including bio/chemical terrorism, cyberterrorism, narcoterrorism, nuclear terrorism and ecoterrorism

This type of terrorism knows no borders, its goals are international and its perpetrators work from many parts of the world for a common cause, tightly interconnected, taking advantage of the latest technological advances in communications media.

They attack indiscriminately, using very violent tactics, causing the loss of many thousands of innocent lives. Their primary targets are not their direct victims, instead, they want to intimidate people and governments by causing damage to vulnerable sectors or attacking national or important symbols, as in the case of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks in 2001 in the United States.

Global terrorists attack in a highly organized and carefully planned way, they have links and are supported and funded by many different criminal organizations. These international terrorist groups seek to cause the greatest possible impact and to capture the attention of the media to effectively spread terror in the population. The best known example of a global terrorist group is undoubtedly al-Qaeda, led by Osama Bin Laden, who wants to establish an Islamic Caliphate throughout the world, or Jemaah Islamiah, who similarly wants to establish and Islamic state in Southeast Asia.

This type of terrorism is the most prominent in modern times and within it we can include several subtypes and classify them in turn according to different criteria, because even though all types would share some characteristics, they would differ in the tactics they employ, in their targets, in their aims and religious beliefs, etc.

In this sub-section we include some examples of types of terrorism that we classify under Global terrorism, since its aims are international although the groups involved and the tactics used are completely different. Ecoterrorism could be said to be defined by its goals, and the others are defined by their tactics