Misplaced Pages

State terrorism is terrorism that a state conducts against another state, non-state actors or against its own citizens. Acts accused of being state terrorism typically involve the use or threat of violence by state agents, including military, police, or intelligence agencies, and targets can be domestic or foreign individuals or groups.

Governments accused of state terrorism may justify these actions as efforts to combat internal dissent, suppress insurgencies, or maintain national security, often framing their actions within the context of counterterrorism or counterinsurgency. Accused actions of state terrorism are normally also criticised as severe violations of human rights and international law, but contrast with state-sponsored terrorism in that the state is carrying out the actions rather than sponsoring violent non-state actors who do so.

Historically, governments have been accused of using state terrorism in various settings. The exact definition and scope of state terrorism remain controversial, as some scholars and governments argue that terrorism is a tool used exclusively by non-state actors, while others maintain that state-directed violence intended to terrorize civilian populations should also be classified as terrorism.

Definition

There is neither an academic nor an international legal consensus regarding the proper definition of the word terrorism. Some scholars believe the actions of governments can be labelled "terrorism". Using the term 'terrorism' to mean violent action used with the predominant intention of causing terror, Paul James and Jonathan Friedman distinguish between state terrorism against non-combatants and state terrorism against combatants, including "shock and awe" tactics:

"Shock and Awe" as a subcategory of "rapid dominance" is the name given to massive intervention designed to strike terror into the minds of the enemy. It is a form of state-terrorism. The concept was however developed long before the Second Gulf War by Harlan Ullman as chair of a forum of retired military personnel.

However, others, including governments, international organisations, private institutions and scholars, believe the term terrorism is applicable only to the actions of violent non-state actors. This approach is termed as an actor-centric definition which emphasizes the characteristics of the groups or individuals who use terrorism; whilst act-centric definitions emphasize the unique aspects of terrorism from other acts of violence. Historically, the term terrorism was used to refer to actions taken by governments against their own citizens whereas now it is more often perceived as targeting of non-combatants as part of a strategy directed against governments.

Historian Henry Commager wrote that "Even when definitions of terrorism allow for 'state terrorism', state actions in this area tend to be seen through the prism of war or national self-defense, not terror." While states may accuse other states of state-sponsored terrorism when they support insurgencies, individuals who accuse their governments of terrorism are seen as radicals, because actions by legitimate governments are not generally seen as illegitimate. Academic writing tends to follow the definitions accepted by states. Most states use the term terrorism for non-state actors only.

The Encyclopædia Britannica Online defines terrorism generally as "the systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective", and states that "terrorism is not legally defined in all jurisdictions." The encyclopedia adds that "stablishment terrorism, often called state or state-sponsored terrorism, is employed by governments—or more often by factions within governments—against that government's citizens, against factions within the government, or against foreign governments or groups."

While the most common modern usage of the word terrorism refers to political violence by insurgents or conspirators, several scholars make a broader interpretation of the nature of terrorism that encompasses the concepts of state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism. Michael Stohl argues, "The use of terror tactics is common in international relations and the state has been and remains a more likely employer of terrorism within the international system than insurgents. Stohl clarifies, however, that "ot all acts of state violence are terrorism. It is important to understand that in terrorism the violence threatened or perpetrated, has purposes broader than simple physical harm to a victim. The audience of the act or threat of violence is more important than the immediate victim."

Scholar Gus Martin describes state terrorism as terrorism "committed by governments and quasi-governmental agencies and personnel against perceived threats", which can be directed against both domestic and foreign targets. Noam Chomsky defines state terrorism as "terrorism practised by states (or governments) and their agents and allies".

Simon Taylor provides a definition of state terrorism as "state agents using threats or acts of violence against civilians, marked by a callous indifference to human life, to instill fear in a community beyond the initial victim for the purpose of preventing a change or challenge to the status quo." These acts of violence can include both the types of state violence that some argue ought to be considered terrorism, such as: genocide, mass murders, ethnic cleansing, disappearances, detention without trial, and torture; and more widely accepted methods of terror including bombings and targeted killings.

Stohl and George A. Lopez have designated three categories of state terrorism, based on the openness or secrecy with which the acts are performed, and whether states directly perform the acts, support them, or acquiesce to them.

History

Aristotle wrote critically of terror employed by tyrants against their subjects. The earliest use of the word terrorism identified by the Oxford English Dictionary is a 1795 reference to tyrannical state behavior, the "reign of terrorism" in France. In that same year, Edmund Burke decried the "thousands of those hell-hounds called terrorists" who he believed threatened Europe. During the Reign of Terror, the Jacobin government and other factions of the French Revolution used the apparatus of the state to kill and intimidate political opponents, and the Oxford English Dictionary includes as one definition of terrorism "Government by intimidation carried out by the party in power in France between 1789–1794". The original general meaning of terrorism was of terrorism by the state, as reflected in the 1798 supplement of the Dictionnaire of the Académie française, which described terrorism as systeme, regime de la terreur. Myra Williamson wrote:

The meaning of "terrorism" has undergone a transformation. During the Reign of Terror, a regime or system of terrorism was used as an instrument of governance, wielded by a recently established revolutionary state against the enemies of the people. Now the term "terrorism" is commonly used to describe terrorist acts committed by non-state or sub-national entities against a state. (italics in original)

Later examples of state terrorism include the police state measures employed by the Soviet Union beginning in the 1930s, and by Germany's Nazi regime in the 1930s and 1940s. According to Igor Primoratz, "Both sought to impose total political control on society. Such a radical aim could be pursued only by a similarly radical method: by terrorism directed by an extremely powerful political police at an atomized and defenseless population. Its success was due largely to its arbitrary character—to the unpredictability of its choice of victims. In both countries, the regime first suppressed all opposition; when it no longer had any opposition to speak of, political police took to persecuting 'potential' and 'objective opponents'. In the Soviet Union, it was eventually unleashed on victims chosen at random."

The terror of tsarism was directed against the proletariat. Our Extraordinary Commissions shoot landlords, capitalists, and generals who are striving to restore the capitalist order. Do you grasp this ... distinction? Yes? For us communists it is quite sufficient.

Military actions primarily directed against non-combatant targets have also been referred to as state terrorism. For example, the bombing of Guernica has been called an act of terrorism. Other examples of state terrorism may include the World War II bombings of Pearl Harbor, London, Dresden, Chongqing, and Hiroshima.

An act of sabotage, sometimes regarded as an act of terrorism, was the peacetime sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, a ship owned by Greenpeace, which occurred while in port at Auckland, New Zealand on July 10, 1985. The bomb detonation killed Fernando Pereira, a Dutch photographer. The organisation who committed the attack, the Directorate-General for External Security (DSGE), is a branch of France's intelligence services. The agents responsible pleaded guilty to manslaughter as part of a plea deal and were sentenced to ten years in prison, but were secretly released early to France under an agreement between the two countries' governments.

During the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the 1990s, the Military Reaction Force (MRF), a counterinsurgency unit of the British Intelligence Corps, was tasked with tracking down members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). During the period when it was active, the MRF was involved in the killings of Catholic civilians in Northern Ireland.

In November 2013, a BBC Panorama documentary was aired about the MRF. It drew on information from seven former members, as well as a number of other sources. Soldier H said: "We operated initially with them thinking that we were the UVF." Soldier F added: "We wanted to cause confusion." In June 1972, he was succeeded as commander by Captain James 'Hamish' McGregor.

In June 2014, in the wake of the Panorama programme, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) opened an investigation into the matter. In an earlier review of the programme, the position of the PSNI was that none of the statements by soldiers in the programme could be taken as an admission of criminality.

By country

Argentina

The Dirty War is the name used for the period of state terrorism in Argentina between 1974 and 1983.

Belarus

Brazil

Chile

Chile during Augusto Pinochet's rule was accused of state terror against political opponents.

China

The Uyghur American Association has claimed that Beijing's approach to terrorism in Xinjiang constitutes state terrorism. In 2006, a Spanish court opened an investigation into claims that the Chinese state was committing acts of state terrorism in Tibet. However, the investigation was dropped in 2014.

France

The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior took place in Auckland Harbour on July 10, 1985. It was an attack carried out by French DGSE agents Captain Dominique Prieur and Commander Alain Mafart aimed at sinking the flagship craft of the Greenpeace Organisation in order to stop it from interfering in French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. The attack resulted in the death of Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira and led to a huge uproar over the first ever attack on New Zealand's sovereignty as a modern nation. France initially denied any involvement in the attack, and it even joined in condemning the attack as a terrorist act. In July 1986, a United Nations-sponsored mediation effort between New Zealand and France resulted in the transfer of the two prisoners to the French Polynesian island of Hao, so they could serve three years there, as well as an apology and an NZ$13 million payment from France to New Zealand.

India

Iran

Israel

In November 2023, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel of being "a terrorist state" committing war crimes and violating international law in the Gaza Strip. He said Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories should be recognized as "terrorists".

In December 2023, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the alleged genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and called Israel a "terrorist state".

The 2024 Lebanon pager explosions, which killed 39 people and wounded nearly 3,500, have been widely attributed to Israel. Iran referred to the attacks as "Israeli terrorism". Leon Panetta, the former-CIA director, also termed the attack terrorism.

Italy

Libya

In the 1980s, Libya under Muammar Gaddafi was accused of state terrorism following attacks abroad such as the Lockerbie bombing. Between 9 July and 15 August 1984 seventeen merchant vessels were damaged in the Gulf of Suez and Bab al-Mandeb straits by underwater explosions. Terrorist group Al Jihad (thought to be a pro-Iranian Shiite group connected to the Palestine Liberation Organisation) issued a claim of responsibility for the mining, but circumstantial evidence indicated that Libya was responsible.

Myanmar

Myanmar has been accused of state terrorism in the internal conflict.

North Korea

North Korea has been accused of state terrorism on several occasions, such as in 1983 in the Rangoon bombing, the Gimpo International Airport bombing, and in 1987 when North Korean agents detonated a bomb on Korean Air Flight 858, killing everybody aboard.

Pakistan

Qatar

Russia

Following the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the initial investigations into war crimes committed by Russian soldiers, there were calls for Russia to be designated a terrorist state. On May 10, 2022, Lithuania's parliament designated Russia a terrorist state and its actions in Ukraine a genocide. The US Senate unanimously passed a resolution to this effect on July 27, 2022, and the US House of Representatives is to consider such legislation. On August 11, Latvia's parliament designated Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada on 20 August 2022 also designated Russia as a terrorist state. On October 17, the European Parliament approved a request to debate and vote on a resolution recognizing Russia as a terrorist state, which it did on November 23.

As of October 2023, the following states and organizations have designated Russia as terrorist or a sponsor of terrorism:

•  Czechia (16 November 2022)
•  Estonia (18 October 2022)
• European Parliament (23 November 2022)
•  Latvia (11 August 2022)
•  Lithuania (10 May 2022)
•  NATO Parliamentary Assembly (21 November 2022)
•  Netherlands (24 November 2022)
•  OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (4 July 2023)
• Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (13 October 2022)
•  Poland (14 December 2022)
•  Slovakia (16 February 2023)
•  Ukraine (14 April 2022)
•  United States Senate (27 July 2022)

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

Between 1979 and 1990, the Apartheid government in South Africa operated a branch of the South African Police known as Vlakplaas who routinely used methods of terrorism to support the state in maintaining Apartheid. These methods included the bombing of civilian buildings (COSATU House and Khotso House), and the targeted-killing and assassinations of anti-Apartheid activists.

In the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, the former Major-General and Commander of Vlakplaas, Sarel “Sakkie” du Plessis Crafford gave the following three reasons for the Apartheid state’s policy of extra-judicial killings: (1) “It scared off other supporters and potential supporters; it made people reluctant to offer open support; it created distrust and demoralization amongst cadres. (2) It gave white voters confidence that the security forces were in control and winning the fight against Communism and terrorism. (3) The information gleaned during the interrogation needed to be protected against disclosure.”

The most notorious of the Vlakplaas operatives were Eugene de Kock and the askari Joe Mamasela, who were linked to several high-profile extra-judicial killings, including that of Griffiths Mxenge. Following South Africa's transition to democracy, de Kock was later tried and convicted on eighty-nine charges and sentenced to 212 years in prison.

Soviet Union

Spain

Sri Lanka

Syria

Turkey

United Kingdom

During World War II, the United Kingdom created the Special Operations Executive (SOE) which, in the words of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, was to "set Europe ablaze" with sabotage and subversion in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. The British military historian John Keegan later wrote, "We must recognise that our response to the scourge of terrorism is compromised by what we did through SOE. The justification ... That we had no other means of striking back at the enemy ... is exactly the argument used by the Red Brigades, the Baader-Meinhoff gang, the PFLP, the IRA and every other half-articulate terrorist organisation on Earth. Futile to argue that we were a democracy and Hitler a tyrant. Means besmirch ends. SOE besmirched Britain."

British Foreign Office documents declassified in 2021 revealed that during the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, British propagandists secretly incited anti-communists including army generals to eliminate the PKI, and used black propaganda, due to Indonesian President Sukarno's hostility to the formation of former British colonies into the Malayan federation from 1963. British Prime Minister Harold Wilson's government had instructed propaganda specialists from the Foreign Office to send hundreds of inflammatory pamphlets to leading anti-communists in Indonesia, inciting them to kill the foreign minister, Subandrio, and claiming that ethnic Chinese Indonesians deserved the violence meted out to them.

Britain has been accused of involvement in state terrorism during the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the 1990s by covertly assisting loyalist paramilitaries.

United States

Ruth J Blakeley, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield, accuses the United States of sponsoring and deploying state terrorism, which she defines as "the illegal targeting of individuals that the state has a duty to protect in order to instill fear in a target audience beyond the direct victim", on an "enormous scale" during the Cold War. The United States government justified this policy by saying it needed to contain the spread of Communism, but Blakeley says the United States government also used it as a means to buttress and promote the interests of U.S. elites and multinational corporations. The U.S. supported governments who employed death squads throughout Latin America and counterinsurgency training of right-wing military forces included advocating the interrogation and torture of suspected insurgents. J. Patrice McSherry, a professor of political science at Long Island University, says "hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans were tortured, abducted or killed by right-wing military regimes as part of the U.S.-led anti-communist crusade," which included U.S. support for Operation Condor and the Guatemalan military during the Guatemalan Civil War. More people were repressed and killed throughout Latin America in the last three decades of the Cold War than in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, according to historian John Henry Coatsworth.

Declassified documents from the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta in 2017 confirm that U.S. officials directly facilitated and encouraged the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of suspected Communists in Indonesia during the mid-1960s. Bradley Simpson, Director of the Indonesia/East Timor Documentation Project at the National Security Archive, says "Washington did everything in its power to encourage and facilitate the army-led massacre of alleged PKI members, and U.S. officials worried only that the killing of the party's unarmed supporters might not go far enough, permitting Sukarno to return to power and frustrate the Administration's emerging plans for a post-Sukarno Indonesia." According to Simpson, the terror in Indonesia was an "essential building block of the quasi neo-liberal policies the West would attempt to impose on Indonesia in the years to come". Historian John Roosa, who commented on documents which were released by the U.S. embassy in Jakarta in 2017, said they confirmed that "the U.S. was part and parcel of the operation, strategizing with the Indonesian army and encouraging them to go after the PKI." Geoffrey B. Robinson, a historian at UCLA, argues that without the support of the U.S. and other powerful Western states, the Indonesian Army's program of mass killings would not have happened.

Uzbekistan

Venezuela

An Organization of American States report on human rights violations in Venezuela stated that colectivos, armed groups that support Nicolás Maduro and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) party, murdered at least 131 individuals between 2014 and 2017 during anti-government protests.

The National Assembly of Venezuela designated the colectivos as terrorist groups due to their "violence, paramilitary actions, intimidation, murders and other crimes," declaring their acts as state-sponsored terrorism.

Criticism of the concept

The chairman of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee has said the twelve previous international conventions on terrorism had never referred to state terrorism, which was not an international legal concept, and when states abuse their powers they should be judged against international conventions which deal with war crimes, international human rights law, and international humanitarian law, rather than international anti-terrorism statutes. In a similar vein, Kofi Annan, at the time the United Nations Secretary-General, said it is "time to set aside debates on so-called 'state terrorism'. The use of force by states is already regulated under international law". Annan added, "... regardless of the differences between governments on the question of the definition of terrorism, what is clear and what we can all agree on is any deliberate attack on innocent civilians , regardless of one's cause, is unacceptable and fits into the definition of terrorism."

Dr. Bruce Hoffman has argued that failing to differentiate between state and non-state violence ignores the fact that there is a "fundamental qualitative difference between the two types of violence." Hoffman argues that even in war, there are rules and accepted norms of behaviour that prohibit certain types of weapons and tactics and outlaw attacks on specific categories of targets. For instance, rules which are codified in the Geneva and Hague Conventions on warfare prohibit taking civilians as hostages, outlaw reprisals against either civilians or POWs, recognise neutral territory, etc. Hoffman says "even the most cursory review of terrorist tactics and targets over the past quarter century reveals that terrorists have violated all these rules." Hoffman also says that when states transgress these rules of war "the term "war crime" is used to describe such acts."

Walter Laqueur has said those who argue that state terrorism should be included in studies of terrorism ignore the fact that "The very existence of a state is based on its monopoly of power. If it were different, states would not have the right, nor would they be in a position, to maintain that minimum of order on which all civilized life rests." Calling the concept a "red herring" he stated: "This argument has been used by the terrorists themselves, arguing that there is no difference between their activities and those by governments and states. It has also been employed by some sympathizers, and it rests on the deliberate obfuscation between all kinds of violence ..."

See also

• Asymmetric warfare
• Ethnic violence
• History of terrorism
• Political repression
• Sociology of revolution
• State violence
• State sponsors of terrorism
• State-sponsored terrorism
• War crime
• State terrorism by country:
  • India and state-sponsored terrorism
  • Iran and state-sponsored terrorism
  • Israel and state-sponsored terrorism
  • Soviet Union and state terrorism
  • Sri Lanka and state terrorism
  • State terrorism by Syria
  • United States and state terrorism
  • State terrorism by Uzbekistan
  • Pakistan and state-sponsored terrorism

References

1. Aust, Anthony (2010). Handbook of International Law (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-521-13349-4. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
2. ^ "Terrorism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2020-01-11. Retrieved 2020-01-11.
3. Selden & So, 2003: p. 4. Archived 2024-03-29 at the Wayback Machine
4. ^ Martin, 2006: p. 111.
5. ^ Chenoweth, Erica; English, Richard; Gofas, Andrew; Kalyvas, Stathis (2019). The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism (First ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. p. 153. ISBN 9780198732914. Archived from the original on 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
6. ^ Williamson, Myra (2009). Terrorism, war and international law: the legality of the use of force against Afghanistan in 2001. Ashgate Publishing. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-7546-7403-0. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
7. Williamson, Myra (2009). Terrorism, war and international law: the legality of the use of force against Afghanistan in 2001. Ashgate Publishing. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-7546-7403-0. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
8. Schmid, Alex P. (2011). "The Definition of Terrorism". The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research. Routledge. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-203-82873-1. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
9. Nairn, Tom; James, Paul (2005). Global Matrix: Nationalism, Globalism and State-Terrorism. London and New York: Pluto Press. Archived from the original on 2021-08-18. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
10. James, Paul; Friedman, Jonathan (2006). Globalization and Violence, Vol. 3: Globalizing War and Intervention. London: Sage Publications. p. xxx. Archived from the original on 2020-01-11. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
11. Hor, Michael Yew Meng (2005). Global anti-terrorism law and policy. Cambridge University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-521-10870-6. Archived from the original on 2019-03-03. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
12. Donahue, pp. 19–20.
13. Alex P. Schmid (2011). Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research. Routledge. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-415-41157-8. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
14. "Dealing with Terrorism", by Helen Purkitt, in Conflict in World Society, 1984, p. 162.
15. Michael Stohl, p. 14.
16. The Superpowers and International Terror Michael Stohl, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Atlanta, March 27 – April 1, 1984.
17. Stohl, National Interests and State Terrorism, The Politics of Terrorism, Marcel Dekker 1988, p.275.
18. Chomsky, Noam (April 2002). "What Anthropologists Should Know about the Concept of Terrorism'". Anthropology Today. 18 (2).
19. ^ Taylor, Simon (3 May 2021). "Status Quo Terrorism: State-Terrorism in South Africa during Apartheid". Terrorism and Political Violence. 35 (2): 2. doi:10.1080/09546553.2021.1916478. S2CID 235534871.
20. Stohl & Lopez, 1988: pp. 207–208.
21. "Those Hell-Hounds Called Terrorists" Archived 2013-04-04 at the Wayback Machine By Harvey C. Mansfield, The Claremont Institute, posted November 28, 2001.
22. Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Edition, CD Version 3, 2002, Oxford University Press.
23. ^ A History of Terrorism, by Walter Laqueur, Transaction Publishers, 2007, ISBN 0-7658-0799-8, at , p. 6.
24. Teichman, Jenny (October 1989). "How to define terrorism". Philosophy. 64 (250): 505–517. doi:10.1017/S0031819100044260. S2CID 144723359.
25. Williamson, Myra (2009). Terrorism, war and international law: the legality of the use of force against Afghanistan in 2001. Ashgate Publishing. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-7546-7403-0. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
26. Primoratz, Igor (2007); "Terrorism" Archived 2018-06-11 at the Wayback Machine in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
27. Primoratz, Igor (2007).
28. Gage, Beverly (2009). The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in its First Age of Terror. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 263. ISBN 978-0199759286.
29. What's wrong with terrorism? by Robert E. Goodin, Polity, 2006, ISBN 0-7456-3497-4, at , p. 62.
30. Michael Stohl, "The Superpowers and International Terror", Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Atlanta, March 27 – April 1, 1984.
31. "Russell-Einstein Manifesto, ICJ case and Rainbow Warrior bombing: Remembering humanity". Down to Earth. July 9, 2020.
32. "Undercover soldiers 'killed unarmed civilians in Belfast'". BBC News. 21 November 2014. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
33. Ed Moloney (November 2003). A Secret History of the IRA. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 119–122/123. ISBN 978-0-393-32502-7. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
34. Ware, John. "Britain's Secret Terror Force" Archived 2015-06-23 at the Wayback Machine. Irish Republican News, 23 November 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
35. Telling, Leo (director) (21 November 2013). "Britain's Secret Terror Force". Panorama. BBC.
36. "Police investigate Military Reaction Force allegations". BBC. 10 June 2014. Archived from the original on 13 June 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
37. "Panorama MRF programme: Soldiers 'admitted no crimes'". BBC. 13 May 2014. Archived from the original on 27 June 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
38. Blakeley, Ruth (2009). State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: The North in the South. Routledge. pp. 96–97. ISBN 978-0-415-68617-4. Archived from the original on 2015-06-14. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
39. Borger, Julian (2004). "Kissinger backed dirty war against left in Argentina". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2019-08-29. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
40. Wright, Thomas C. "State Terrorism in Latin America". Archived from the original on 2022-05-29. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
41. "Terrorism and State Terror in Latin America". University of Kent. Archived from the original on 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
42. Gaye Christoffersen (2 September 2002). "Constituting the Uyghur in U.S.-China Relations The Geopolitics of Identity Formation in the War on Terrorism" (PDF). Strategic Insights. 1 (7): 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
43. "China rejects Spain's 'genocide' claims". The Independent. 2006-06-07. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
44. "Spain drops 'genocide' case against China's Tibet leaders". BBC News. 2014-06-24. Archived from the original on 2023-05-14. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
45. Diary compiled by Mike Andrews (Secretary of the Dargaville Maritime Museum)
46. "Case concerning the difference between New Zealand and France concerning the interpretation or application of two agreements, concluded on 9 July 1986 between the two states and which related to the problems arising from the Rainbow Warrior Affair" (PDF). Reports of International Arbitral Awards. XX: 215–284, especially p 275. 30 April 1990. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
47. "Turkey's Erdogan labels Israel a 'terror state', slams its backers in West". Reuters. 15 November 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
48. "Turkey's Erdogan calls Israel a 'terror state', criticises the West". Al Jazeera. 15 November 2023. Archived from the original on 25 March 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
49. "Cuba condemns 'genocide' committed by 'terrorist state of Israel'". Anadolu Agency. 27 December 2023. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
50. Alkhshali, Hamdi (17 September 2024). "Iran says pager explosions are "Israeli terrorism," offers assistance to victims". CNN.
51. Magid, Jacob. "Former CIA chief Panetta calls mass detonation of Hezbollah pagers 'a form of terrorism'". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
52. Olmsted, Edith. "Even Leon Panetta Says Israel's Pager Attack Is "Terrorism"". The New Republic. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
53. Jureńczyk, Łukasz (2018). "Great Britain Against Libya's state Terrorism in the 1980s". Historia i Polityka. 31 (24): 61–71. doi:10.12775/HiP.2018.011. ISSN 1899-5160. Archived from the original on 2022-11-23. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
54. "The Red Sea 1984". Archived from the original on 2022-11-23. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
55. "The Rohingya are the victims of state terrorism; it must be stopped". Middle East Monitor. 2017-09-17. Archived from the original on 2020-11-30. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
56. "The Evolution of State Terrorism in Myanmar" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-11-23.
57. "United States Department of State" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-04-02. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
58. Kirby, Paul (2 March 2022). "Ukraine conflict: Who's in Putin's inner circle and running the war?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 3 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
59. ^ Treisman, Rachel (2022-05-10). "Lithuania designates Russia as a terrorist country, a global first". NPR. Archived from the original on 2022-08-09. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
60. ^ Medina, Eduardo (2022-07-28). "The U.S. Senate passes a resolution seeking to label Russia as a sponsor of terrorism". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2022-08-11. Retrieved 2022-08-02.
61. Ward, Alexander; Desiderio, Andrew; Forgey, Quint (2022-07-28). "House group moves to label Russia as terrorist state". Politico. Archived from the original on 2022-08-12. Retrieved 2022-08-02.
62. "Latvia designates Russia a "state sponsor of terrorism" over Ukraine war". Reuters. 11 August 2022. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
63. "Rada recognizes Russia as "terrorist state," calls on world to follow suit". 19 August 2022. Archived from the original on 21 November 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
64. "European Parliament to vote on recognising Russia a state sponsor of terror". news.yahoo.com. 17 October 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-10-18. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
65. ^ "European Parliament declares Russia to be a state sponsor of terrorism". News (European Parliament). 2022-11-23. Archived from the original on 2022-11-29. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
66. "Lower House of Czech Parliament Recognises Russian Regime as Terrorist". European Pravda. 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
67. "Estonian parliament declares Russia a terrorist state". POLITICO. 2022-10-18. Archived from the original on 2022-11-19. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
68. "Saeima Krieviju atzīst par terorismu atbalstošu valsti" [The Saeima recognizes Russia as a country supporting terrorism]. Diena (in Latvian). 11 August 2022. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
69. "Lithuania Adopts Resolution Calling Russia 'Terrorist State,' Accuses Moscow Of 'Genocide'". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Archived from the original on 2022-07-01. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
70. "NATO Parliamentary Assembly declares Russia to be a 'terrorist state'". The New Voice of Ukraine. 2022-11-21. Archived from the original on 2022-11-23. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
71. "NATO PA recognizes Russia as terrorist state". Ukrinform. 2022-11-23. Archived from the original on 2022-11-22. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
72. "Dutch Parliament declares Russia state sponsor of terrorism". The New Voice of Ukraine. 2022-11-25. Archived from the original on 2022-11-26. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
73. "OSCE Parliamentary Assembly recognizes Russia as state sponsor of terrorism". The Kyiv Independent. 2023-07-04. Archived from the original on 2023-10-16. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
74. "PACE adopts resolution declaring Russian regime as terrorist one". The New Voice of Ukraine. 2022-10-13. Archived from the original on 2022-10-13. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
75. "Further escalation in the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine (Resolution 2463)". Parliamentary Assembly (Council of Europe). 2022-10-13. Archived from the original on 2022-10-13. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
76. "Sejm uznał Rosję za państwo sponsorujące terroryzm" [The Sejm recognized Russia as a state sponsoring terrorism]. Onet Wiadomości (in Polish). 2022-12-14. Archived from the original on 2022-12-14. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
77. "Slovak parliament recognises Russian regime as terrorist and Russia as terrorism sponsor". Ukrainska Pravda. 2023-02-16. Archived from the original on 2023-02-16. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
78. "VR recognizes Russia as terrorist state, bans military symbols Z and V". Ukrinform. 2022-04-14. Archived from the original on 2022-04-18. Retrieved 2022-08-02.
79. Taylor, Simon (3 May 2021). "Status Quo Terrorism: State-Terrorism in South Africa during Apartheid". Terrorism and Political Violence. 35 (2): 4–5. doi:10.1080/09546553.2021.1916478. S2CID 235534871.
80. Cookridge, E. H. (1966). Set Europe Ablaze. New York: Thomas Y. Cromwell Company. pp. 1–6.
81. Geraghty, Tony (2000). The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict between the IRA and British Intelligence. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 346. ISBN 9780801864568.
82. Lashmar, Paul; Gilby, Nicholas; Oliver, James (17 October 2021). "Revealed: how UK spies incited mass murder of Indonesia's communists". The Observer. Archived from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
83. Lashmar, Paul; Gilby, Nicholas; Oliver, James (October 17, 2021). "Slaughter in Indonesia: Britain's secret propaganda war". The Observer. Archived from the original on December 27, 2021. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
84. Lashmar, Paul; Gilby, Nicholas; Oliver, James (23 January 2022). "UK's propaganda leaflets inspired 1960s massacre of Indonesian communists". The Observer. Archived from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
85. "CAIN: Issues: Collusion - Chronology of Events in the Stevens Inquiries". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
86. Dr Martin Melaugh. "CAIN: Issues: Violence: Stevens Enquiry (3) Overview and Recommendations, 17 April 2003". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2019-01-02. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
87. "Report of the Independent International Panel on Alleged Collusion in Sectarian Killings in Northern Ireland" (PDF). Patfinucanecentre.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-10. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
88. "Village - Politics, Media and Current Affairs in Ireland - 'I'm lucky to be above the ground'". 2006-11-16. Archived from the original on 2007-11-20. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
89. Blakeley, Ruth (2009). State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: The North in the South Archived 2015-06-14 at the Wayback Machine. Routledge. pp. 21 Archived 2023-04-08 at the Wayback Machine, 22 Archived 2023-04-06 at the Wayback Machine & 23 Archived 2023-04-13 at the Wayback Machine ISBN 0415686172
90. McSherry, J. Patrice (2011). "Chapter 5: "Industrial repression" and Operation Condor in Latin America". In Esparza, Marcia; Henry R. Huttenbach; Daniel Feierstein (eds.). State Violence and Genocide in Latin America: The Cold War Years (Critical Terrorism Studies). Routledge. p. 107. ISBN 978-0415664578. Archived from the original on 2018-07-19. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
91. Coatsworth, John Henry (2012). "The Cold War in Central America, 1975–1991". In Leffler, Melvyn P.; Westad, Odd Arne (eds.). The Cambridge History of the Cold War (Volume 3). Cambridge University Press. p. 230. ISBN 978-1107602311.
92. Melvin, Jess (20 October 2017). "Telegrams confirm scale of US complicity in 1965 genocide". Indonesia at Melbourne. University of Melbourne. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
93. Scott, Margaret (October 26, 2017). "Uncovering Indonesia's Act of Killing". The New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on June 25, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
94. Simpson, Bradley. Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.–Indonesia Relations, 1960-1968 Archived 2020-11-06 at the Wayback Machine. Stanford University Press, 2010. p. 193. ISBN 0804771820
95. Brad Simpson (2009). Accomplices in atrocity Archived 2021-11-04 at the Wayback Machine. Inside Indonesia. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
96. Bevins, Vincent (20 October 2017). "What the United States Did in Indonesia". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
97. Robinson, Geoffrey B. (2018). The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965–66. Princeton University Press. pp. 22–23, 177. ISBN 9781400888863. Archived from the original on 2019-04-19. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
98. "OAS says to present evidence of Venezuela rights violations to The Hague". Reuters. Archived from the original on 30 May 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
99. "AN declaró como terroristas a los colectivos" [NA declares colectivos terrorists]. Prensa AN (Press release) (in Spanish). National Assembly of Venezuela. 2 April 2019. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
100. "Addressing Security Council, Secretary-General Calls On Counter-Terrorism Committee To Develop Long-Term Strategy To Defeat Terror". United Nations. Archived from the original on 2009-03-05. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
101. "The Legal Debate is Over: Terrorism is a War Crime". Michael Lind, New America Foundation. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
102. "Press conference with Kofi Annan and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi". United Nations. Archived from the original on 2009-03-21. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
103. Bruce Hoffman (1998). Inside Terrorism. Columbia University Press (April 15, 1998). pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-0-231-11468-4.
104. Ruth Blakeley (2009). State terrorism and neoliberalism. Routledge. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-415-46240-2.
105. Walter Laqueur (2003). No end to war: terrorism in the twenty-first century. Continuum. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-8264-1435-9.

Bibliography

• Barsamian, David (2001). "The United States is a Leading Terrorist State". Monthly Review.
• Kisangani, E. & Nafziger, E. Wayne (2007). "The Political Economy Of State Terror" (PDF). Defence and Peace Economics. 18 (5): 405–414. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.579.1472. doi:10.1080/10242690701455433. S2CID 155020309.
• Martin, Gus (2006). Understanding terrorism: challenges, perspectives, and issues. SAGE. ISBN 978-1-4129-2722-2.
• Nairn, Tom; James, Paul (2005). Global Matrix: Nationalism, Globalism and State-Terrorism. London and New York: Pluto Press.
• Primoratz, Igor (2004). "State Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism". In Primoratz, Igor (ed.). Terrorism: The Philosophical Issues. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-1817-8.
• Selden, Mark; So, Alvin Y., eds. (2004). War and state terrorism: the United States, Japan, and the Asia–Pacific in the long twentieth century. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-2391-3.
• Sluka, Jeffrey A., ed. (2000). Death Squad: The Anthropology of State Terror. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-1711-7.
• Stohl, Michael & Lopez, George A. (1988). Terrible beyond Endurance?: The Foreign Policy of State Terrorism. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-25297-6.

Further reading

• Ruth Blakeley (2009). State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: the North in the South. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415686174.
• Chomsky, Noam & Herman, Edward S. (1979). The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism: The Political Economy of Human Rights: Vol. 1. South End Press. ISBN 978-0-89608-090-4.
• Chomsky, Noam (1988). The Culture of Terrorism. South End Press. ISBN 978-0-89608-334-9.
• Curtis, Mark (2004). Unpeople: Britain's Secret Human Rights Abuses. Vintage. ISBN 978-0-09-946972-8.
• George, Alexander (1991). Western State Terrorism. Polity Press. ISBN 978-0-7456-0931-7.
• Glover, Jonathan (1991). "State terrorism". In Frey, Raymond Gillespie (ed.). Violence, terrorism, and Justice. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-40950-6.
• Hayner, Priscilla B. (2000). Unspeakable truths: confronting state terror and atrocities. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-92477-1.
• Herbst, Philip (2003). Talking terrorism: a dictionary of the loaded language of political violence. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-32486-4.
• Herman, Edward S. (1982). The Real Terror Network: Terrorism in Fact and Propaganda. South End Press. ISBN 978-0896081345.
• Kushner, Harvey W., ed. (2003). "State terrorism". Encyclopedia of Terrorism. SAGE. ISBN 978-0-7619-2408-1.
• Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth; K. Lee Lerner, eds. (2006). Terrorism : essential primary sources. Thomson Gale. ISBN 978-1-4144-0621-3.
• Nairn, Tom; James, Paul (2005). Global Matrix: Nationalism, Globalism and State-Terrorism. London and New York: Pluto Press.
• Oliverio, Annamarie (1998). The state of terror. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-3708-7.

External links

Prevention of terrorism

• The National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism
• State Terrorism and Counterterrorism

v t e Terrorism
Main articles	Definition History of terrorism International conventions Anti-terrorism legislation Counter-terrorism War on Terror
By ideology	Communist Green Left-wing Right-wing Ethnic violence Palestinian Zionist Narcoterrorism Nationalist Religious (Christian Islamic Jewish)
Types and tactics	Agro-terrorism Aircraft hijacking Bioterrorism Car bombing Environmental destruction Nuclear Piracy Propaganda of the deed Proxy bomb Suicide attack Palestinian
State involvement	State terrorism State-sponsored terrorism
Organisation	Clandestine cell system Financing Front Lone wolf Training camp
Historical	Red Terror Reign of Terror White Terror
Lists	Charities accused of ties to terrorism Designated terrorist organizations Incidents Islamic terrorist attacks
Memorials and museums	House of Terror Topography of Terror Victims of Acts of Terror Memorial
By country	Iran Sponsored Israel Sponsored Kuwait Sponsored Libya Sponsored Pakistan Sponsored Palestine Qatar Sponsored Russia Soviet Union Sri Lanka United States Sponsored Venezuela Sponsored

• State-sponsored terrorism
• Terrorism committed by country
• Dirty wars
• Political repression
• Political violence
• Reprisals