Terrorist Organization, Purpose, and Structure

Terrorist Organization, Purpose, and Structure

As you have learned in this unit, terrorism has a direct impact on the social structure of an organized society. Further, terrorism focuses on disrupting the very basis of government structure and societal structure. The organization and structure of domestic and international terrorist groups vary from one nation to another. Each individual terrorist group has different motives and views as it pertains to terrorism.

Your essay should address the following:

· Summarize the background of the terrorist organization, its purpose, and structure.

· Explain the political, religious, and ideological views and motivations.

· Which definition or definitions of terrorism most closely fit your chosen terrorist organization?

· Discuss if the organization identifies with left wing views, right wing views, or other political ideology and why.

· Expand on the impact that right- and/or left-wing extremism has on terrorism.

A comprehensive list of foreign terrorist organizations can be found on the  .

Your essay must be at least 500 words in length using size 12-point, Times New Roman font, and double-spaced. Use APA style guidelines to format in-text citations for all quoted and paraphrased material. Title and reference pages are required; an abstract is not required. Title and reference pages do not count towards the minimum length requirements.

Terrorist Organization, Purpose, and Structure

Introduction

Terrorism is a method of warfare used by non-state actors. Terrorist organizations use this tactic to achieve political, economic, or ideological goals. This essay will describe the different types of terrorist organizations and their purposes.

Terrorist organization, purpose and structure

Terrorist organizations are groups that carry out terrorist attacks. They have different goals and structures, but they all have a global agenda.

Terrorists often have a hierarchical structure, where the leader is at the top of their organization and reports to another person or group that reports directly to him or her. This hierarchy can change depending on how many members there are in an organization, as well as how many times someone has been arrested by law enforcement agencies (and therefore lost control over his/her own actions).

Terrorist organizations often have a global agenda—they want to overthrow governments around the world so they can create new ones with themselves as leaders!

Al Qaeda

Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization based in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was founded by Osama bin Laden, who is now deceased. In addition to the September 11th attacks, Al Qaeda has been responsible for other attacks around the world including those in France and Kenya.

Boko Haram

Boko Haram is a Nigerian terrorist organization that has been active since the early 2000s. The group’s name means “Western education is forbidden.” Boko Haram has committed many atrocities against civilians and even planted bombs in public places, such as churches and mosques. They are responsible for the deaths of over 20,000 people in Nigeria alone.

The group’s current leader Abu Bakr Shekau was born near Kano City in northern Nigeria but spent most of his life in Cameroon before returning to his home country again two years ago after being captured by Nigerian soldiers during an operation against them near Maiduguri city (the capital).

Basque separatist group ETA

• Basque separatist group ETA is a terrorist organization.
• ETA has been around since 1959 and has killed more than 800 people, including the murder of an entire family in the Basque region of Spain.
• The group is responsible for more than 800 bombings and assassination attempts against civilians and security forces over the course of 40 years.
• ETA remains active today, but it does not have much support among Basques or Spanish society as a whole (the Spanish government has struggled to extradite its members).

Taliban

The Taliban is a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan. The group was formed in 1994 when Mohammed Omar created the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. It is now led by Mullah Muhammad Rasoul and its goal is to overthrow the government of Afghanistan and replace it with a strict interpretation of Sharia law. The Taliban’s goals include:

• An end to corruption within government institutions
• Elimination of foreign influence in all areas, including culture, media and education
• Return control over natural resources such as gold mines and opium fields back into Afghan hands

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group. It was founded in 1964 and has been involved in drug trafficking and kidnappings throughout its history. FARC is currently engaged in peace talks with the Colombian government, which began on March 24th 2018; these are expected to continue through 2021.

There are many different types of terrorist organizations

There are many different types of terrorist organizations. Some are nationalistic, some religious and ideological, and some have a clear leadership structure. Terrorist organizations can be small or large in size. Some have well-defined leadership structures while others do not (for example: ISIL).

Conclusion

We hope this article has been helpful to you in understanding the basic structure of terrorist organizations, as well as some of their specific characteristics.