Cellphone footage of the recent Clapham mob.
Cellphone footage of the recent Clapham mob.
3,019 words
What is terrorism? There have been many attempts to provide a universally accepted definition. So many, in fact, that in the 1980s a Dutch academic named Alex P. Schmid reviewed over 100 such definitions and collated them into one:
Terrorism is the use (or threat) of violence against civilians, intended to create fear, in order to achieve political or ideological objectives.
Although academically respected, Schmid’s definition has never been universally accepted into legislation, and for an obvious reason. No nation wants to commit to a definition of terrorism which might one day describe their own actions. But Schmid’s definition seems perfectly serviceable, the key points being the use of violence, the ideological nature of the objective, and the fact that the victims are civilians, although that is not always the case. (more…)