Symbolic Terrorism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Symbolic Terrorism - Research Paper Example Destabilizing a situation in the world and causing considerable political, economic and moral consequences, modern terrorism turned into a global problem. The resolution of this issue will predetermine the future of mankind, because recently created uncontrollable types of weapon threaten the existence of a civilization. Terrorism is a serious problem of the modern world, however, there are many historical facts, which prove that it is not a new phenomenon. Now scientists started considering conflict and terrorism separately, notwithstanding that they have many common features. The distinction between these two phenomena was made because of the â€Å"new terrorism† which appeared in 1990s. Now more attention is paid to ideological or symbolic aspect of terrorism. The given work will investigate terrorism in the context of symbolic struggle. Symbolic component of terrorist activity is determined by symbolic nature of social systems. A symbolic aspect as a political measurement of the purposes represents one of the basic elements of the definition of terrorism. This aspect makes terrorist act differ from a usual crime (Strachan, 2011). When a terrorist wants to kill a soldier, especially when he protects a military memorial, and his real purpose is the parliament, it is already political. Richmond states that: â€Å"as the divisions between war, peace, conflict and terrorism, between friend and enemy, soldier, criminal, and civilian break down, there is now potential for a critical reading of the insights this presents.