Sociology

The term terrorism refers to perpetration of violent acts against an individual, ethnic group, members of a religious group and governments by an organization that aims at intimidating the targets to give in to its demand .Terrorism has become a global security threat and many nations have devised counter terrorism strategies in response to the evolution of terrorism witnessed over the years. The evolution of terrorism over the years has changed the meaning of the term. Counterterrorism refers to the tactics, practices and strategies that various governments and law enforcement bodies adopt in order to combat terrorism (Andrew and Barbara, 2006). Currently terrorism has become a difficult term to define because it is characterized by physical violence and as a result, distinguishing terror acts from criminal activities is difficult.

Guerrilla warfare refers to the use of revolutionary forces to make change in governance. An example of guerrilla warfare was the Cuban revolution which was led by Ernesto Che Guevara. The revolution was motivated by the peoples protest against the leadership of Batista. In various countries, social and geographical conditions determine which forms a guerrilla warfare takes. In guerrilla warfare, one group that is involved in the conflict comprises of disciplined and well trained professional army which is supported by an oppressor. Guerilla warfare is therefore a war of the people or a war of the masses.

Discussion
Causes of Guerrilla Warfare  
Guerrilla warfare is often witnessed in a situation where the masses fight for social justice due to the discontent they feel against a countrys established law or government. Lack of peace creates a good environment for guerrilla warfare because the people are motivated by the desire to be redeemed and liberated. In the warfare, the oppressor or the beauracratic rule which supports a well disciplined and trained professional army fights a guerrilla band which derives its strength from the masses. The guerrilla band is often inferior in firepower as compared to the army but it uses a small number of arms to fight against oppression. Guerrilla fighters require support from the local people who they represent. Some of the characteristics of guerilla band include good knowledge of the ground, its homogenous, band members respect the leader and all members should have a good understanding of tactics that are employed in the warfare. Guerrilla fighters are social informers who act due to the angry protests of the people against oppression forces. The fighters do so in order to have the social system that drives the unarmed civilians to poverty and misery changed. In addition, they are fully committed to fighting the reigning institutions. In relation to tactics, a guerrilla fighter needs to have good knowledge of the surrounding areas, good hiding places and paths of entry and escape. The fighters usually undertake their activities in areas where the struggle aims at changing land ownership through social reforms. Therefore guerrilla fighters may become agrarian revolutionaries. The fighters often interpret the desires of the peasant mass to be land ownership to increase production. Guerrilla warfare is a struggle against a constituted power that oppresses the people. For example, Cuban thirty-year war of revolution had slaves, small farmers and peasants fight for the right to own land.

Tactics and Strategies used in Guerilla warfare
Guerrilla fighters tend to attack the enemy in a surprising manner. For example the hit and run tactic is often used by the fighters. The aim of the fighters is to win and annihilate the enemy hence the essence of the warfare is to bring changes in leadership. This makes guerrilla fighters ready to die as long as they achieve their objective. Some guerrilla fighters manage to achieve an ideal and social justice they fight for. The guerrilla strategy aims at ensuring that the opposite force is completely destructed. To achieve this, the fighters analyze the resources and equipment the enemy is most likely to be using. First, an analysis of the bands objectives is done. This is followed by the identification of steps which will be followed to achieve the objectives. However, the strategy can be modified and adjusted as fighting continues. Fight and escape tactic from the armed forces is important for the fighters and gradual weakening of the enemy becomes the next step of the warfare strategy. For instance, an attack on the enemys territory includes tormenting of the enemies, destruction of communication lines and sabotage in central bases and operations. Ensuring that the fighters are secure Securing is vital and this is possible if the members of the society keep any information about the guerrilla discrete. Guerrilla bands can result to sabotage by paralyzing the enemy army, interfering with industrial life and leaving urban inhabitants without water, communication and factories. This weakens the morale of the enemy. When this is done successfully, the formation of new columns whereby the guerrilla chief stays in areas that are less dangerous while the new columns penetrate the territories of the enemy becomes necessary. Guerrilla tactics are numerous and flexible. They need to be adjusted continually so that the fighters adjust their actions to those carved out by the enemy. Mobility is very important for a guerrilla band. Mobilization of troops and flexibility are vital in the warfare. The ability of the fighters to adapt to various circumstances and to invent new tactics in order to surprise the enemy is an advantage to the band. Acts of sabotage just like in terrorism exist in guerrilla warfare. Sabotage in an effective and revolutionary method of warfare and although it is an effective strategy of guerrilla warfare, it should not put out affect means of production that can leave the lives of a large number of people paralyzed. Explosives that are used by the fighters can be seized from the oppressive government or manufactured in secret laboratories within a secret guerrilla zone.

Contemporary evolution of terrorism and global terrorism trends
The evolution of terrorism over the years has made it difficult for effective measures to combat terrorism to be implemented. The evolution has demanded for dramatic changes in counterterrorism initiatives. The increase in number of secular and religious terrorist groups can be attributed to the availability of ungoverned spaces which act as safe havens for terrorists. The areas provide terrorist organizations with an opportunity to plan, organize, train and operate in secret without detection by law enforcement authorities. For instance, countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq have ungoverned areas that become fertile grounds or vibrant jihadists movements to succeed. In the last five years, an increase in the number of ungoverned spaces has made it easy for the growing number of terrorist organizations to be established (Brigitte, 2000). One of the most innovative and creative terrorist groups that has been active in the past three decades is the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeram of Sri Lanka (LTTES). This organization has been struggling to have an independent Tamil homeland for the Tamil minority established. The group has used sea-borne suicide operations and technology to become an instrument of change. The LTTE once had a membership of 15,000 members. However, the group was defeated by Sri Lankan military on 18th May 2009. This ended the twenty six year old Sri Lankan conflict.

In the Middle East, the resurgence of religious terrorism has made the fight against terrorism more complex. The Iran 1979 Islamic revolution is considered to have played a major role in the formation of radical Muslim groups because terrorism is motivated by the Islamic religious beliefs which promote Jihad. Many acts of terrorism at an international level are undertaken by religious terrorists. This is because use of violence is seen to be a divine duty and large scale violence is accepted in religious terrorism. Due to globalization and modernization, traditional cultures and religious norms have been undermined and this has led to the formation of religious terrorist groups to oppose changes that are witnessed. Secular terrorists are motivated by political issues and the need to demand for the rights of those they represent. There have been renewed concerns over the use of nuclear weapons by terrorists. According to a report by the Commission on the Prevention of Mass Destruction (WMD) Proliferation and Terrorism, terrorists are likely to use nuclear and biological weapons in near future. For example, countries such as North Korea have been criticized for testing missiles and this makes it easy for terrorists to access nuclear weapons. Iran has also been on the limelight due its nuclear facilities. Terrorist groups such as the Al Qaeda have shown interest in using nuclear weapons and the use of terror acts to achieve political objectives has made political events to undermine efforts to mitigate nuclear terrorism threats (Mailman et al, 2002). To combat terrorism, various antiterrorism policies and programs have been developed and implemented.

Anti-terrorism policies and programs
Many countries have developed measures that aim at combating terrorism. For example, the US Patriot Act which was signed into law in 2001 was enacted in order to improve counterterrorism strategies after the September 11 terror attack against the US. The Act expanded the definition of terrorism to include domestic terrorism. Furthermore, the policy has increased the ability of US law enforcement agencies to conduct searches on telephone, mails, communication lines, financial records, library material and medical records in order to detect potential cases of terrorism (Brasch, 2005). The Act has ensured that acts of terror are prevented and suspects    punished. The policy has also enhanced and improved investigatory tools that are used by law enforcement authorities to deter terror acts. For example, the US National Security Agency runs a program that allows the US government to get a warrant and wiretap phone calls without requesting for a warrant. The program targets communication in and out the US by people who are suspected of having ties with terrorist networks such as Al Qaeda.

The Office of Anti-terrorism Assistance (ATA) has implemented the Anti-terrorism Assistance Program. The program is meant to train the law enforcement personnel and civilian security officers of allied governments on the procedures that can be implemented effectively deal with terrorism. The host country officers work together with the US mission in order to develop ways of providing bomb detection training and promoting VIP protection. The training also focuses on airport and building security, maritime protections and crime-scene investigation. Many recipients of ATA program are developing countries that lack necessary financial and human resources to maintain an effective anti-terrorism infrastructure and program. Training by ATA aims at protecting national leadership, protecting national borders, resolving terrorist incidences and protecting a nations critical infrastructure. The program was initiated in 1983 and has since then managed to train foreign law-enforcement and security officials. The program has strengthened anti-terrorism training capabilities of the countries that participate (Michaels, 2005).

The European Union anti-terrorism policy was put in place in 2001 and has since been updated frequently (Bruce, 1998). The EU after the 911 attacks against the US adopted an anti-terrorism action plan. This was followed by a frame work that aligned level of sanctions between member states and defined terror-related offences. The EU Council after the Madrid bombings issued a declaration against terrorism and Gus de Vries was appointed as the coordinator of counterterrorism strategies. The action plan is usually updated every six months. The Tampere program and The Hague program (adopted in November 2004) promote ambitious measures on judicial cooperation, border control and exchange of information among the member states. Measures to combat terrorist financing prevent recruitment in terrorist groups, implementation of an external security policy and protection of critical infrastructure has been taken. The European Arrest Warrant is another measure to combat terrorism in EU member states. European agencies that support anti-terrorism efforts include the European Border Agency, Eurojust and Europol. The Financial Action Task Force on money laundering (FAFT) combats terrorists financing.

The FBI Counterterrorism Threat Assessment and Warning Unit provide guidelines on FBI investigations about terrorism and reviews terrorist incidents. The National Commission of Terrorism (NTC) is a group mandated by the Congress and calls for an aggressive US strategy to combat terrorism. This includes a proactive law-enforcement and intelligence authority to gather information about terrorist methods and plans and employment of sanctions against countries that support terrorism. The group also seeks to improve the integration of counterterrorism programs into a national counterterrorism plan that is comprehensive (Crank and Gregor, 2005). The Domestic Preparedness Program has also played a major role in antiterrorism by designating the Department of Defense (DOD) as an agency that prepares the nation against attacks by terrorists using weapons of mass destruction.

Differing theories in relation to terrorist organizations
There are various theories that can be instrumental in understanding terrorist organizations. The social conflict theory is a social theory that argues that social classes within a society have different amounts of non-material and material resources. The powerful individuals use their power to exploit others. One way of exploiting is the use of brutal force. This can be considered similar to the brutal force used by terrorists to make their demands. One of the theories is the critical race theory. This theory was developed to explain various issues in sociology, politics and anthropology. The critical race theory comprises of a set of theories and practices that were advanced by African Americans, Asian Americans and Latino scholars in the 1990s.The theory advances a social justice framework and addresses social inequalities. Since the September 11 terror attacks against the US by the Al Qaeda, many scholars have developed interest in the contemporary critical race theory. The theory has been used to examine the concept of terrorism. The theory provides us with an understanding of social cruelty and political hypocrisy. The sociological theories of crime and delinquency include the control, social learning and strain theories. These theories attempt to explain crime in relation to the social environment. The social conflict theory implies that violence is a manifestation of social conflict. When terrorists use violence, it is an indication that there is a conflict.

Kohuts rage theory looks at rage and its causes. Heinz Kohut developed the idea of narcissistic rage. This form of rage develops in individuals when things fail to go according to the individuals plans. Rage results from shame that people feel when they are faced with failure. Rage becomes unexpected and uncontrolled anger as a result of narcissistic injury hence narcissists direct their anger towards individuals or groups of people who they consider to be responsible for their misfortunes. As a result, rage impairs cognition and this consequently impairs judgement.The first layer of rage is often constant rage towards someone while the second layer is self-aimed wrath. Terrorists can be considered to have narcissistic rage and therefore engage in destructive acts. The explosive form of narcisstic rage is verbally abusive and results to destruction of property. This kind of rage makes people homicidal hence they are ready to die in order to seek revenge. Narcissism is considered to be a form of self-perceived perfectionism. Because narcissistic rage makes individuals pseudo-perfectionists, they strive to become the main center of attention. This attribute is evident in terrorist organizations.Granovetters is known for his social network theory. The theory focuses on the spread of information in social networks referred to as the strength of weak ties. Within the social theory, economic action is embedded.

Terrorist Organizations
Terrorist organizations can either be religious or secular. In some  terrorist groups, religious motives  become the defining characteristic of the group(Andrew and Barbara,2006).The first  modern religious  terrorist organization appeared in the 1980s and as compared to secular terrorist organizations, the terror acts perpetrated by  religious terrorists are more devastating. This is due to the organizations concepts of morality, radically different value systems and mechanisms of legitimization and justification. Insurgence of Islamic terrorist organizations has been promoted by the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the Arab and Muslim world. In many Muslim countries, anti-western campaigns and beliefs have made the Western nations and their allies the target of terrorist organizations. Terrorist organizations emerge in both the rich and poor countries. The objectives of each group vary although in most cases the organizations are motivated by political factors (Brigitte, 2000).Terrorist attacks are always premeditated and well planned and when successful are very devastating. The strategies, tactics and targets of various terrorist organizations are influenced by the groups ideology. In many terrorist organizations, a large number of members is accounted for by men. However, female terrorists have always been part of terrorist organizations. It is estimated that about 30 per cent of the total number of members in some terrorist organizations are female who undertake operational roles in insurgencies. For example, Far Left terrorist groups focus on recruiting women as compared to the Far Right groups. Various organizations consider recruiting women in their operations as a great advantage to the organization and in some prominent terrorist organizations, women are recruited in large numbers and hold leadership positions. This is attributed to the fact that as compared to their male counterparts, women terrorists have already proved that they are more committed to the cause of the organizations even when arrested and imprisoned. Women are fanatical and show a great capacity to persevere suffering and because their motivation is emotional, their decision to participate in terror acts is not easily changed by intellectual argument.

Terrorist strategies are characterized by good planning. The organizations monitor the movements of their target very attentively and ensure that they procure and transport weapons to safe houses without detection.  Many terrorist units are small because large organizations can easily be infiltrated into. The organizations require the anonymity of big cities to escape detection because the ability to carry out their activities without detection is one of the most important strategies for terrorist organizations. Financial resources to support terror acts are provided by wealthy well-wishers while criminal activities such as drug and arms trade provide the organizations with financial resources to fund their activities (Dycus, Berney and Banks, 2009).In addition, blackmail, kidnapping and legitimate businesses act as the source of money for the organizations. Some of the weapons that terrorists use in the operations include pistol, automatic rifles and bombs. There are various religious and secular terrorist organizations across the continents. One example is HuM which is a Pakistani Sunni Islamist terrorist organization that was formed in 1985 with the aim of supporting Jihad against Soviet Union forces in Afghanistan. It has been associated with the Kashmiri Militant group al-Faran and the Al Qaeda. The HuM has been involved in terrorist attacks in Kashmir, Myanmar and Phillipines.Another group is the Jemmah Islamiyah. It aims at amalgamating Singapore, Southern Thailand, Indonesia, Southern Philippines and Malaysia into a fundamentalist Islamic State. The groups spiritual leader is Abu Bakar Bashi.It targets the Western nations, Singagpore, Phillipines and Indonesia.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is a terrorist organization that was formed in 1964 with the aim of speaking out for Palestinians living in refugee camps in Lebanon. It has various affiliate groups and in the past aimed at destroying Israel. As a result, it has carried out terrorist campaigns against Israel.Yasser Arafat was the chairman of the organization until his death in 2004.The group has been linked to international terrorist attacks. Apart from the PLO, the Al Qaeda is a Sunni Islamist Umbrella organization that has become an international terrorist network. It was formed in 1979 and Osama bin Laden is its top leader. It targets the US, moderate Muslim governments and their allies.

The issue of international terrorist networks such as the Al Qaeda has   triggered debate on asymmetrical warfare methodologies and how they are used in violence-oriented organizations (Caforio, 2008).Strategists considers asymmetrical warfare as a conflict that deviates from the norm. In this warfare, one of warring parties is unequal in terms of arms with the other. As a result, the group adopts unlawful methods in order to win over the great strength of the adversary. In violence-oriented groups, assymetrical warfare is applied in order to defeat the enemys side which has great strength. For instance, international terrorism is considered to be an asymmetrical warfare because the terror acts lead to massive violation of human rights. International terrorists are engaged in acts that kill people in massive scale. In violence-oriented organizations, man has himself become a weapon. Suicide bombers for example sacrifice their own lives in order to attack the enemy. In order to win this kind of war, vast political scale is required (Caforio, 2008).Violence-oriented groups such as terrorist organizations tend to seek an asymmetric advantage over their rival party.Currently, assymetrical warfare has taken several forms. Apart from suicide bombing, terrorists are now infiltrating into international systems of trade, commerce and education in order to exploit information systems and the laxity of publics security. Instead of explosives, the groups are utilizing technological mechanisms in murderous and destructive ways.

Dark networks are illegal networks that are used by individuals or groups of people to create collective problems for governments and the people. The organizations cooperate in problem space-activities that are illegal. The theory of terrorism as dark networks has been emerging as the insurgence of terrorist organizations continues to be witnessed. The groups use governance and network structures   for immoral ends. Recommendations have been made that social network analysis be used to study social networks. According to the organization theory, collaborative networks have become appropriate tools of tackling management problems. Dark networks undergo changes in efforts to adapt to the changes that are made by powerful nations to combat them. For example, the Al Qaeda is considered to have made some changes in the organization due to the US and European Union efforts to combat terrorism. The networks are resilient and tend to make adjustments in the internal structure to avoid being eliminated. Therefore, it is important that control efforts that are directed towards organizational elimination of dark networks address the problems that   cause their formation. The networks have become the cause of complex problems experienced in the society and state (Gouvin, 2003).

Conclusion
The need to combat terrorism through the development and implementation of anti-terrorism agencies has demanded that countries work hard to ensure that initiatives and programs that aim at fighting terrorism are successful. Terrorist organizational strategies vary based on the motive of the organization. An insurgence of terrorist organizations especially those that are based on religious fundamentalism has made the fight against terrorism a great challenge. Military confrontation between the army and movements supported by the masses in order to ensure there is social justice has led to the formation of guerillas.  Guerrilla warfare occurs easily when forces of oppression are maintained in power against the established law. The discontent of the masses is then expressed through fighting and resistance and the warfare becomes the basis of peoples struggle to redeem them.