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There is neither an academic nor an accurate legal consensus regarding the definition of terrorism. Various legal systems and government agencies use different definitions. Moreover, governments have been reluctant to formulate an agreed upon, legally binding definition. These difficulties arise from the fact that the term is politically and emotionally charged.〔Hoffman (1998), p. 23, See review in The New York Times(Inside Terrorism )〕 Angus Martyn in a briefing paper for the Australian Parliament has stated that "The international community has never succeeded in developing an accepted comprehensive definition of terrorism. During the 1970s and 1980s, the United Nations attempts to define the term foundered mainly due to differences of opinion between various members about the use of violence in the context of conflicts over national liberation and self-determination."〔Angus Martyn, (The Right of Self-Defence under International Law-the Response to the Terrorist Attacks of 11 September ), Australian Law and Bills Digest Group, Parliament of Australia Web Site, 12 February 2002.〕 These divergences have made it impossible to conclude a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that incorporates a single, all-encompassing, legally binding, criminal law definition of terrorism.〔Diaz-Paniagua (2008), p. 47.〕 In the meantime, the international community adopted a series of sectoral conventions that define and criminalize various types of terrorist activities. In addition, since 1994, the United Nations General Assembly has condemned terrorist acts using the following political description of terrorism: "Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them."〔1994 United Nations Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism annex to UN General Assembly resolution 49/60 ,"Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism", of December 9, 1994, ( UN Doc. A/Res/60/49 )〕 A 2003 study by Jeffrey Record for the US Army quoted a source (Schmid and Jongman 1988) that counted 109 definitions of terrorism that covered a total of 22 different definitional elements.〔Record, p. 6 (page 12 of the PDF document), citing in footnote 10 Alex P. Schmid, Albert J. Jongman, et al., ''Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, and Literature'', New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Books, 1988, pp. 5-6.〕 Record continued "Terrorism expert Walter Laqueur also has counted over 100 definitions and concludes that the 'only general characteristic generally agreed upon is that terrorism involves violence and the threat of violence.' Yet terrorism is hardly the only enterprise involving violence and the threat of violence. So does war, coercive diplomacy, and bar room brawls".〔Record, p. 6 (page 12 of the PDF document) citing in footnote 11: Walter Laqueur, ''The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction'', New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 6.〕 As Bruce Hoffman has noted: "terrorism is a pejorative term. It is a word with intrinsically negative connotations that is generally applied to one's enemies and opponents, or to those with whom one disagrees and would otherwise prefer to ignore. (...) Hence the decision to call someone or label some organization 'terrorist' becomes almost unavoidably subjective, depending largely on whether one sympathizes with or opposes the person/group/cause concerned. If one identifies with the victim of the violence, for example, then the act is terrorism. If, however, one identifies with the perpetrator, the violent act is regarded in a more sympathetic, if not positive (or, at the worst, an ambivalent) light; and it is not terrorism."〔 For this and for political reasons, many news sources (such as Reuters) avoid using this term, opting instead for less accusatory words like "bombers", "militants", etc.〔Staff, ( City Diary: Reuters sticks to the facts ), City Diary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 28 September 2001〕〔Hoffman, (2006) (pp. 28–30 )〕 In many countries, acts of terrorism are legally distinguished from criminal acts committed for other purposes. == Etymology == The term "terrorism" comes from French フランス語:''terrorisme'', from (ラテン語:''terror''), "great fear", "dread", related to the Latin verb ラテン語:''terrere'', "to frighten". The ''terror cimbricus'' was a panic and state of emergency in Rome in response to the approach of warriors of the Cimbri tribe in 105 BCE. The French National Convention declared in September 1793 that "terror is the order of the day". The period 1793–94 is referred to as ''La Terreur'' (Reign of Terror). Maximilien Robespierre, a leader in the French revolution proclaimed in 1794 that "Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible."〔Burgess〕 The Committee of Public Safety agents that enforced the policies of "The Terror" were referred to as "Terrorists".〔(Early History of Terrorism ), http://Terrorism-Research.com〕 The word "terrorism" was first recorded in English-language dictionaries in 1798 as meaning "systematic use of terror as a policy".〔Harper〕 Although the Reign of Terror was imposed by the French government, in modern times "terrorism" usually refers to the killing of people by non-governmental political activists for political reasons, often as a public statement. This meaning originated with Russian radicals in the 1870s. Sergey Nechayev, who founded the ''People's Reprisal'' (Народная расправа) in 1869, described himself as a "terrorist".〔Crenshaw, p.77〕 German anarchist writer Johann Most helped popularize the modern sense of the word by dispensing "advice for terrorists" in the 1880s.〔Crenshaw, p. 44.〕 According to Myra Williamson: "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 subnational entities'' against a state." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「definitions of terrorism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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