International Politics: Terrorism. Terrorism is the use of violence (often against civilian targets) to instill fear, generate publicity, and sometimes destabilize governments. Generally speaking, small groups fighting against powerful states practice terrorism, but governments also have the ability to practice terrorism. Throughout history, terrorism has taken many forms. Just in the last two centuries, for example, terrorism has been used by Russian nihilists, nationalists in Israel, Nazi forces, environmentalists worldwide, left-wing guerrillas in Europe, discontented radicals in the United States, Latin American death squads, and Islamic fundamentalists.
Terrorism is not tied to any one particular ideology or group. Types of Terrorism Scholars generally classify terrorism into two types: terrorism practiced by governments and terrorism practiced by groups not affiliated with a government. Some types of terrorism fit into more than one of these categories.
The Purpose of Terrorism. International Politics: Revolution. A revolution is any fundamental change in the social or political aspects of a state. Most revolutions are political, occurring when the citizens of a country try to oust the existing government and replace it with a new one. Political revolutions tend to be tumultuous, violent events. There is no clear-cut explanation as to why people revolt, but scholars believe that some or all of the following factors lead to revolution: Injustice: Aristotle argued that the cause of revolution was the perception of injustice.
If the underclasses feel that they are being treated unjustly, they will revolt. Relative deprivation: Some scholars have argued that revolutions occur after a period of good times has ended. Revolutions in History Although people have always rebelled against their rulers and governments, the modern area witnessed many significant revolutions.
Success and Failure Revolutions are extremely difficult to achieve. International Politics: War. War has been far too common in human history and thus is the central problem of international relations. Many political scientists and foreign policymakers view war as the continuation of politics: When diplomacy fails, some states decide to use force. Others see war as the result of a breakdown of the modern international system because so many of the rules of international institutions were designed to reduce conflict among states. Causes of War Political scientists have long debated the causes of war. These scholars have come up with the following list: Human nature: Humans are naturally violent and aggressive, making war inevitable. Example: There has been extensive research on whether democracies are less likely to start wars than other regimes.
Ideology: Some political beliefs favor war more than others. Example: During the early modern era, nearly every European country experienced numerous wars of religion as the Catholics sought to destroy the Protestants. Just-War Theory. World War II in Europe and the Pacific: Every Day. World War II in Europe: Every Day. The First Punic War. The Second Punic War. The Third Punic War.