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The nature of terrorism has changed. It used to involve small organisations who acted against individual states and were driven by national conflicts. Today, most terrorist actors are transnationally organised and perceive their adversaries in the form of cultures or world-wide conspiracies. Therefore, today´s terrorism does not only concern the country where an attack takes place.
Globalisation has provided new opportunities for terrorism. The information technology revolution in combination with extensive migration between distant countries has created new, transnational, social structures. These are used by terrorists, to create networks for logistics, financing, recruitment and attack planning.
Societies have become increasingly vulnerable as they have become more reliant on a global infrastructure. The terrorists´ modus show that they are well aware of this dependency.
There is no unambiguous definition of terrorism. There is however a Swedish Act on terrorist offences which is based on the European Council Framework Decision on combating terrorism, according to which terrorism is an act which may seriously damage a state or an intergovernmental organisation if intended to
Societies have become increasingly vulnerable as they have become more reliant on a global infrastructure. The terrorists´ modus show that they are well aware of this dependency.
The media have also changed. Today, terrorists can reach the whole world only minutes after an attack. This considerably enhances the effects of an attack. The media are used in particular by actors waging their war on a global level.
Defining terrorism
There is no unambiguous definition of terrorism. There is however a Swedish Act on terrorist offences which is based on the European Council Framework Decision on combating terrorism, according to which terrorism is an act which may seriously damage a state or an intergovernmental organisation if intended to
- seriously intimidate a population or a group of a population;
- unduly compel a public authority or an intergovernmental organisation to perform an act or abstain from acting; or
- seriously destabilise or destroy fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures.
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