History knows some examples, when state management was based on fear. This allowed to strengthen the power and destabilize society, the soul in the bud any revolutionary mood.
An exact definition beginning with the words"terror is ..." does not exist yet. Not every politically motivated murder and even mass repression fall under this notion. And yet it is worth trying to understand what it is.
First of all, it is worth to say a few words aboutetymology of this word. In Latin terror is terror, fear. And this is the essence of this phenomenon. This same word Ozhegov's dictionary defines as the intimidation of civilians, expressed in physical violence right up to destruction. And indeed, it can manifest in different ways, but still in this definition missed an important point - the goal.
Это может быть физическое или психологическое pressure, repression, approval of denunciations or something else, but this process is always aimed at destabilizing and generating an atmosphere of general anxiety. The goal in this case is not violence as such, it is important only to intimidate people so that they are easier to manage. This can be achieved by a variety of methods. But in themselves they are not terror. These are only means for manipulating the masses.
There are 3 different views on what terror is.This allows us to consider various aspects of this phenomenon. In addition, they do not contradict, but complement each other. On the one hand, terror can be seen as a specific armed conflict of low intensity. Another point of view focuses attention on the criminal component and perceives this phenomenon as a type of criminal offense. Finally, the socio-political aspect allows us to say that terror is a kind of struggle aimed at changing the existing order of things.
First of all it is necessary to distinguish between individualand mass terror, which, apparently, differ in the number of objects. Of course, there is also a set of techniques that help to realize their goals. And it is absolutely not necessary to resort to murders and mutilations, after all, almost every person has something to lose - work, property, freedom. And yet physical violence in various forms is the most popular form of influence.
Almost any tactic of intimidationrather simple algorithm: you only need to organize an action where a small number of people will be involved, who will be harmed, and then let the others understand that the same can happen to them. It is not necessary to use a person who is a symbol of something, even on the contrary, casual victims of terror can be even more effective in the sense that each representative of the society will associate himself with them.
Besides the fact that terror is always humanvictims, there are less obvious results. Frequent and sudden attacks not only cause fear, but also entail the destruction of spiritual and moral values, including in the long term. There is a deformation of the public consciousness, expressed in a decrease in tolerance. Fundamental civil rights are being destroyed, authority is falling, mistrust is growing, and even hatred towards other ethnic groups is born. In addition, in some cases, as a result of terror, not only people are destroyed, but also the culture that they were carrying. Society in a short time falls on several stages of development, and it is sometimes impossible to bridge this gap even over several generations.
First of all, terror in the USSR, the famous Stalinist repressions comes to mind. But, unfortunately, human history has known many more similar and even more terrible examples.
For the first time the concept of terror was applied according toagainst the events of the Great French Revolution, when, according to various estimates, between 16 and 40 thousand people were executed for 13 months. Some also believe that the practice of decimation, used in ancient Rome, can be attributed to this concept.
A little later - in the second XIX century - socialpolitical terror finally took shape in terms of ideology. During this period, the world experienced a wave of anti-colonial and separatist unrest, which resulted in the independence of India, Vietnam, Korea and others.
In the USSR, in addition to the Stalinist repression, widelythe so-called red terror is known, which was expressed in the destruction of social groups declared to be class enemies. As a result, the intelligentsia almost completely disappeared, and the imperial family was also shot.
В XXI веке социальный и политический террор не subsides. And the worst thing is that ever more sophisticated weapons and technologies give cruel people more and more new opportunities to realize their evil plans.
