UK Terrorism Threat: Definition, Key Features, Responses, and Evaluation

This report covers the definition, key features, history, types, causes, tactics, responses, challenges, and threats of terrorism in the UK. It also evaluates the general challenges and weaknesses faced by the country while combating this particular threat.

UK Terrorism
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Definition....................................................................................................................................3
Key features ................................................................................................................................4
Responses ...................................................................................................................................7
Evaluation....................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................9
.........................................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Terrorism refers to the calculated use of unlawful threats and violence in order to
inculcate fear in common people. It has been described as use of fear and violence to accomplish
the aim of ideology. It includes the threat and use of violence as well as seek to generate fear not
within particular victims but between a community or country. The goal of establishing terrorism
can be in pursuit of terms related to religious, political or ideological conflicts (Awan, Spiller &
Whiting, 2018). This assignment covers the several definition of terrorism and the ways in which
their meaning vary. It further covers the history of terrorism in UK along with the causes,
locations, offenders, victims and tactics of the particular situation. Further this report revolves
around the policies, practices and laws that are used by the government of UK in order to combat
this threat. It also covers the evaluation of the particular threat and the general challenges and
weaknesses faced by country while combating this particular threat.
MAIN BODY
Definition
Terrorism is a very common concept and there are several countries in the world that are
facing major form of challenges while dealing with this threat. However, there are several set of
definitions that are given by different organisations and authors of different country. Every
definition explains the concept of Terrorism in a different way, few such definitions are written
below:
“Actions done or several threats made in respect to the fulfil the intention of advancing
religious, political or any other such cause which directly raise conflicts in the common people
living in the country.”
“Different types of threatening acts committed by a person or a group of persons for religious,
ethnic and political purposes which eventually creates fear in the particular set of population or
whole population (Various Definitions of Terrorism, 2022).”
“Any type of act that is committed with the objective of destabilizing the set political order of
country and further generating a sense of fear and chaos in the people of the country.”
The above set of definitions perfectly define the word ‘terrorism’, however the second
definition gives a clear picture of what terrorism actually is. Therefore, this report will revolve
around the concepts discussed in second definition (Breen-Smyth, 2020). This quotes that the
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different types of act which are committed by a person or group of person for the pursuit of
fulfilling some objective.
Key features
History of terrorism in UK
According to the home office, terrorism in UK poses a significant threat on the country.
There has been several set of events in the history of UK due to which the vast majority of deaths
were reported in the country . The death count reported during the year 1971 and 2001 because
of terrorist related activities was 430. Since 2001, there have been around 100 terrorist related
deaths in the region of Great Britain (Terrorism, 2017).
Figure 1: Worst terrorist attacks in terms of fatalities in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 2021
(Source: Worst terrorist attacks in terms of fatalities in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 2021)
From the above stats, several terrorist’s attacks on UK in the year 1970 to 2021 and their
fatalities can be analysed. The worst terrorist attack in the history of country was Lockerbie
which happened in the year 1988. This terrorist attack reported casualties of around 270 people
across the country.
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Types of terrorism
There are several type of terrorism, these types vary considering the political system, time
in history and country. The types of terrorism that are reported in UK are further discussed
below:
 Social revolutionary terrorism- This is the most common form of terrorism where the
person establishing terrorism is looking to completely abolish the political system and
make a replacement in the new structure(Gelber, 2018).
 Religious extremist terrorism- This refers to the religious violence in which the act of
terrorism is used as a form of tactic so that religious goals of the person can be achieved.
These acts are done by the people in terms of influence received from religious beliefs.
 Nationalist-separatist terrorism- This refers to the use of acts of terror in order to force a
creation of new state or country for a particular set of people (Gilks, 2020). This act is
generally established by a particular set of community or people who feel that they are
treated unequally and being discriminated.
General causes of terrorism
 Differences in political views and ideologies is one of the main cause of acts of terrorism.
As several parties engage in the elections, every parties come up with different set of
ideologies and thinking. It increases the complexities and conflicts among the people
following the different parties.
 Differences in religious is another reason which creates conflicts due to which some
people of a community attack the people of another community because of change in
opinions and ideologies.
 Racism is another reason due to which some terrorist acts have happened in the past
history of UK (Williams, 2020). Racism is generally seen in the areas in which there are
people of two races majorly white and black.
Tactics
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There are several tactics of terrorism and these are the base of any type of terrorism
activity happening in the country. Some tactics are conventional and are used by almost every
terrorist group, few of these tactics are discussed below:
 Bombings- The tactics of terrorism are from diverse background and therefore bombing
is one of the major act which is conducted by the terrorists (Wood, 2019). The relative
ease of access to the chemicals used in order to make explosives is to create panic and
damage life's of different people.
 Suicide attack- It is most aggressive and assertive form of terrorism in which the
following coercion even at cost of losing the assistance of community. In this type of
attacks the terrorists plan and they select one person who will be lodged with bombs and
will attack the target audience. The suicide terrorist is person who is willing to sacrifice
his/her own life for completion of the objective.
 Nuclear attacks- A nuclear weapon is an chemical device which derives its blasting
force from nuclear reactions, either combination and fusion of fission reactions (Pantucci,
2020). Both types of bombs release large amount of energy from small amounts of
matter. This act often causes fatalities, infrastructure, injuries and damage that is gotten
from the blast and hear of the explosion. Significantly radiological consequences often
adversely impact the lifestyle and people.
 Cyberterrorism- Cyberterrorism refers to the attack that is made by terrorists through
the online world. This is generally done by imposing different types of viruses and areas
across the internet. This is one of the major act that can impact the economy of the
country, several countries often get recked through online means. UK's infrastructure in
terms of advancement in technology is at a good level which shows that they have less
chances of getting attacked through online means.
 Nuclear weapons- Nuclear weapons are another form of major terrorism where the terror
is established by dropping nuclear weapons on the target area to cause chaos and
casualties. This is considered as one of the major attack of terrorism in which several
group of people are impacted with the attack. These attacks impact the lifestyle, habitat
and other factors due to which there is major setback in the current lifestyle of people
who are living in that particular area.
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Responses
There are several laws that are made by UK government in respect to the definition that is
set out in the Terrorism Act 2000. The terrorism act 2000 is the first-string piece of counter
terrorism legislation that is established in UK. The Anti terrorism, crime and security act 2001.
terrorism act 2006, terrorism asset freezing etc act 2010, terrorism prevention and investigation
measures act 2011 (Silva Sanchez, 2021). These act will help in terms of bringing justice to the
victims who were part of the terrorism act. The UK government is actively working in terms of
punishing the people who are actively promoting the act of terrorism in the country. These laws
play a major role as it helps in creating a sense of fear amongst the people who are looking to
admit such terrorist attacks in the country.
Evaluation
Challenges- There are several set of challenges that are faced by the country while dealing with
terrorism. The country often faces challenges while implementing the legislation and laws in the
respective area of interest. Few of the challenges faced by UK while dealing with terrorism are
discussed below:
 Diminishes governments' respect for basic human rights- The major and most basic
challenge that is faced by the country is to maintain the respect of basic human rights that
are established by the government of the country. In order to establish a central source
where the human rights are respected the country must establish laws that does not
promote committing of terrorism acts. Negatively impacts tourism- Negative impact of terrorism is that it negatively impacts
the act of tourism in UK. As the act of terrorism increases there are several challenges
faced by the country in maintaining the tourism boards. Tourism is one of the main
earning activity of country where the culture of the country is promoted (Taylor, 2020).
Tourism helps the country in terms of bringing people in the country which promotes the
act of heritage and culture. This is one of the major challenge that is faced by UK while
dealing with the act of tourism.
 Negatively impacts the culture- The culture gets negatively impacted because of the
terrorism acts happening in the community and country. The negative impact of the
culture is that the people in community gets threatened and they may choose the wro9ng
ways in order to get the work done.
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Threats- The country often faces threats, the fear is faced by the people of the community and
country. Few of threats that the country faces due to terrorism are discussed below: Kidnapping- This is the most general form of threat that is faced by the country where
the general public faces challenges as they have to go through such threats from the
people. Hijacking- This is another challenge that is faced by the country when the passengers of
flights gets threatened during the flying hours. Hijacking is one of primary act which is
done by the terrorists through which they ask some favour or ransoms from the
government of that particular country.
 Assassinations- This is a act in which the terrorist massacre the common people who are
innocent. Assassination refers to the act of killing someone deliberately where the act is
done by hiring someone for the cold shoot out (Walker & Cawley, 2020). There are some
cases in which even the president and important people of country are killed.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that Terrorism is one of the major threat that is
faced UK. Terrorism is a harsh act where it threatens the common people who are citizen of the
country. It establishes a situation in which the general rights of citizens get void and they feel
insecure in the country. There are several types of terrorism that can happen in the country where
the majority of act are done in respect to the political and religious context. The country must
come up with ways in which they can deal with these challenges and recover the economy and
situation from the loss that happened during the act of tourism. The act of tourism must be
ignored at any cost in the country as it impacts the lifestyle, views and other sensitive areas of
people living in the country.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Awan, I., Spiller, K., & Whiting, A. (2018). Terrorism in the classroom: Security, surveillance
and a public duty to act. Springer.
Breen-Smyth, M. (2020). The lone (white) wolf,‘terrorism’and the suspect community.
In Encountering extremism (pp. 74-97). Manchester University Press.
Gelber, K. (2018). Incitement to Hatred and Countering Terrorism: Policy Confusion in the
UK . Parliamentary Affairs. 71(1). 28-49.
Gilks, M. (2020). The security-prejudice nexus:“Islamist” terrorism and the structural logics of
Islamophobia in the UK. Critical studies on terrorism. 13(1). 24-46.
Pantucci, R. (2020). Key questions for counter-terrorism post-COVID-19. Counter Terrorist
Trends and Analyses. 12(3). 1-6.
Silva Sanchez, V. S. (2021). Book review of ‘The UN and counter-terrorism: global hegemonies,
power and identities’ by Alice Martini, Routledge, 2021,£ 96 (UK)(Hardcover). 220 pp..
ISBN 9780367564216.
Taylor, J. D. (2020). ‘Suspect Categories,’Alienation and Counterterrorism: Critically Assessing
PREVENT in the UK. Terrorism and Political Violence. 32(4). 851-873.
Walker, C., & Cawley, O. (2020). The Juridification of the UK’s Counter Terrorism Prevent
Policy. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 1-26.
Williams, P. (2020). Counter-terrorism: The front line. In Introduction to Professional
Policing (pp. 173-191). Routledge.
Wood, S. (2019). The phenomenon of aviation security and the utilitarian response to counter
terrorism in the UK and it impact on Human Rights. Universitas.
ONLINE
Terrorism, 2017. [online]. Available through: <https://www.cps.gov.uk/crime-info/terrorism>
Worst terrorist attacks in terms of fatalities in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 2021, 2021.
[Online]. Available Through: <https://www.statista.com/statistics/891788/worst-terrorist-attacks-
in-uk/>
Various Definitions of Terrorism, 2022. [Online]. Available through:
<https://dema.az.gov/sites/default/files/Publications/AR-Terrorism%20Definitions-
BORUNDA.pdf>
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