State terrorism#Confines and definition

State terrorism is terrorism conducted by a state against its own citizens or another state's citizens.{{cite book|author=Aust, Anthony|title=Handbook of International Law|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2010|edition=2nd|isbn=978-0-521-13349-4|page=265|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=74Zmct-7hGIC&pg=PA265|access-date=2016-01-05|archive-date=2024-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329132050/https://books.google.com/books?id=74Zmct-7hGIC&pg=PA265#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}Selden & So, 2003: [https://books.google.com/books?id=D0icvm2EQLIC&pg=PA4 p. 4.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329132058/https://books.google.com/books?id=D0icvm2EQLIC&pg=PA4#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=2024-03-29}}{{harvnb|Martin|2006|p=111}}

It contrasts with state-sponsored terrorism, in which a violent non-state actor conducts an act of terror under sponsorship of a state.

Governments accused of state terrorism may justify these actions as efforts to combat internal dissent, suppress insurgencies, or maintain national security, often framing their actions within the context of counterterrorism or counterinsurgency. Accused actions of state terrorism are normally also criticised as severe violations of human rights and international law.

Historically, governments have been accused of using state terrorism in various settings. The exact definition and scope of state terrorism remain controversial, as some scholars and governments argue that terrorism is a tool used exclusively by non-state actors, while others maintain that state-directed violence intended to terrorize civilian populations should also be classified as terrorism.

Definition

There is neither an academic nor an international legal consensus regarding the proper definition of the word terrorism.{{cite book|last=Williamson |first=Myra|title=Terrorism, war and international law: the legality of the use of force against Afghanistan in 2001|publisher=Ashgate |year=2009|isbn=978-0-7546-7403-0|page=38|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wH3eCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA38|access-date=2016-05-04|archive-date=2024-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329132046/https://books.google.com/books?id=wH3eCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA38#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Schmid |first=Alex P.|chapter=The Definition of Terrorism|title=The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research|publisher=Routledge|year=2011|isbn=978-0-203-82873-1|page=39|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_PXpFxKRsHgC&pg=PA39|access-date=2016-01-05|archive-date=2024-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329132100/https://books.google.com/books?id=_PXpFxKRsHgC&pg=PA39#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} Some scholars believe the actions of governments can be labelled "terrorism".{{Cite book | last1= Nairn | first1= Tom | last2= James | first2= Paul | author-link= Paul James (academic) | title= Global Matrix: Nationalism, Globalism and State-Terrorism | url= https://www.academia.edu/1642325 | year= 2005 | publisher= Pluto Press | location= London and New York | access-date= 2017-11-02 | archive-date= 2021-08-18 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210818025820/https://www.academia.edu/1642325 | url-status= live }} Using the term 'terrorism' to mean violent action used with the predominant intention of causing terror, Paul James and Jonathan Friedman distinguish between state terrorism against non-combatants and state terrorism against combatants, including "shock and awe" tactics:

{{blockquote|"Shock and Awe" as a subcategory of "rapid dominance" is the name given to massive intervention designed to strike terror into the minds of the enemy. It is a form of state-terrorism. The concept was however developed long before the Second Gulf War by Harlan Ullman as chair of a forum of retired military personnel.{{Cite book | year= 2006 | last1= James | first1= Paul | author-link= Paul James (academic) | last2= Friedman | first2= Jonathan | title= Globalization and Violence |volume=3: Globalizing War and Intervention | url= https://www.academia.edu/3587732 | publisher= Sage Publications | location= London | page= xxx | access-date= 2017-11-02 | archive-date= 2020-01-11 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200111045525/https://www.academia.edu/3587732/Globalization_and_Violence_Vol._3_Globalizing_War_and_Intervention_2006_ | url-status= live }}}}

However, others, including governments, international organisations, private institutions and scholars, believe the term terrorism is applicable only to the actions of violent non-state actors. This approach is termed as an actor-centric definition which emphasizes the characteristics of the groups or individuals who use terrorism; whilst act-centric definitions emphasize the unique aspects of terrorism from other acts of violence.{{cite book |last1=Chenoweth |first1=Erica |last2=English |first2=Richard |last3=Gofas |first3=Andrew |last4=Kalyvas |first4=Stathis |title=The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, United Kingdom |isbn=9780198732914 |page=153 |edition=First |url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-terrorism-9780198732914?cc=us&lang=en& |access-date=2023-01-11 |archive-date=2023-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111134219/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-terrorism-9780198732914?cc=us&lang=en& |url-status=live }} Historically, the term terrorism was used to refer to actions taken by governments against their own citizens whereas now it is more often perceived as targeting of non-combatants as part of a strategy directed against governments.{{cite book|last=Williamson |first=Myra|title=Terrorism, war and international law: the legality of the use of force against Afghanistan in 2001|publisher=Ashgate |year=2009|isbn=978-0-7546-7403-0|page=40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wH3eCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA40|access-date=2016-05-04|archive-date=2024-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329132051/https://books.google.com/books?id=wH3eCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}

Historian Henry Commager wrote that "Even when definitions of terrorism allow for 'state terrorism', state actions in this area tend to be seen through the prism of war or national self-defense, not terror."{{cite book|last=Hor |first=Michael Yew Meng|title=Global anti-terrorism law and policy|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-521-10870-6|page=20|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nzQOAR5rqvcC&pg=PA20|access-date=2016-11-12|archive-date=2019-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190303234424/https://books.google.com/books?id=nzQOAR5rqvcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA20|url-status=dead}} While states may accuse other states of state-sponsored terrorism when they support insurgencies, individuals who accuse their governments of terrorism are seen as radicals, because actions by legitimate governments are not generally seen as illegitimate. Academic writing tends to follow the definitions accepted by states.. Most states use the term terrorism for non-state actors only.{{cite book|first=Alex P. |last=Schmid|title=Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research|publisher=Routledge|year=2011|isbn=978-0-415-41157-8|page=48|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_PXpFxKRsHgC|access-date=2016-01-05|archive-date=2024-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329132101/https://books.google.com/books?id=_PXpFxKRsHgC|url-status=live}}

The Encyclopædia Britannica Online defines terrorism generally as "the systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective", and states that "terrorism is not legally defined in all jurisdictions". The encyclopedia adds that "[e]stablishment terrorism, often called state or state-sponsored terrorism, is employed by governments—or more often by factions within governments—against that government's citizens, against factions within the government, or against foreign governments or groups."{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism/Types-of-terrorism|title=Terrorism|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2020-01-11|archive-date=2020-01-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111164739/https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism/Types-of-terrorism|url-status=live}}

While the most common modern usage of the word terrorism refers to political violence by insurgents or conspirators,{{cite book |chapter=Dealing with Terrorism |first=Helen |last=Purkitt |title=Conflict in World Society |year=1984 |page=162 |editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Banks |location=Brighton, East Sussex |publisher=Wheatsheaf }} several scholars make a broader interpretation of the nature of terrorism that encompasses the concepts of state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism.{{harvnb|Stohl|p=14}}{{verify source|reason=

Several sources by this author are cited, which one is it?|{{subst:DATE}}|date=January 2025}} Michael Stohl argues, "The use of terror tactics is common in international relations and the state has been and remains a more likely employer of terrorism within the international system than insurgents."{{check quotation|date=January 2025}}{{cite conference |title=The Superpowers and International Terror |first=Michael |last=Stohl |conference=Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association |location=Atlanta |date=March 27 – April 1, 1984}} Stohl clarifies, however, that "[n]ot all acts of state violence are terrorism. It is important to understand that in terrorism the violence threatened or perpetrated, has purposes broader than simple physical harm to a victim. The audience of the act or threat of violence is more important than the immediate victim."{{cite book |last=Stohl |first=Michael |chapter=National Interests and State Terrorism |title=The Politics of Terrorism |publisher=Marcel Dekker |year=1988 |page=275}}

Scholar Gus Martin describes state terrorism as terrorism "committed by governments and quasi-governmental agencies and personnel against perceived threats", which can be directed against both domestic and foreign targets. Noam Chomsky defines state terrorism as "terrorism practised by states (or governments) and their agents and allies".{{cite journal|last=Chomsky |first=Noam |author-link=Noam Chomsky |title=What Anthropologists Should Know about the Concept of Terrorism|journal=Anthropology Today|date=April 2002|volume=18|issue=2}}

Simon Taylor provides a definition of state terrorism as "state agents using threats or acts of violence against civilians, marked by a callous indifference to human life, to instill fear in a community beyond the initial victim for the purpose of preventing a change or challenge to the status quo."{{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=Simon |title=Status Quo Terrorism: State-Terrorism in South Africa during Apartheid |journal=Terrorism and Political Violence |date=3 May 2021 |volume=35 |issue=2 |page=2 |doi=10.1080/09546553.2021.1916478|s2cid=235534871 }} These acts of violence can include both the types of state violence that some argue ought to be considered terrorism, such as: genocide, mass murders, ethnic cleansing, disappearances, detention without trial, and torture; and more widely accepted methods of terror including bombings and targeted killings.

Stohl and George A. Lopez have designated three categories of state terrorism, based on the openness or secrecy with which the acts are performed, and whether states directly perform the acts, support them, or acquiesce to them.{{harvnb|Stohl|Lopez|1988|pp=207–208}}.

History

File:NantesChateauMuséeNoyades.jpg were a series of mass executions by drowning during the Reign of Terror in France.]]

Aristotle wrote critically of terror employed by tyrants against their subjects.Harvey C. Mansfield (November 28, 2001). [http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.762/article_detail.asp "Those Hell-Hounds Called Terrorists"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404072423/http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.762/article_detail.asp |date=2013-04-04 }}. The Claremont Institute. The earliest use of the word terrorism identified by the Oxford English Dictionary is a 1795 reference to tyrannical state behavior, the "reign of terrorism" in France.Oxford English Dictionary (2nd CD-ROM ed.), 2002, Oxford University Press.{{page needed|reason=which entry?|date=January 2025}} In that same year, Edmund Burke decried the "thousands of those hell-hounds called terrorists" who he believed threatened Europe. During the Reign of Terror, the Jacobin government and other factions of the French Revolution used the apparatus of the state to kill and intimidate political opponents, and the Oxford English Dictionary includes as one definition of terrorism "Government by intimidation carried out by the party in power in France between 1789–1794".{{cite journal|title=How to define terrorism|last=Teichman |first=Jenny|journal=Philosophy|volume=64|issue=250|date=October 1989|pages=505–517|doi=10.1017/S0031819100044260|s2cid=144723359 }} The original general meaning of terrorism was of terrorism by the state, as reflected in the 1798 supplement of the Dictionnaire of the {{lang|fr|Académie française|italic=no}}, which described terrorism as {{lang|fr|systeme}}, {{lang|fr|regime de la terreur}}.{{cite book |title=A History of Terrorism |first=Walter |last=Laqueur |publisher=Transaction |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7658-0799-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RlqQHKpLfL8C |page=6}} Myra Williamson wrote:

{{blockquote|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 sub-national entities against a state. [italics in original]{{cite book|last=Williamson |first=Myra|title=Terrorism, war and international law: the legality of the use of force against Afghanistan in 2001|publisher=Ashgate |year=2009|isbn=978-0-7546-7403-0|page=43|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wH3eCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43|access-date=2016-05-04|archive-date=2024-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329132102/https://books.google.com/books?id=wH3eCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}}}

Later examples of state terrorism include the police state measures employed by the Soviet Union beginning in the 1930s, and by Germany's Nazi regime in the 1930s and 1940s.{{cite encyclopedia |last=Primoratz |first=Igor |year=2007 |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/terrorism/ |title=Terrorism |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180611162009/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/terrorism/ |archive-date=2018-06-11 |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}} According to Igor Primoratz, "Both [the Nazis and the Soviets] sought to impose total political control on society. Such a radical aim could be pursued only by a similarly radical method: by terrorism directed by an extremely powerful political police at an atomized and defenseless population. Its success was due largely to its arbitrary character—to the unpredictability of its choice of victims. In both countries, the regime first suppressed all opposition; when it no longer had any opposition to speak of, political police took to persecuting 'potential' and 'objective opponents'. In the Soviet Union, it was eventually unleashed on victims chosen at random."{{harvnb|Primoratz|2007}}.

{{quote box|align=right|width=25em|quote=The terror of tsarism was directed against the proletariat. Our Extraordinary Commissions shoot landlords, capitalists, and generals who are striving to restore the capitalist order. Do you grasp this{{nbsp}}... distinction? Yes? For us communists it is quite sufficient.|source=Leon Trotsky, Terrorism and Communism, 1920.{{cite book|last=Gage|first=Beverly|title=The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in its First Age of Terror|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0199759286|page=[https://archive.org/details/daywallstreetexp0000gage/page/263 263]|url=https://archive.org/details/daywallstreetexp0000gage|url-access=registration}}}}

Military actions primarily directed against non-combatant targets have also been referred to as state terrorism. For example, the bombing of Guernica has been called an act of terrorism.{{cite book |title=What's wrong with terrorism? |first=Robert E. |last=Goodin |publisher=Wiley |year=2006 |isbn=0-7456-3497-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pV0oUUmuNfIC |page=62}} Other examples of state terrorism may include the World War II bombings of Pearl Harbor, London, Dresden, Chongqing, and Hiroshima.{{harvnb|Stohl|1984}}

An act of sabotage, sometimes regarded as an act of terrorism, was the peacetime sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, a ship owned by Greenpeace, which occurred while in port at Auckland, New Zealand on July 10, 1985. The bomb detonation killed Fernando Pereira, a Dutch photographer. The organisation who committed the attack, the Directorate-General for External Security (DSGE), is a branch of France's intelligence services. The agents responsible pleaded guilty to manslaughter as part of a plea deal and were sentenced to ten years in prison, but were secretly released early to France under an agreement between the two countries' governments.{{Cite journal |date=July 9, 2020 |title=Russell-Einstein Manifesto, ICJ case and Rainbow Warrior bombing: Remembering humanity |journal=Down to Earth}}{{volume needed|date=January 2025}}

File:Cambodia 2011 monuments 10.jpg contain thousands of photos taken by the Khmer Rouge of their victims.]]

{{anchor|The Troubles}}During the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the 1990s, the Military Reaction Force (MRF), a counterinsurgency unit of the British Intelligence Corps, was tasked with tracking down members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). During the period when it was active, the MRF was involved in the killings of Catholic civilians in Northern Ireland.{{cite news|title=Undercover soldiers 'killed unarmed civilians in Belfast'|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-24987465|access-date=28 November 2014|work=BBC News|date=21 November 2014|archive-date=3 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103162930/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-24987465|url-status=live}}{{cite book |first=Ed |last=Moloney|title=A Secret History of the IRA|url=https://archive.org/details/secrethistoryofi00edmo|url-access=registration|access-date=7 February 2011 |date=November 2003 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-32502-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/secrethistoryofi00edmo/page/119 119]–122/123}}

In November 2013, a BBC Panorama documentary was aired about the MRF. It drew on information from seven former members, as well as a number of other sources. Soldier H said: "We operated initially with them thinking that we were the UVF." Soldier F added: "We wanted to cause confusion."{{cite web |last=Ware |first=John |url=http://republican-news.org/current/news/2013/11/britains_secret_terror_force.html |title=Britain's Secret Terror Force |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623044129/http://republican-news.org/current/news/2013/11/britains_secret_terror_force.html |archive-date=2015-06-23 |work=Irish Republican News |date=23 November 2013 |access-date=23 November 2013}} In June 1972, he{{Who|date=July 2017}} was succeeded as commander by Captain James 'Hamish' McGregor.{{Cite episode |title=Britain's Secret Terror Force |series=Panorama |people=Telling, Leo (director) |network=BBC |date=21 November 2013}}

In June 2014, in the wake of the Panorama programme, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) opened an investigation into the matter.{{cite news |author= |title=Police investigate Military Reaction Force allegations |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27785433 |newspaper=BBC |date=10 June 2014 |access-date=1 March 2015 |archive-date=13 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140613060439/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27785433 |url-status=live }} In an earlier review of the programme, the position of the PSNI was that none of the statements by soldiers in the programme could be taken as an admission of criminality.{{cite news|author=|title=Panorama MRF programme: Soldiers 'admitted no crimes'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27389349|newspaper=BBC|date=13 May 2014|access-date=1 March 2015|archive-date=27 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627130710/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27389349|url-status=live}}

By country

=Argentina=

The Dirty War is the name used for the period of state terrorism in Argentina between 1974 and 1983.{{cite book|last=Blakeley|first=Ruth|date=2009|title=State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: The North in the South|url=http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415462402/|publisher=Routledge|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rft8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 96–97]|isbn=978-0-415-68617-4|access-date=2015-06-12|archive-date=2015-06-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614055306/http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415462402/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=Borger|first=Julian|year=2004|title=Kissinger backed dirty war against left in Argentina|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/aug/28/argentina.julianborger|work=The Guardian|access-date=2022-08-13|archive-date=2019-08-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190829141341/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/aug/28/argentina.julianborger|url-status=live}}

=Belarus=

=Brazil=

{{See also|Human rights abuses of the military dictatorship in Brazil (1964–1985)}}

=Chile=

File:Casa de detención clandestina en José Domingo Cañas 01.JPG at José Domingo Cañas 1367]]

Chile during Augusto Pinochet's rule was accused of state terror against political opponents.{{cite news |last1=Wright |first1=Thomas C. |title=State Terrorism in Latin America |url=https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781461642800/State-Terrorism-in-Latin-America-Chile-Argentina-and-International-Human-Rights |access-date=2022-08-13 |archive-date=2022-05-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529105151/https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781461642800/State-Terrorism-in-Latin-America-Chile-Argentina-and-International-Human-Rights |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Terrorism and State Terror in Latin America |url=https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/modules/module/HISP5630 |work=University of Kent |access-date=2022-08-13 |archive-date=2022-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706231330/https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/modules/module/HISP5630 |url-status=live }}

=China=

{{See also|Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries|Mass killings of landlords under Mao Zedong|Cultural Revolution|Persecution of Uyghurs in China}}

The Uyghur American Association has claimed that Beijing's approach to terrorism in Xinjiang constitutes state terrorism.{{cite journal|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/36718304.pdf|title=Constituting the Uyghur in U.S.–China Relations: The Geopolitics of Identity Formation in the War on Terrorism|date=2 September 2002|journal=Strategic Insights|volume=1|issue=7|author=Gaye Christoffersen|access-date=9 May 2020|page=7|archive-date=9 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009011541/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/36718304.pdf|url-status=live}} In 2006, a Spanish court opened an investigation into claims that the Chinese state was committing acts of state terrorism in Tibet. However, the investigation was dropped in 2014.{{Cite web|date=2006-06-07|title=China rejects Spain's 'genocide' claims|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-rejects-spains-genocide-claims-481351.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-rejects-spains-genocide-claims-481351.html |archive-date=2022-05-24 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2020-09-04|website=The Independent|language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2014-06-24 |title=Spain drops 'genocide' case against China's Tibet leaders |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-28000937 |access-date=2023-05-14 |archive-date=2023-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514155833/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-28000937 |url-status=live }}

=France=

French DGSE agents Captain Dominique Prieur and Commander Alain Mafart sank the Rainbow Warrior, the flagship of the Greenpeace Organisation, in Auckland Harbour on July 10, 1985. The attack was aimed at stopping it from interfering in French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. The attack resulted in the death of Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira and led to a huge uproar over the first ever attack on New Zealand's sovereignty as a modern nation.{{cn|date=May 2025}} In July 1986, a United Nations-sponsored mediation effort between New Zealand and France resulted in the transfer of the two prisoners to the French Polynesian island of Hao, so they could serve three years there, as well as an apology and an NZ$13 million payment from France to New Zealand.{{Cite journal |date=30 April 1990 |title=Case concerning the difference between New Zealand and France concerning the interpretation or application of two agreements, concluded on 9 July 1986 between the two states and which related to the problems arising from the Rainbow Warrior Affair |url=http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XX/215-284.pdf |journal=Reports of International Arbitral Awards |volume=XX |pages=215–284, especially p. 275 |access-date=15 December 2022 |archive-date=27 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527193734/http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XX/215-284.pdf |url-status=live }}

=India=

=Iran=

=Israel=

File:Stop the Genocide Now! Save the Children of Gaza! Demonstration (53292782914).jpg in Helsinki, Finland, 28 October 2023]]

In November 2023, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel of being "a terrorist state" committing war crimes and violating international law in the Gaza Strip.{{cite news |title=Turkey's Erdogan labels Israel a 'terror state', slams its backers in West |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkeys-erdogan-calls-israel-terror-state-slams-west-2023-11-15/ |work=Reuters |date=15 November 2023 |access-date=2024-03-17 |archive-date=2023-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201225600/http://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkeys-erdogan-calls-israel-terror-state-slams-west-2023-11-15/ |url-status=live }} He said Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories should be recognized as "terrorists".{{cite news |title=Turkey's Erdogan calls Israel a 'terror state', criticises the West |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/15/turkeys-erdogan-calls-israel-a-terror-state-criticises-the-west |work=Al Jazeera |date=15 November 2023 |access-date=17 March 2024 |archive-date=25 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240325154856/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/15/turkeys-erdogan-calls-israel-a-terror-state-criticises-the-west |url-status=live }}

In December 2023, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the alleged genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and called Israel a "terrorist state".{{cite news |title=Cuba condemns 'genocide' committed by 'terrorist state of Israel' |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/cuba-condemns-genocide-committed-by-terrorist-state-of-israel/3093296 |work=Anadolu Agency |date=27 December 2023 |access-date=17 March 2024 |archive-date=10 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310115051/https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/cuba-condemns-genocide-committed-by-terrorist-state-of-israel/3093296 |url-status=live }}

The 2024 Lebanon pager explosions, which killed 39 people and wounded nearly 3,500, have been widely attributed to Israel. Iran referred to the attacks as "Israeli terrorism".{{Cite news |date=17 September 2024 |title=Iran says pager explosions are 'Israeli terrorism', offers assistance to victims |url=https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/lebanon-pagers-attack-hezbollah#h_a18fa0a6ebe61a86c96dc9bc56bac02b |website=CNN |first=Hamdi |last=Alkhshali}} Leon Panetta, the former-CIA director, also termed the attack terrorism.{{cite web |last1=Magid |first1=Jacob |title=Former CIA chief Panetta calls mass detonation of Hezbollah pagers 'a form of terrorism' |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/former-cia-chief-panetta-calls-mass-detonation-of-hezbollah-pagers-a-form-of-terrorism/ |website=The Times of Israel |access-date=6 October 2024}}{{cite magazine |last1=Olmsted |first1=Edith |title=Even Leon Panetta Says Israel's Pager Attack Is 'Terrorism' |url=https://newrepublic.com/post/186244/leon-panetta-israel-lebanon-pagers-terrorism |magazine=The New Republic |access-date=6 October 2024}}

= Italy =

=Libya=

In the 1980s, Libya under Muammar Gaddafi was accused of state terrorism following attacks abroad such as the Lockerbie bombing.{{Cite journal|last=Jureńczyk|first=Łukasz|date=2018|title=Great Britain Against Libya's state Terrorism in the 1980s|url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=668142|journal=Historia i Polityka|language=en|volume=31|issue=24|pages=61–71|doi=10.12775/HiP.2018.011|issn=1899-5160|doi-access=free|access-date=2020-05-21|archive-date=2022-11-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123032229/https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=668142|url-status=live}} Between 9 July and 15 August 1984 seventeen merchant vessels were damaged in the Gulf of Suez and Bab al-Mandeb straits by underwater explosions. Terrorist group Al Jihad (thought to be a pro-Iranian Shiite group connected to the Palestine Liberation Organisation) issued a claim of responsibility for the mining, but circumstantial evidence indicated that Libya was responsible.{{cite web| url = https://www.vernonlink.uk/red-sea| title = The Red Sea 1984 |website=The Vernon Link | access-date = 2021-02-09| archive-date = 2022-11-23| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221123032229/https://www.vernonlink.uk/red-sea| url-status = live}}

=Myanmar=

Myanmar has been accused of state terrorism in the internal conflict.{{Cite web|date=2017-09-17|title=The Rohingya are the victims of state terrorism; it must be stopped|url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170917-the-rohingya-are-the-victims-of-state-terrorism-it-must-be-stopped/|access-date=2020-09-04|website=Middle East Monitor|language=en-GB|archive-date=2020-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130074915/https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170917-the-rohingya-are-the-victims-of-state-terrorism-it-must-be-stopped/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web | url=https://www.lakeheadu.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/92/Dr.%20Islam.pdf | title=The Evolution of State Terrorism in Myanmar | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123032238/https://www.lakeheadu.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/92/Dr.%20Islam.pdf | archive-date=2022-11-23 }}

=North Korea=

North Korea has been accused of state terrorism on several occasions, such as in 1983 in the Rangoon bombing, the Gimpo International Airport bombing, and in 1987 when North Korean agents detonated a bomb on Korean Air Flight 858, killing everybody aboard.{{cite web| url = https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/45313.pdf| title=Country Reports on Terrorism 2004 |date=April 2005 |publisher = United States Department of State| access-date = 2019-05-23| archive-date = 2017-04-02| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170402204109/https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/45313.pdf| url-status = live}}

=Pakistan=

=Qatar=

=Russia=

File:Vladimir Putin and Sergey Shoigu - Saint-Petersburg 2017-07-30 (1).jpg and his long-time confidant Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu{{cite news |last=Kirby |first=Paul |date=2 March 2022 |title=Ukraine conflict: Who's in Putin's inner circle and running the war? |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60573261 |access-date=4 March 2022 |archive-date=3 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303144610/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60573261 |url-status=live }}]]

File:Ukrainian diaspora in Brussels protests the Russian invasion (51908400935).jpg in Brussels, Belgium, 27 February 2022]]

Following the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the initial investigations into war crimes committed by Russian soldiers, there were calls for Russia to be designated a terrorist state. On May 10, 2022, Lithuania's parliament designated Russia a terrorist state and its actions in Ukraine a genocide.{{Cite news |last=Treisman |first=Rachel |date=2022-05-10 |title=Lithuania designates Russia as a terrorist country, a global first |language=en |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/05/10/1097911440/lithuania-russia-terrorism-genocide-ukraine |access-date=2022-05-10 |archive-date=2022-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809140842/https://www.npr.org/2022/05/10/1097911440/lithuania-russia-terrorism-genocide-ukraine |url-status=live }} The US Senate unanimously passed a resolution to this effect on July 27, 2022,{{Cite news |last=Medina |first=Eduardo |date=2022-07-28 |title=The U.S. Senate passes a resolution seeking to label Russia as a sponsor of terrorism |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/27/world/europe/the-us-senate-passes-a-resolution-seeking-to-label-russia-as-a-sponsor-of-terrorism.html |access-date=2022-08-02 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2022-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811155232/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/27/world/europe/the-us-senate-passes-a-resolution-seeking-to-label-russia-as-a-sponsor-of-terrorism.html |url-status=live }} and the US House of Representatives is to consider such legislation.{{Cite web |last1=Ward |first1=Alexander |last2=Desiderio |first2=Andrew |last3=Forgey |first3=Quint |date=2022-07-28 |title=House group moves to label Russia as terrorist state |url=https://politi.co/3oEgGPg |access-date=2022-08-02 |website=Politico |language=en |archive-date=2022-08-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812185052/https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2022/07/28/house-group-moves-to-label-russia-as-terrorist-state-00048266 |url-status=live }} On August 11, Latvia's parliament designated Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/latvia-designates-russia-state-sponsor-terrorism-over-ukraine-war-2022-08-11/ |title=Latvia designates Russia a 'state sponsor of terrorism' over Ukraine war |work=Reuters |date=11 August 2022 |access-date=11 August 2022 |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812072058/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/latvia-designates-russia-state-sponsor-terrorism-over-ukraine-war-2022-08-11/ |url-status=live }} Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada on 20 August 2022 also designated Russia as a terrorist state.{{cite web |title=Rada recognizes Russia as 'terrorist state', calls on world to follow suit |date=19 August 2022 |url=https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/3553758-rada-recognizes-russia-as-terrorist-state-calls-on-world-to-follow-suit.html |access-date=19 August 2022 |archive-date=21 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121204900/https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/3553758-rada-recognizes-russia-as-terrorist-state-calls-on-world-to-follow-suit.html |url-status=live }} On October 17, the European Parliament approved a request to debate and vote on a resolution recognizing Russia as a terrorist state,{{Cite web |title=European Parliament to vote on recognising Russia a state sponsor of terror |url=https://news.yahoo.com/european-parliament-vote-recognising-russia-204205645.html |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=Yahoo! News |date=17 October 2022 |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018043024/https://news.yahoo.com/european-parliament-vote-recognising-russia-204205645.html |url-status=live }} which it did on November 23.{{Cite web |date=2022-11-23 |title=European Parliament declares Russia to be a state sponsor of terrorism |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20221118IPR55707/european-parliament-declares-russia-to-be-a-state-sponsor-of-terrorism |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=News (European Parliament) |language=en |archive-date=2022-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129180228/https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20221118IPR55707/european-parliament-declares-russia-to-be-a-state-sponsor-of-terrorism |url-status=live }}

As of October 2023, the following states and organizations have designated Russia as terrorist or a sponsor of terrorism:

{{Flag|Czechia}} (16 November 2022){{Cite web |date=2022-11-16 |title=Lower House of Czech Parliament Recognises Russian Regime as Terrorist |url=https://www.eurointegration.com.ua/eng/news/2022/11/16/7150750/ |access-date=2022-11-16 |website=European Pravda |language=en}}
{{Flag|Estonia}} (18 October 2022){{Cite web |date=2022-10-18 |title=Estonian parliament declares Russia a terrorist state |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/as-the-third-country-to-estonia-declares-russia-a-terrorist-state/ |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=Politico |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-11-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221119101230/https://www.politico.eu/article/as-the-third-country-to-estonia-declares-russia-a-terrorist-state/ |url-status=live }}
{{Flagdeco|European Union}} European Parliament (23 November 2022)
{{Flag|Latvia}} (11 August 2022){{cite web |date=11 August 2022 |title=Saeima Krieviju atzīst par terorismu atbalstošu valsti |trans-title=The Saeima recognizes Russia as a country supporting terrorism |url=https://www.diena.lv/raksts/latvija/zinas/saeima-krieviju-atzist-par-terorismu-atbalstosu-valsti-14284320 |website=Diena |language=lv |access-date=6 October 2023 |archive-date=11 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811091341/https://www.diena.lv/raksts/latvija/zinas/saeima-krieviju-atzist-par-terorismu-atbalstosu-valsti-14284320 |url-status=live }}
{{Flag|Lithuania}} (10 May 2022){{Cite news |title=Lithuania Adopts Resolution Calling Russia 'Terrorist State,' Accuses Moscow Of 'Genocide' |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/lithuania-resolution-russia-genocide/31842970.html |access-date=2022-08-08 |website=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701090745/https://www.rferl.org/a/lithuania-resolution-russia-genocide/31842970.html |url-status=live }}
{{Flag|NATO|name=NATO Parliamentary Assembly}} (21 November 2022){{Cite web |date=2022-11-21 |title=NATO Parliamentary Assembly declares Russia to be a 'terrorist state' |url=https://english.nv.ua/nation/nato-parliamentary-assembly-declares-russia-to-be-a-terrorist-state-50285635.html |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=The New Voice of Ukraine |language=en |archive-date=2022-11-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123103758/https://english.nv.ua/nation/nato-parliamentary-assembly-declares-russia-to-be-a-terrorist-state-50285635.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=2022-11-23 |title=NATO PA recognizes Russia as terrorist state |url=https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/3619035-nato-pa-recognizes-russia-as-terrorist-state.html |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ukrinform |language=en |archive-date=2022-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122070611/https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/3619035-nato-pa-recognizes-russia-as-terrorist-state.html |url-status=live }}
{{Flag|Netherlands}} (24 November 2022){{Cite web |date=2022-11-25 |title=Dutch Parliament declares Russia state sponsor of terrorism |url=https://english.nv.ua/nation/dutch-parliament-declares-russia-state-sponsor-of-terrorism-50286671.html |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=The New Voice of Ukraine |language= |archive-date=2022-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126000143/https://english.nv.ua/nation/dutch-parliament-declares-russia-state-sponsor-of-terrorism-50286671.html |url-status=live }}
{{Flag|Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|name=OSCE Parliamentary Assembly}} (4 July 2023){{Cite web |date=2023-07-04 |title=OSCE Parliamentary Assembly recognizes Russia as state sponsor of terrorism |url=https://kyivindependent.com/ukrainian-delegation-osce-parliamentary-assembly-recognizes-russia-as-state-sponsor-of-terrorism/ |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=The Kyiv Independent |language=en |archive-date=2023-10-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016142453/https://kyivindependent.com/ukrainian-delegation-osce-parliamentary-assembly-recognizes-russia-as-state-sponsor-of-terrorism/ |url-status=live }}
{{Flagdeco|Council of Europe}} Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (13 October 2022){{Cite web |date=2022-10-13 |title=PACE adopts resolution declaring Russian regime as terrorist one |url=https://english.nv.ua/nation/pace-adopts-resolution-declaring-russian-regime-as-terrorist-50276526.html |access-date=2022-10-13 |website=The New Voice of Ukraine |language=en |archive-date=2022-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013131739/https://english.nv.ua/nation/pace-adopts-resolution-declaring-russian-regime-as-terrorist-50276526.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=2022-10-13 |title=Further escalation in the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine (Resolution 2463) |url=https://pace.coe.int/en/files/31390/html |access-date=2022-10-13 |website=Parliamentary Assembly (Council of Europe) |archive-date=2022-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013154400/https://pace.coe.int/en/files/31390/html |url-status=live }}
{{Flag|Poland}} (14 December 2022){{Cite web |date=2022-12-14 |title=Sejm uznał Rosję za państwo sponsorujące terroryzm |trans-title=The Sejm recognized Russia as a state sponsoring terrorism |url=https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/kraj/sejm-uznal-rosje-za-panstwo-sponsorujace-terroryzm/z106pfg |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=Onet Wiadomości |language=pl |archive-date=2022-12-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214221536/https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/kraj/sejm-uznal-rosje-za-panstwo-sponsorujace-terroryzm/z106pfg |url-status=live }}
{{Flag|Slovakia}} (16 February 2023){{Cite web |date=2023-02-16 |title=Slovak parliament recognises Russian regime as terrorist and Russia as terrorism sponsor |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/02/16/7389647/ |access-date=2023-02-16 |website=Ukrainska Pravda |language=en |archive-date=2023-02-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216165916/https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/02/16/7389647/ |url-status=live }}
{{Flag|Ukraine}} (14 April 2022){{Cite web |date=2022-04-14 |title=VR recognizes Russia as terrorist state, bans military symbols Z and V |url=https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/3457746-vr-recognizes-russia-as-terrorist-state-bans-military-symbols-z-and-v.html |access-date=2022-08-02 |website=Ukrinform |language=en |archive-date=2022-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418021850/https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/3457746-vr-recognizes-russia-as-terrorist-state-bans-military-symbols-z-and-v.html |url-status=live }}
{{Flag|United States Senate}} (27 July 2022)

=Saudi Arabia=

{{See also|Blockade of Yemen|Saudi Arabia and state-sponsored terrorism|Alleged Saudi government role in the September 11 attacks}}

=South Africa=

{{See also|1982 bombing of the African National Congress headquarters in London}}

Between 1979 and 1990, the Apartheid government in South Africa operated a branch of the South African Police known as Vlakplaas who routinely used methods of terrorism to support the state in maintaining Apartheid. These methods included the bombing of civilian buildings (COSATU House and Khotso House), and the targeted-killing and assassinations of anti-Apartheid activists.

In the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, the former Major-General and Commander of Vlakplaas, Sarel “Sakkie” du Plessis Crafford gave the following three reasons for the Apartheid state's policy of extra-judicial killings:

"It scared off other supporters and potential supporters; it made people reluctant to offer open support; it created distrust and demoralization amongst cadres.
"It gave white voters confidence that the security forces were in control and winning the fight against Communism and terrorism.
"The information gleaned during the interrogation needed to be protected against disclosure."{{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=Simon |title=Status Quo Terrorism: State-Terrorism in South Africa during Apartheid |journal=Terrorism and Political Violence |date=3 May 2021 |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=4–5 |doi=10.1080/09546553.2021.1916478|s2cid=235534871 }}

The most notorious of the Vlakplaas operatives were Eugene de Kock and the askari Joe Mamasela, who were linked to several high-profile extra-judicial killings, including that of Griffiths Mxenge. Following South Africa's transition to democracy, de Kock was later tried and convicted on eighty-nine charges and sentenced to 212 years in prison.

= Soviet Union =

=Spain=

=Sri Lanka=

=Syria=

=Turkey=

=United Kingdom=

During World War II, the United Kingdom created the Special Operations Executive (SOE) which, in the words of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, was to "set Europe ablaze"

with sabotage and subversion in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany.{{cite book |last1=Cookridge |first1=E. H. |title=Set Europe Ablaze |date=1966 |publisher=Thomas Y. Cromwell Company |location=New York |pages=1–6}} The British military historian John Keegan later wrote, "We must recognise that our response to the scourge of terrorism is compromised by what we did through SOE. The justification ... That we had no other means of striking back at the enemy ... is exactly the argument used by the Red Brigades, the Baader-Meinhoff gang, the PFLP, the IRA and every other half-articulate terrorist organisation on Earth. Futile to argue that we were a democracy and Hitler a tyrant. Means besmirch ends. SOE besmirched Britain."{{cite book |last1=Geraghty |first1=Tony |title=The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict between the IRA and British Intelligence |date=2000 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=9780801864568 |page=346}}

British Foreign Office documents declassified in 2021 revealed that during the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, British propagandists secretly incited anti-communists including army generals to eliminate the PKI, and used black propaganda, due to Indonesian President Sukarno's hostility to the formation of former British colonies into the Malayan federation from 1963.{{Cite news |title=Revealed: how UK spies incited mass murder of Indonesia's communists |last1=Lashmar |first1=Paul |last2=Gilby |first2=Nicholas |last3=Oliver |first3=James |newspaper=The Observer |date=17 October 2021 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/17/revealed-how-uk-spies-incited-mass-of-indonesias-communists |access-date=25 December 2022 |archive-date=22 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122005131/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/17/revealed-how-uk-spies-incited-mass-of-indonesias-communists |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Lashmar |first1=Paul |last2=Gilby |first2=Nicholas |last3=Oliver |first3=James |date=October 17, 2021 |title=Slaughter in Indonesia: Britain's secret propaganda war |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/17/slaughter-in-indonesia-britains-secret-propaganda-war |work=The Observer |access-date=December 25, 2022 |archive-date=December 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227084505/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/17/slaughter-in-indonesia-britains-secret-propaganda-war |url-status=live }} British Prime Minister Harold Wilson's government had instructed propaganda specialists from the Foreign Office to send hundreds of inflammatory pamphlets to leading anti-communists in Indonesia, inciting them to kill the foreign minister, Subandrio, and claiming that ethnic Chinese Indonesians deserved the violence meted out to them.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/23/uks-propaganda-leaflets-inspired-1960s-massacre-of-indonesian-communists|title=UK's propaganda leaflets inspired 1960s massacre of Indonesian communists|last1=Lashmar|first1=Paul|last2=Gilby|first2=Nicholas|last3=Oliver|first3=James|date=23 January 2022|work=The Observer|access-date=23 January 2022|archive-date=23 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123091915/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/23/uks-propaganda-leaflets-inspired-1960s-massacre-of-indonesian-communists|url-status=live}}

Britain has been accused of involvement in state terrorism during the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the 1990s by covertly assisting loyalist paramilitaries.{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/collusion/chron.htm |title=Issues: Collusion – Chronology of Events in the Stevens Inquiries |website=CAIN Archive |publisher=Ulster University |access-date=2016-01-28 |archive-date=2008-04-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411215319/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/collusion/chron.htm |url-status=live }}{{cite web |first=Martin |last=Melaugh |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/collusion/stevens3/stevens3summary.htm |title=Issues: Violence: Stevens Enquiry (3) Overview and Recommendations, 17 April 2003 |website=CAIN Archive |publisher=Ulster University |access-date=2016-01-28 |archive-date=2019-01-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102141059/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/collusion/stevens3/stevens3summary.htm |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=http://www.patfinucanecentre.org/sarmagh/collusion.pdf|title=Report of the Independent International Panel on Alleged Collusion in Sectarian Killings in Northern Ireland|publisher=Pat Finucane Centre|access-date=2016-01-28|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610155220/http://www.patfinucanecentre.org/sarmagh/collusion.pdf|archive-date=2011-06-10}}{{cite web|url=http://www.village.ie/Ireland/Feature/'I'm_lucky_to_be_above_the_ground'/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120061944/http://www.village.ie/Ireland/Feature/'I'm_lucky_to_be_above_the_ground'/ |archive-date=2007-11-20 |first=Frank |last=Connolly |date=16 November 2006 |title='I'm lucky to be above the ground' |website=Village |access-date=2016-01-28}}

=United States=

File:Día por la Memoria, la Verdad y la Justicia 24-03-2019 (13).jpg of the U.S.-backed military junta on 24 March 2019.]]

Ruth J. Blakeley, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield, accuses the United States of sponsoring and deploying state terrorism, which she defines as "the illegal targeting of individuals that the state has a duty to protect in order to instill fear in a target audience beyond the direct victim", on an "enormous scale" during the Cold War. The United States government justified this policy by saying it needed to contain the spread of Communism, but Blakeley says the United States government also used it as a means to buttress and promote the interests of U.S. elites and multinational corporations. The U.S. supported governments who employed death squads throughout Latin America and counterinsurgency training of right-wing military forces included advocating the interrogation and torture of suspected insurgents.{{cite book |last=Blakeley |first=Ruth |year=2009 |url=http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415462402/ |title=State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: The North in the South |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614055306/http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415462402/ |archive-date=2015-06-14 |publisher=Routledge |pages=21–23, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rft8AgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA92&pg=PA85#v=onepage&q&f=false 85–96]|isbn=978-0415686174}} J. Patrice McSherry, a professor of political science at Long Island University, says "hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans were tortured, abducted or killed by right-wing military regimes as part of the U.S.-led anti-communist crusade", which included U.S. support for Operation Condor and the Guatemalan military during the Guatemalan Civil War.{{cite book|last1=McSherry|first1=J. Patrice|author-link1=J. Patrice McSherry|editor1-last=Esparza |editor1-first=Marcia|editor2-first=Henry R. |editor2-last=Huttenbach|editor3-first=Daniel |editor3-last=Feierstein|title=State Violence and Genocide in Latin America: The Cold War Years |series=Critical Terrorism Studies |chapter=Chapter 5: 'Industrial repression' and Operation Condor in Latin America|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=acGNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA107 107]|publisher=Routledge|year=2011|isbn=978-0415664578|chapter-url=https://www.routledge.com/State-Violence-and-Genocide-in-Latin-America-The-Cold-War-Years/Esparza-Huttenbach-Feierstein/p/book/9780415496377|access-date=2018-05-21|archive-date=2018-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719232658/https://www.routledge.com/State-Violence-and-Genocide-in-Latin-America-The-Cold-War-Years/Esparza-Huttenbach-Feierstein/p/book/9780415496377|url-status=live}} John Henry Coatsworth, citing evidence provided by Freedom House, asserts that more people were repressed and killed throughout Latin America in the last three decades of the Cold War than in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc.{{cite book |last1=Coatsworth|first1=John Henry|author-link=John Henry Coatsworth |chapter= The Cold War in Central America, 1975–1991 | editor1-last=Leffler|editor1-first=Melvyn P.|editor1-link=Melvyn P. Leffler|editor2-last=Westad|editor2-first=Odd Arne|editor2-link=Odd Arne Westad|date=2012 |title=The Cambridge History of the Cold War |volume=3 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xjTVBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT230|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=230 |isbn=978-1107602311}}{{cite book |last1=Bevins |first1=Vincent|author-link=Vincent Bevins |title= The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World|date=2020 |publisher= PublicAffairs|page=228 |isbn= 978-1541742406|quote=Using numbers compiled by the US-funded Freedom House Organization, historian John Coatsworth concluded that from 1960 to 1990, the number of victims of US-backed violence in Latin America "vastly exceeded" the number of people killed in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc over the same period of time.}}

File:UK Anti Bush visit protest (retouched).jpg in London, 2008]]

Declassified documents from the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta in 2017 confirm that U.S. officials directly facilitated and encouraged the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of suspected Communists in Indonesia during the mid-1960s.{{cite web|url=http://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/telegrams-confirm-scale-of-us-complicity-in-1965-genocide/|title=Telegrams confirm scale of US complicity in 1965 genocide|last=Melvin|first=Jess|date=20 October 2017|website=Indonesia at Melbourne|publisher=University of Melbourne|access-date=May 21, 2018|archive-date=8 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208113040/https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/telegrams-confirm-scale-of-us-complicity-in-1965-genocide/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=Scott|first=Margaret|date=October 26, 2017|title=Uncovering Indonesia's Act of Killing|url=https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/10/20/uncovering-indonesias-act-of-killing/|work=The New York Review of Books|access-date=May 21, 2018|archive-date=June 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625161434/https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/10/20/uncovering-indonesias-act-of-killing/|url-status=live}} Bradley Simpson, Director of the Indonesia/East Timor Documentation Project at the National Security Archive, says "Washington did everything in its power to encourage and facilitate the army-led massacre of alleged PKI members, and U.S. officials worried only that the killing of the party's unarmed supporters might not go far enough, permitting Sukarno to return to power and frustrate the [Johnson] Administration's emerging plans for a post-Sukarno Indonesia."{{cite book |last=Simpson |first=Bradley |url=http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=7853 |title=Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.–Indonesia Relations, 1960–1968 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106160221/https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=7853 |archive-date=2020-11-06 |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2010 |page=193 |isbn=978-0804771825}} According to Simpson, the terror in Indonesia was an "essential building block of the quasi neo-liberal policies the West would attempt to impose on Indonesia in the years to come".{{cite web |first=Brad |last=Simpson |year=2009 |url=http://www.insideindonesia.org/accomplices-in-atrocity |title=Accomplices in atrocity |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104151252/https://www.insideindonesia.org/accomplices-in-atrocity |archive-date=2021-11-04 }} |website=Inside Indonesia |access-date=May 21, 2018}} Historian John Roosa, who commented on documents which were released by the U.S. embassy in Jakarta in 2017, said they confirmed that "the U.S. was part and parcel of the operation, strategizing with the Indonesian army and encouraging them to go after the PKI."{{cite news|last=Bevins|first=Vincent|authorlink=Vincent Bevins|date=20 October 2017|title=What the United States Did in Indonesia|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/the-indonesia-documents-and-the-us-agenda/543534/|work=The Atlantic|access-date=May 21, 2018|archive-date=28 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428190633/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/the-indonesia-documents-and-the-us-agenda/543534/|url-status=live}} Geoffrey B. Robinson, a historian at UCLA, argues that without the support of the U.S. and other powerful Western states, the Indonesian Army's program of mass killings would not have happened.{{cite book|last=Robinson|first=Geoffrey B.|date=2018|title=The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965–66|url=https://press.princeton.edu/titles/11135.html|publisher=Princeton University Press|pages=22–23, 177|isbn=9781400888863|access-date=2018-06-27|archive-date=2019-04-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419011656/https://press.princeton.edu/titles/11135.html|url-status=live}}

=Uzbekistan=

= Venezuela =

An Organization of American States report on human rights violations in Venezuela stated that {{lang|es|colectivos}}, armed groups that support Nicolás Maduro and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) party, murdered at least 131 individuals between 2014 and 2017 during anti-government protests.{{Cite news |title=OAS says to present evidence of Venezuela rights violations to The Hague |language=en-US |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-rights-icct/oas-says-to-present-evidence-of-venezuela-rights-violations-to-the-hague-idUSKCN1IV066 |access-date=30 May 2018 |archive-date=30 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180530094134/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-rights-icct/oas-says-to-present-evidence-of-venezuela-rights-violations-to-the-hague-idUSKCN1IV066 |url-status=live }}

The National Assembly of Venezuela designated the {{lang|es|colectivos}} as terrorist groups due to their "violence, paramilitary actions, intimidation, murders and other crimes", declaring their acts as state-sponsored terrorism.{{Cite press release |title=AN declaró como terroristas a los colectivos |trans-title=NA declares colectivos terrorists |url=http://www.asambleanacional.gob.ve/noticias/_an-declaro-como-terroristas |date=2 April 2019 |access-date=9 April 2019 |work=Prensa AN |publisher=National Assembly of Venezuela |language=es |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404014738/http://www.asambleanacional.gob.ve/ |archive-date=April 4, 2019 |url-status=dead}}

Casualties

State terrorism, with its institutionalized instrumentation of terrorist atrocities through massacres, genocides, forced disappearances, carpet bombings, torture and sponsorship of death squads, is a deadlier form of terrorism than non-state terrorism.{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Gus |title=Understanding Terrorism |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4129-7059-4 |edition=third |pages=98–139}}{{cite book |last=Blakeley |first=R. |title=State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: The North in the South |publisher=Routledge |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-415-68617-4}}{{cite journal |last1=Eck |first1=K. |last2=Hultman |first2=L. |year=2007 |title=One-Sided Violence Against Civilians in War |journal=Journal of Peace Research |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=233–246 |doi=10.1177/0022343307075124}}{{cite book |last=White |first=M. |title=Atrocities: The 100 Deadliest Episodes in Human History |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2013 |isbn=9780393345230}} State terrorism has been far deadlier than non-state terrorism historically. According to R. J. Rummel, governments killed over 260 million people in the 20th century alone.{{cite book |last=Rummel |first=R. J. |title=Death by Government |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=1994 |isbn=978-1-56000-927-6}} On the other hand, non-state terrorism caused fewer than 1 million deaths in the same period.{{cite web |year=2023 |title=Global Terrorism Database |url=https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/}} Studies show that state forces are 3–5 times more lethal against civilians than insurgents.

Criticism of the concept

The chairman of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee has said the twelve previous international conventions on terrorism had never referred to state terrorism, which was not an international legal concept, and when states abuse their powers they should be judged against international conventions which deal with war crimes, international human rights law, and international humanitarian law, rather than international anti-terrorism statutes.{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/SC7276.doc.htm |title=Addressing Security Council, Secretary-General Calls On Counter-Terrorism Committee To Develop Long-Term Strategy To Defeat Terror |access-date=2009-03-25 |work=United Nations |archive-date=2009-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305023524/http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/SC7276.doc.htm |url-status=live }} In a similar vein, Kofi Annan, at the time the United Nations Secretary-General, said it is "time to set aside debates on so-called 'state terrorism'. The use of force by states is already regulated under international law".{{cite web |url=http://newamerica.net/publications/articles/2005/the_legal_debate_is_over_terrorism_is_a_war_crime |title=The Legal Debate is Over: Terrorism is a War Crime |access-date=2009-03-25 |first=Michael |last=Lind |publisher=New America Foundation |archive-date=2009-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221153711/http://newamerica.net/publications/articles/2005/the_legal_debate_is_over_terrorism_is_a_war_crime |url-status=dead }} Annan added, "regardless of the differences between governments on the question of the definition of terrorism, what is clear and what we can all agree on is any deliberate attack on innocent civilians [or non-combatants], regardless of one's cause, is unacceptable and fits into the definition of terrorism."{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/News/dh/latest/afghan/sg-teheran26.htm |title=Press conference with Kofi Annan and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi |access-date=2009-03-25 |work=United Nations |archive-date=2009-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321112534/http://www.un.org/News/dh/latest/afghan/sg-teheran26.htm |url-status=live }}

Dr. Bruce Hoffman has argued that failing to differentiate between state and non-state violence ignores the fact that there is a "fundamental qualitative difference between the two types of violence". Hoffman argues that even in war, there are rules and accepted norms of behaviour that prohibit certain types of weapons and tactics and outlaw attacks on specific categories of targets. For instance, rules which are codified in the Geneva and Hague Conventions on warfare prohibit taking civilians as hostages, outlaw reprisals against either civilians or POWs, recognise neutral territory, etc. Hoffman says "even the most cursory review of terrorist tactics and targets over the past quarter century reveals that terrorists have violated all these rules." Hoffman also says that when states transgress these rules of war "the term 'war crime' is used to describe such acts".{{cite book|first=Bruce |last=Hoffman|title=Inside Terrorism|publisher=Columbia University Press |date=April 15, 1998 |isbn=978-0-231-11468-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/insideterrorism00hoff/page/34 34]–35|url=https://archive.org/details/insideterrorism00hoff|url-access=registration}}

Walter Laqueur has said those who argue that state terrorism should be included in studies of terrorism ignore the fact that "The very existence of a state is based on its monopoly of power. If it were different, states would not have the right, nor would they be in a position, to maintain that minimum of order on which all civilized life rests."{{cite book|first=Ruth |last=Blakeley|title=State terrorism and neoliberalism|publisher=Routledge|year=2009|isbn=978-0-415-46240-2|page=27|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FoxuDCMmlqoC}} Calling the concept a "red herring", he stated: "This argument has been used by the terrorists themselves, arguing that there is no difference between their activities and those by governments and states. It has also been employed by some sympathizers, and it rests on the deliberate obfuscation between all kinds of violence{{nbsp}}..."{{cite book|first=Walter |last=Laqueur|title=No end to war: terrorism in the twenty-first century|publisher=Continuum |year=2003|isbn=978-0-8264-1435-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/noendtowarterror00laqu/page/237 237]|url=https://archive.org/details/noendtowarterror00laqu|url-access=registration}}

References

Bibliography

{{cite journal|last=Barsamian |first=David|year =2001|title =The United States is a Leading Terrorist State|journal=Monthly Review|url=http://www.monthlyreview.org/1101chomsky.htm}}
{{cite journal | year = 2007 | title = The Political Economy Of State Terror | journal = Defence and Peace Economics|volume=18|issue=5|pages=405–414|url=http://www.informaworld.com/index/781318312.pdf|doi=10.1080/10242690701455433 |last1=Kisangani |first1=E. |last2=Nafziger |first2=E. Wayne |name-list-style=amp | citeseerx = 10.1.1.579.1472 | s2cid = 155020309 }}
{{cite book|last=Martin |first=Gus|title=Understanding terrorism: challenges, perspectives, and issues|publisher=SAGE|year=2006|isbn=978-1-4129-2722-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XdXpn6NH2GcC}}
{{Cite book | last1= Nairn | first1= Tom | last2= James | first2= Paul | author-link= Paul James (academic) | title= Global Matrix: Nationalism, Globalism and State-Terrorism | url= https://www.academia.edu/1642325 | year= 2005 | publisher= Pluto Press | location= London and New York}}
{{cite book|last=Primoratz |first=Igor|chapter=State Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism|title=Terrorism: The Philosophical Issues|editor-last=Primoratz |editor-first=Igor|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2004|isbn=978-1-4039-1817-8|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r3NqQgAACAAJ}}
{{cite book|editor1-last=Selden |editor1-first=Mark |editor2-last=So |editor2-first=Alvin Y.|title=War and state terrorism: the United States, Japan, and the Asia–Pacific in the long twentieth century|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2004|isbn=978-0-7425-2391-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D0icvm2EQLIC}}
{{cite book|last=Sluka |first=Jeffrey A.|title=Death Squad: The Anthropology of State Terror|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-8122-1711-7|url=https://archive.org/details/deathsquadanthro00sluk|url-access=registration}}
{{cite book|title=Terrible beyond Endurance?: The Foreign Policy of State Terrorism|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=1988|isbn=978-0-313-25297-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dFzlAAAAIAAJ|last1=Stohl |first1=Michael |last2=Lopez |first2=George A. |name-list-style=amp }}

External links

Prevention of terrorism

[http://www.tkb.org/Home.jsp The National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080512021205/https://eprints.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00000137/01/Primorat.pdf State Terrorism and Counterterrorism]

Category:Dirty wars

Category:Political repression

Category:Political violence

Category:Reprisals