Do Not Confuse Terrorism And Organized Crime
Organized crime and terrorism have some similarities. However, these are indeed two different phenomena that it is important to know how to distinguish.
On the one hand, organized crime is a form of crime. These crimes require a certain level of planning and the collective and coordinated participation of several individuals.
On the other hand, terrorism is a form of violent struggle. The violence employed by terrorism is directed against civilians and it is used for political ends. Terrorism aims to spread confusion, terror and anger a population and its leaders. The aim is also to capture the attention of international public opinion, to sow doubt on the legitimacy of a political regime, to provoke internal conflicts in threatened societies and to mobilize supporters of the cause defended by terrorists. , etc.
What is wanted?
The main objective of organized crime is profit. Criminal organizations are looking for money. The more money they get, the better. On the other hand, terrorism is carried out for political ends: one seeks to change a system, to obtain independence or a certain political or religious advantage, for example.
However, there are also some similarities. Terrorist organizations need money to finance armed struggle. For example, they must recruit, buy their weapons and finance their propaganda, the preparation and execution of attacks, etc. Organized crime can condition the politics and functioning of public institutions.
On the other hand, the influence of the political sphere is different. Organized crime seeks to profit, but not to change the established order. Terrorism, on the other hand, is oriented towards the transformation or destabilization of existing institutions or towards the obligation of representatives to adopt decisions and measures contrary to their own principles and interests.
Frequencies of criminal activity
In short, both terrorism and organized crime seek to gain economic profit and influence political activities. The big difference between the two is based on the end goal. Organized crime is carried out for economic purposes while terrorism is for political purposes. Both phenomena are dedicated to criminal activities.
Organized crime is more common than terrorism. There are in fact more criminal organizations than terrorist groups. We can find an explanation for this. In fact, organized crime actors are more willing to sacrifice their security in order to reap significant economic benefits. On the contrary, the perpetuation of terrorist attacks does not generally make it possible to obtain financing but on the other hand requires significant financial investments. For this reason, terrorist groups generally promote security of action.
Use of violence
The final difference between organized crime and terrorism is their use of violence. The effectiveness of a terrorist attack depends on its impact. The action must absolutely reach a large audience. We ask a small group of people to intimidate en masse. The more spectacular an attack, the more people it will reach and the more attention and publicity it will receive. However, if the attack takes a lot of lives, it can be counterproductive. Indeed, instead of gaining supporters, it will generate rejection.
Organized crime seeks anonymity. Criminals aspire to carry out their crimes without being identified so as not to endanger their criminal careers. For this reason, the violence practiced by organized crime groups tends to limit publicity. At least, they’re not deliberately looking for her.
Finally, although terrorism and organized crime share many commonalities, they also have decisive differences. Concretely, some objectives are similar, but their final goal is different. Remember that organized crime seeks economic profit while terrorism seeks political change. In addition, organized crime activity is more frequent and characterized by anonymous violence while terrorism seeks to make violence visible.
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