Ethno-Religious Terrorism: Essence, Dimensions, Concept

Abstract

The objective of the article is to identify, describe, and explain the essence of terrorism as a general civilizational criminal phenomenon, the characteristics of dimensions of its reproduction and the formation of its concept on this basis. The results of the study provided the grounds for several conclusions. First, ethno-religious terrorism is manifested as a cultural phenomenon, a special segment of the inhumane discourse of hostility and aggressive social practices. It appears as a reaction to the systemic planetary crisis of managing economics, culture, consumption of natural resources, and becomes possible in the result of the massive loss of identity, fragmentation of the world-view. Secondly, we have established that the specified type of terrorism is a segment of aggressive and violent crime, in the collective and psychological basis of which there is the religious and ideological and/or ethnic domination in the systems of socio-political practice, which is achieved through intimidation as a result of committed murders, destruction or damage to property, objects of nature and offenses of a preventive nature (financial, human resources, information, and other provision). Thirdly, ethno-religious terrorism exists within three dimensions: individual (the act of sacrifice, catharsis), group (integration, social orientation) and general (administrative practice, political criminal activity, the postmodern phenomenon of the culture).The applied value of the study is that the suggested vision of the nature and dimensions of ethno-religious terrorism can be used to improve the systemic principles of counteracting its reproduction. The latter should be reflected in the improvement of the provisions of the United Nations Global Counterterrorism Strategy through the consolidation of a coherent, coordinated system of level differentiation of anti-terrorist activities' directions and measures. We note that without changing the basic approaches within the cultural, political, and economic aspects of the interaction of nations and peoples of the world with regard to their diversity and parity, proper autonomy, without stopping the global tendency towards marginalization, it is impossible to effectively counteract to ethno-religious terrorism. Value/originality. The new vision of a complex, multidimensional nature of ethno-religious terrorism has been formed in the work. Its nature is grounded as a civilizational phenomenon reflected on the level of discourse, mass social practices, global managerial strategies. It forms an empirically grounded theoretical basis for increasing the effectiveness of counteracting ethno-religious terrorism in Europe and the world in the whole.