State terrorism
State terrorism is a form of terrorism specifically used (officially or otherwise) by a standing government against its own people or enemies, in order to terrorize them into submission. This is distinct from state-sponsored terrorism, in that state-sponsored terrorism still depends upon non-governmental groups to carry it out, even while it is supported (usually secretly) by a state.
The concept of state terrorism was first identified by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman in the late 1970s. It remains a very controversial idea in international relations, as the definition of terrorism usually involves it being committed by non-governmental actors. "State terrorism" is hard to distinguish, then, from regular military or law enforcement activity in any repressive regime.
Opponents of the concept argue "terrorism" does not apply to governments, and that actions deemed state terrorism, such as targeting civilians in wartime, falls under the definition of war crimes instead, with including them diluting the term. Proponents, on the other hand, argue that it is hypocritical to simply exclude government actions from the label of terrorism when they otherwise qualify.
It must be noted that there is no one internationally accepted definition of terrorism. Many legal definitions of terrorism, such as in US law, apply it only to non-state actors. However, the origin of the word was derived from the Reign of Terror in France from 1793-94 during which the revolutionary Jacobin regime killed and imprisoned thousands of their real or perceived opponents, with the explicit purpose of terrorizing all "counter-revolutionaries" into surrender. This was called "terrorism" by critics in Britain, and Jacobin revolutionaries were labeled "terrorists".
Events which have been viewed as state terrorism include the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Allied bombings of Dresden and the firebombing of Tokyo, Nazi bombings of London and Guernica, anti-communist CIA operations in Vietnam, the 2006 Lebanon War, as well as acts of totalitarian oppression in the Soviet Union and other dictatorships.