ANATOMY OF TERRORISM (FROM TEN YEARS OF TERRORISM COLLECTED VIEWS, 1979, BY JENNIFER SHAW ET AL - SEE NCJ-62267)

• NCJ Number: 62268
• Author(s): W LAQUEUR
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 15 pages
• Corporate Author: Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

THIS ARTICLE FROM A SERIES ON TERRORISM ANALYZES THE HISTORICAL ROLE OF TERRORISM FROM ANCIENT TO MODERN TIMES AND PONDERS FUTURE TERRORIST ACTS.

Abstract

AFTER A BRIEF SURVEY OF TERRORISM IN ANCIENT TIMES, TERRORISM DOCTRINE OF THE 19TH CENTURY IS EXAMINED. THE LITERATURE FROM THIS PERIOD RESEMBLES TERRORIST LITERATURE OF TODAY WITH THE PREVAILING IDEA OF SYSTEMATIC POLITICAL TERRORISM USING SUCH TACTICS AS DESTROYING AN ENTIRE CITY, POISONING THE WATER SUPPLY, AND JUSTIFYING MURDER TO ACHIEVE CERTAIN GOALS. A DISTINCTION IS MADE BETWEEN GUERRILLA WARFARE AND TERRORISM. SOME GUERRILLA MOVEMENTS HAVE SUCCESSFULLY SEIZED POWER, BUT NO TERRORIST MOVEMENTS HAVE DONE SO. SOME EXAMPLES OF TERRORISM IN THE 1800'S INCLUDE THE RUSSIAN TERRORISTS IN THE 1880'S, THE IRISH TERRORISTS, ARMENIANS IN TURKEY, AND MOVEMENTS IN THE BALKANS, SPAIN, FRANCE, AND THE UNITED STATES (THE COAL MINERS). TERRORISM HAS BEEN USED NOT ONLY BY EXTREME LEFTIST GROUPS, BUT ALSO BY MOVEMENTS AND GROUPS OF THE EXTREME RIGHT AND BY NATIONALIST-EXTREMIST GROUPS. TODAY THE UNDERLYING MOTIVE OF TERRORIST GROUPS IS QUITE CLEARLY NATIONALISTIC, XENOPHOBIC, AND SOMETIMES RELIGIOUS. EFFORTS TO DETERMINE WHAT MAKES AN INDIVIDUAL A TERRORIST HAVE YIELDED NO CONCLUSIVE RESULTS BECAUSE THESE ANALYSES HAVE NEGLECTED TO NOTE THAT TERRORISM OCCURS ONLY IN CERTAIN KINDS OF SOCIETY. TERRORISM DOES NOT OCCUR IN TOTALITARIAN SOCIETIES, BUT RATHER IN PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACIES OR IN HALFHEARTED, INEFFICIENT, AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES. PROPAGANDA FROM TELEVISION AND PRESS COVERAGE MAKES TERRORIST ACTIONS SIGNIFICANT; OTHERWISE, THEY WOULD NOT BE. HISTORY SHOWS THAT TERRORISM OCCURS IN WAVES. THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE, 1978-80, WILL HAVE LESS TERRORISM, BUT BY 1988 OR 1990, A NEW WAVE OF TERRORISM WILL OCCUR CONCURRENTLY WITH NEW TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES. THE DANGER IS NOT THAT THE TERRORISTS WILL SEIZE POWER, BUT THAT THEY WILL THREATEN THE FREEDOMS PRESENT IN DEMOCRACIES. A SUMMARY OF ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS POSED BY THE AUDIENCE FOLLOWS THE MAIN ARTICLE. NO REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (PRG)