NCJ Number
71013
Journal
Terrorism Volume: 3 Issue: 3 and 4 Dated: (1980) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
Y Alexander,
J Katwan
Date Published
1980
Length
173 pages
Annotation
West Berlin, West Germany, was the site of a 1978 International Scientific Conference on Terrorism, its perpetrators, and its social environment. Conference papers, comments, and hypotheses are presented.
Abstract
Terrorism was considered from two angles at the Berlin conference. First, the terrorist as an individual was examined within the context of his or her group (i.e., development, personality, motives, behavior, psychodynamic and sociodynamic aspects, etc.). Second, terrorism within its social environments was studied. Some 70 invited participants from 10 countries, including West Germany, the U.S., Sweden, Finland, Italy, England, Canada, Israel, Australia, and Holland, presented or commented on papers given from the perspectives of many disciplines--medicine, psychology, law, political sciece, the military and government, criminology, and sociology. Among issues introduced at the conference were the media as a constraint to effective police response to terrorist activity and the definition of terrorism, particularly in contrast to political violence. One paper analyzes political terrorism on two levels--as a cognitive phenomenon or a label, term, idea, or concept, and as a behavior phenomenon. Another delineates two distinct forms of politically motivated terrorism, ethnic-minority terrorism and 'millenarian' terrorism characteristic of highly developed industrial societies with an extremely high growth rate. The question of why terrorists become what they are and what motivates their violent actions is addressed in several papers. Most search for repeated patterns in behaviors and backgrounds. Factors leading to terrorism are early trauma and family dynamics, rejection of a social value system, failure to be socialized, extreme dysphoria and exaggerated feelings of self-righteousness, and more. Patterns of terrorist decisionmaking and the terrorist mindset are probed. Other contributors deal with societies' reactions to terrorism; some recommend modified responses, from intensified, more directed research to accelerated efforts toward refined medical rescue methods, that would reduce deaths from terrorism. An author and article index is provided, as is a list of participants.