NCJ Number
109028
Date Published
1987
Length
6 pages
Annotation
State terrorism has tremendous potential for harm because of the state's resources, perceived justification, and national and international recognition.
Abstract
State terrorism can range from intimidation aimed at anticipating and discouraging opposition and dissension to coerced conversion of national lifestyle and selective genocide or autogenocide. State terrorist activities can be state-directed, as in the reign of terror in Iran in the early 1980's; state-tolerated, as in Guatemala's private death squads; or state-exported, as in the selective assassination of Trotsky abroad. In some instances, the terrorist state's goal is to return to a purer, more primitive past form; in others, it arises from religious zealotry. The latter has come to characterize much state terrorism in the 1980's. Its most pronounced features include a compelling ideological or theological message, intolerance of dissent, antipathy toward the interplay of democratic polities, harassment of minorities, perennial conflict with external foes, and lack of concern with the standard of living. In essence, state terrorism departs from and challenges the Western tradition of political philosophy. 17 notes.