Terrorism A Conceptual Review

Beginnings The Causes of Terrorism

 Sociological Explanations of Terrorism  Psychological Explanations of Terrorism

 Sociological Explanations of Terrorism  Intergroup conflict that leads to collective violence.  Structural theory: Social conditions (‘structures”) that affect group access to societal benefits.  Deprivation theory: Relative deprivation and absolute deprivation.  Cases: Leila Khaled and Abu Nidal

 Psychological Explanations of Terrorism  Individual-level explanations.  Group-level explanations.  Generalized psychological explanations.  Case: The Stockholm Syndrome.

 Acts of Political Will  Adversaries in the War on Terrorism

 Acts of Political Will  A rational strategic choice to force change.  Terrorism as a tool to achieve a desired goal.  Case: Mao Zedong and “people’s war.”

 Adversaries in the War on Terrorism  Perceptions.  Western: A war against Western-style civilization.  Non-Western: An imbalance in policies toward Muslim countries vis-à-vis Israel.  Concept: The behavior of the West is the cause of angry sentiment in the Muslim world.  Case: CIA’s 2007 National Intelligence Estimate warning Iraq is a new training ground for terrorists.

 Moral Convictions of Terrorists  Simplified Good and Evil  Seeking Utopia  Codes of Self-Sacrifice

 Moral Convictions of Terrorists  Terrorists have an unambiguous certainty in the righteousness of a cause.  Concepts:  A group concludes it has been morally wronged by an immoral, evil enemy.  A group concludes it possesses an inherent moral superiority to an enemy.

 Simplified Good and Evil  A clear line is drawn between good and evil.  Violent methods are justified by the ennobled goals of the cause.  Seeking Utopia  The promised good outweighs present actions.  “The end justifies the means.”

 Codes of Self-Sacrifice  Superior codes of living that “cleanse” those who follow the code.  Case: Germany’s Waffen SS.  Case: Japan’s code of Bushido.