What is Terrorism

Terrorism is a highly contested and often controversial subject, both in social sciences and in wider society. The biggest disagreement concerns which actors are labeled as terrorists, because often those who are proclaimed terrorists by one side are celebrated by the other side as  ‘‘freedom fighters,’’ war heroes, national liberators, or holy warriors. That is the reason many who study terrorism claim that it is impossible to be impartial and neutral when dealing with this phenomenon. With that taken into account, it seems prudent to distinguish between two concepts – terror and terrorism. 

Terror, as a term, came into use during the French Revolution, and refers to atrocities committed during Robespierre’s ‘‘Reign of Terror.’’ Terror can be defined as a public display of extreme aggression to instill fear and panic in a population, in order to achieve a specific goal. There are several aspects of terror that make it different from other types of use of force or aggression. At first, terror is done in the open view, as the intention of those who perpetrate it is for as many people as possible to see it or hear about it. Second, excessive force entails murder and destruction of property, as the aim is for damage to be as big and as gruesome as possible. The third aspect of terror, which is the product of the first two, is to spread acute panic and fear among the general population. Fourth aspect of the terror is the goal, as aggression serves as a tool to achieve some political, economic, ideological, or religious goal. The fifth aspect of terror is that it is perpetrated by collective actors, and very rarely by an isolated individual.

There are different types of collective actors who implement terror. States and their governments and leaders had often committ terror (via police, secret police, paramilitary groups, or army) to pacify either their opposition at home, or the conquered population in the colonies or occupied territories. State terror may include mass murder, torture, death squads, destruction of homes and property, arbitrary imprisonment, mass deportations, concentration camps, rumors, massive spying networks, etc. The second type of terror users are militias or rebel armies who fight against the official government and its military to win the civil war or win independence for some territory. The type of terror that rebel armies perpetrate includes almost all the atrocities that state does.

The third type of collective actors that engage in terror are small and weak groups that function in secret, as they are unable to win open battles and wars, so they are forced to hide in remote places (out of the government’s reach) or live in the open, pretending to be regular citizens. Because these groups are militarily weak, they spread terror through political assassinations, kidnappings, hijacking of planes, bombing, chemical attacks, etc. All those attacks are planned in secret and executed suddenly, while the victims are, most often, civilians (noncombatants), innocent bystanders, or “soft” civilian targets. The intention is for attacks to produce psychological effects of mass fear, horror, and desperation in the population, in order to delegitimize state power and turn people against the government or to motivate those sympathetic to the cause of the attackers to join them in political resistance. Another goal is for a terror attack to be so disturbing as to force governments to react. If the reaction of the government is overwhelming and severe, that may cause even more distress in ordinary people, while under reaction may cause people to lose trust in the government's ability to maintain peace. These types of groups usually start small and loosely connected. Some of them aspire to recruit more members and become strong enough to start an open rebellion against the government. It should be noted that the goal of some small secret groups that engage in terror attacks is not defeating the state, but forcing the government to implement a policy that is in accordance with the ideological viewpoint of the terror group. I.e., anti-abortionist groups in the US used to attack medical facilities or personnel that were performing abortions, to force the government to ban abortions.   

The third collective actors that engage in terror are, almost universally, labeled by the government, media, and researchers as terrorists, and their attacks are labeled as terrorist attacks. Rebel armies are also often labeled as terrorists by the governments they are up against. Although some refer to terror done by the official government as terrorism, it is more prudent, from a scientific viewpoint, to label it as “state terror” instead. Michael Taussig (1984) referred to persistent use of state violence and intimidation as cultures of terror.

The phenomenon of terrorism is studied from various academic perspectives – sociology, political science, history, international relations, philosophy, economics, military studies, psychology, etc. Some of the most important questions concerning terrorism and terror are: What is the reaction of the government to terrorism and terrorist threats? What is the reaction and the coverage by the media of terrorism? What is the reaction of the larger population? What are the causes (historical, economic, political, ideological, cultural, and psychological) of terrorism? What are the best ways of fighting terrorism? Do ends justify means? Are individual liberties more important than public safety? What scale and type of use of force is appropriate as a reaction to the terrorism? Who has the right to designate someone or some group as terrorists? In the continuation of this entry, we will explore some of those questions.

                                        Causes of Terrorism

There have been put forward various explanations for the start and the rise of terrorism. Many historical, economic, political, ideological, cultural, and psychological factors have been proposed as significant or crucial in explaining and understanding the phenomena of terrorism. If we take Islamic terrorism as an example, some of those who champion a culturalist approach explain the rise of Islamic terrorism as a consequence of deep-rooted intolerance and violence in Islam. Other authors see Islamic terrorism as a byproduct of political, economic, and informational globalization that connected the Islamic world with the West, but placed the Islamic world in a marginalized position. In this perspective, Islamic terrorism is an attempt to reverse this process and return Islamic countries to their previous significant or even dominant position in the World. Historical explanation of Islamic terrorism study the historical development of political Islam and other more radical interpretations of Islam.

Research on the relationship between the economic development of a country and its propensity to be a victim of terrorism showed that countries with higher levels of terrorism tended to be in a comparatively better position economically. In a similar vein, research shows that democracies endure higher levels of terrorism than authoritarian states. Higher levels of urbanization, a developed middle class, higher levels of university education, and higher rates of literacy are all factors that positively correlate with higher incidences of terrorism in a country.

Psychological factors that influence individuals to join or support terrorism and terroristic organizations have also been a subject of scientific inquiry. Negative emotions and feelings that influence individuals to be more prone to engage in terrorism are existential anxieties, alienation, marginalization, and humiliation. Personality traits that make individuals more prone to join terroristic organizations are narcissism, lack of emotions, dissolutionment, rigidness, depression, neuroticism, and sociopathy. A significant number of terrorists came from a comfortable economic background and had a university education.   

Many terrorist groups and individuals had strong ideological or religious beliefs that were the basis for their radicalization. The extremes of both left and right of the ideological spectrum have been used as motivation and excuse for terrorism. Some anarchists and a small number of communists have engaged in terrorism. On the right, ultraconservatism, racism, ultranationalism, fascism, and anti-semitism had also been an inspiration for many terrorist groups. Islamic terrorism is the most notable and widespread variant of terrorism based on a fundamentalist interpretation of religion, but other religions - Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism,  Hinduism, and Sikhism - have also been the source of terroristic radicalization.

                         Terrorism as a Media Spectacle

Terroristic attacks, especially in Western countries, often turn into media spectacles, and as media dramatize and exploit tragedies to galvanize and terrify the public and gain viewership. As both terrorists and media seek to manipulate the emotions and actions of the mass public, they form a kind of symbiotic relationship. The media manipulates collective fears and fantasies and turns terrorists into “larger than life” celebrities.

                        The Nature of Modern Terrorism

Modern terrorism tends to be transnational in scope and is primarily an urban phenomenon. Terroristic groups function as loosely connected cells and “freelancers” that transcend the boundaries of the nation-state. Developments in mass communications and air travel provided terrorists with instantaneous access to global audiences and worldwide mobility.

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