Conceptual Issues of Terrorism – Vocabulary Review

These vocabulary flashcards summarize key terms, authors, and conceptual distinctions drawn from ten academic articles on terrorism, insurgency, and related forms of political violence.

Terrorism (core elements)

Politically motivated violence or threat of violence intended to create fear in a broader audience rather than defeat an army.

Insurgency

An organized armed rebellion that seeks territorial control or government overthrow, often using guerrilla warfare against state forces.

Rebellion

A mass uprising aimed at severely challenging or toppling state authority, typically relying on popular mobilization and territorial capture.

Revolution

A popular, large-scale movement to replace an entire political or social system, usually involving broad civilian participation.

Soft Targets

Civilian or lightly protected sites chosen by terrorists because they are easier to attack and maximize psychological impact.

Psychological Effect (of terrorism)

The primary objective of terrorist violence—spreading fear, attracting attention, or provoking overreaction rather than securing battlefield wins.

Guerrilla Tactics

Hit-and-run military operations used by insurgents to harass stronger state forces, distinct from symbolic terrorist attacks on civilians.

PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party)

A Kurdish group in Turkey that alternates between insurgent guerrilla warfare in rural areas and terrorist bombings in urban settings (Ünal, 2016).

Civil War–Terror Nexus

The tendency for weaker civil-war actors to deploy terrorist tactics within broader insurgent campaigns (Saunders, 2017).

Strategic Ineffectiveness of Terrorism

Finding that groups using terrorism are less likely to win civil wars or peace deals compared with conventional insurgents (Fortna, 2015).

Ideological Extremism

Deeply rooted belief systems—religious, nationalist, or revolutionary—that can motivate terrorist violence for symbolic expression (Krause & Shinoda, 2024).

Symbolic Violence

Acts of violence meant mainly to send a political or religious message rather than to achieve direct military gains.

Low-Cost, High-Impact Strategy

Terrorism’s appeal to weak groups: small resources can generate outsized media attention and fear (Alvarez, 2020).

Weak-State Conditions

Environments with limited government control and fragile institutions where terrorism often becomes a fallback tactic.

Mass Mobilization

Broad civilian support essential for rebellions and revolutions but usually absent in terrorist campaigns (Thompson & Lyon, 2018).

Alternative Governance

Administration set up by rebels in captured territory—common in insurgency, rare in purely terrorist groups.

Functional Typology (Stepanova)

Classifying terrorism by its immediate aims—provocation, intimidation, or mobilization—rather than by tactics alone.

Ideological Typology (Stepanova)

Grouping terrorism into religious, nationalist, or political categories based on motivating beliefs.

Overreaction Provocation

A terrorist strategy designed to trigger harsh state retaliation, potentially increasing sympathy for the militants.

Legitimacy Costs of Terrorism

Loss of local and international support that often follows attacks on civilians, undermining long-term goals (Fortna, 2015).

Social Movement Theory Typology

Marsden’s eight-category framework situating militant groups along spectra of organization, support, and operating context.

Hybrid Group

An organization that alternates between insurgent and terrorist tactics depending on context (e.g., PKK, IRA).

Political Violence

Umbrella term for coercive acts—including terrorism, insurgency, rebellion, and civil war—used to pursue political goals.

Territorial Control

A central objective of insurgents and rebels but generally not of terrorist cells focused on symbolic attacks.

Media Amplification

The process by which news coverage enlarges the psychological impact of relatively small terrorist attacks.

Small-Cell Structure

Tight, clandestine organization typical of terrorist groups, enabling covert operations but limiting mass action potential.

Government Crackdown

State response involving severe security measures, often intensified after terrorist attacks and sometimes counter-productive.

Conflation Problem

The analytical mistake of treating terrorism, insurgency, rebellion, and revolution as interchangeable forms of violence (Richards, 2022).

Provocation Function

Use of violence to incite excessive state repression, thereby radicalizing undecided populations (Weinberg et al., 2010; Stepanova, 2010).

Symbolic Targeting

Choosing victims or sites with emblematic value—such as landmarks or ethnic groups—to magnify a terrorist message.

Public Legitimacy

Popular acceptance vital for insurgencies and revolutions but often damaged by terrorist attacks on civilians.

Conceptual Challenges of Terrorism

Difficulties in crafting a universally accepted definition due to political bias, varying tactics, and overlapping forms of violence (Weinberg et al., 2010).

Terrorism (core elements)

Based on the provided study materials, terrorism is defined as politically motivated violence or the threat of violence intended to create fear in a broader audience rather than defeat an army.

Insurgency

Based on the provided study materials, insurgency is defined as an organized armed rebellion that seeks territorial control or government overthrow, often using guerrilla warfare against state forces.

Rebellion

Based on the provided study materials, rebellion is defined as a mass uprising aimed at severely challenging or toppling state authority, typically relying on popular mobilization and territorial capture.

Revolution

Based on the provided study materials, revolution is defined as a popular, large-scale movement to replace an entire political or social system, usually involving broad civilian participation.

Soft Targets

Based on the provided study materials, soft targets are civilian or lightly protected sites chosen by terrorists because they are easier to attack and maximize psychological impact.

Psychological Effect (of terrorism)

Based on the provided study materials, the psychological effect of terrorism is the primary objective of terrorist violence—spreading fear, attracting attention, or provoking overreaction rather than securing battlefield wins.

Guerrilla Tactics

Based on the provided study materials, guerrilla tactics are hit-and-run military operations used by insurgents to harass stronger state forces, distinct from symbolic terrorist attacks on civilians.

PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party)

According to Ünal (2016), the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) is a Kurdish group in Turkey that alternates between insurgent guerrilla warfare in rural areas and terrorist bombings in urban settings.

Civil War–Terror Nexus

Saunders (2017) describes the civil war–terror nexus as the tendency for weaker civil-war actors to deploy terrorist tactics within broader insurgent campaigns.

Strategic Ineffectiveness of Terrorism

Fortna (2015) found that the strategic ineffectiveness of terrorism means groups using terrorism are less likely to win civil wars or peace deals compared with conventional insurgents.

Ideological Extremism

Krause & Shinoda (2024) define ideological extremism as deeply rooted belief systems—religious, nationalist, or revolutionary—that can motivate terrorist violence for symbolic expression.

Symbolic Violence

Based on the provided study materials, symbolic violence consists of acts of violence meant mainly to send a political or religious message rather than to achieve direct military gains.

Low-Cost, High-Impact Strategy

Alvarez (2020) highlights the low-cost, high-impact appeal of terrorism to weak groups: small resources can generate outsized media attention and fear.

Weak-State Conditions

Based on the provided study materials, weak-state conditions are environments with limited government control and fragile institutions where terrorism often becomes a fallback tactic.

Mass Mobilization

Thompson & Lyon (2018) describe mass mobilization as broad civilian support essential for rebellions and revolutions but usually absent in terrorist campaigns.

Alternative Governance

Based on the provided study materials, alternative governance refers to administration set up by rebels in captured territory—common in insurgency, rare in purely terrorist groups.

Functional Typology (Stepanova)

Stepanova's functional typology classifies terrorism by its immediate aims—provocation, intimidation, or mobilization—rather than by tactics alone.

Ideological Typology (Stepanova)

Stepanova's ideological typology groups terrorism into religious, nationalist, or political categories based on motivating beliefs.

Overreaction Provocation

Based on the provided study materials, overreaction provocation is a terrorist strategy designed to trigger harsh state retaliation, potentially increasing sympathy for the militants.

Legitimacy Costs of Terrorism

Fortna (2015) discusses the legitimacy costs of terrorism as the loss of local and international support that often follows attacks on civilians, undermining long-term goals.

Social Movement Theory Typology

According to Marsden, the social movement theory typology is an eight-category framework situating militant groups along spectra of organization, support, and operating context.

Hybrid Group

Based on the provided study materials, a hybrid group is an organization that alternates between insurgent and terrorist tactics depending on context (e.g., PKK, IRA).

Political Violence

Based on the provided study materials, political violence is an umbrella term for coercive acts—including terrorism, insurgency, rebellion, and civil war—used to pursue political goals.

Territorial Control

Based on the provided study materials, territorial control is a central objective of insurgents and rebels but generally not of terrorist cells focused on symbolic attacks.

Media Amplification

Based on the provided study materials, media amplification is the process by which news coverage enlarges the psychological impact of relatively small terrorist attacks.

Small-Cell Structure

Based on the provided study materials, a small-cell structure refers to the tight, clandestine organization typical of terrorist groups, enabling covert operations but limiting mass action potential.

Government Crackdown

Based on the provided study materials, a government crackdown is a state response involving severe security measures, often intensified after terrorist attacks and sometimes counter-productive.

Conflation Problem

Richards (2022) describes the conflation problem as the analytical mistake of treating terrorism, insurgency, rebellion, and revolution as interchangeable forms of violence.

Provocation Function

According to Weinberg et al. (2010) and Stepanova (2010), the provocation function is the use of violence to incite excessive state repression, thereby radicalizing undecided populations.

Based on the provided study materials, symbolic targeting involves choosing victims or sites with emblematic value—such as landmarks or ethnic groups—to