International Terrorism Exam 1

Extremism

a quality that is "radical in opinion, especially in political matters; ultra; advanced."

- characterized by intolerance toward opposing interests and divergent opinions, and it is the primary catalyst and motivation for terrorist behavior

Most people likely hold an instinctive understanding that terrorism is

- the use of politically motivated violence,

- usually directed against soft targets (i.e., civilian and administrative government targets),

- to communicate a message to a larger group (i.e., "propaganda by the deed"),

- with an intention to affect (terrorize) a target audience.

modern era of terrorism is primarily

a conflict between adversaries who on one side are waging a self-described war on terrorism and on the other side are waging a self-described holy war in defense of their religion. I

Central features of terrorism

- symbolism (targets symbolize the righteousness of the terrorists' cause and the evil of the opponent they are fighting.

- contributes the illegitimate use of force to achieve a political objective when innocent people are targeted (Walter Laqueur)

- a strategy of violence designed to promote desired outcomes by instilling fear in the public at large (Walter Reich)

- the use or threatened use of force designed to bring about political change (Brian Jenkins)

the use of illegal force

subnational actors

unconventional methods

political motives

attacks against "soft" civilian and passive military targets

acts aimed at purposefully affecting an audience

provoking a public reaction

Just War Doctrine

ideal and a moralistic philosophy. It represents "a body of thought that addresses the rights and wrongs of warfare."

- Criteria for whether a war is just are divided into

- jus ad bellum (justice of war),

- jus in bello (justice in war),

- jus post bellum (justice after war) criteria.

Sicarii

- attacked both Romans and members of the Jewish establishment

- They were masters of guerrilla warfare and the destruction of symbolic property, and they belonged to a group known as the Zealots

- They wanted to go as close as possible to Roman soldiers, officials, and tax collectors and kill them]

- also killed local populations somewhat connected to Roman

- used a sickle

Zealots

- Jewish-Nationalist origination

- Believed in an independent Jewish state apart from Roman occupation and their conquered land

- tried to create a standing army against rome; failed.

- if found guilty by romans, you were crucified.

Reign of Terror

- French Rev

- beginning of modern terrorism

- done by the state to its own ppl in order to preserve its own regime

Luddites

- Their principal objection was that industrialization threatened their jobs, so they targeted the machinery of the new textile factories

- The movement was active from 1811 to 1816 and was responsible for sabotaging and destroying wool and cotton mills.

- British government eventually suppressed the movement by passing anti-Luddite laws, including establishing the crime of "machine breaking," which was punishable by death

People's Will (Narodnaya Volya

- Russia

- Young Russians became imbued with the ideals of anarchism and Marxism.

- A populist revolutionary society, Land and Liberty (Zemlya Volya), was founded in 1876 with the goal of fomenting a mass peasant uprising by settling radical students among them to raise their class consciousness. After a series of arrests and mass public trials, Land and Liberty split into two factions in 1879. One faction, Black Repartition, kept to the goal of a peasant revolution. The other faction, People's Will, fashioned itself into a conspiratorial terrorist organization.

- one of the first examples of a revolutionary vanguard strategy. They believed that they could both demoralize the czarist government and expose its weaknesses to the peasantry

Al-Qa'ida

- an example of a stateless movement that became a self-sustaining revolutionary network.

- It is also an example of a sophisticated transnational criminal enterprise.

- financial system included secret bank accounts, front companies, offshore bank accounts, and charities

Brenton Harrison Tarrant

- shot hundreds of people inside a mosque in NZ

- rior to the attack he uploaded an 87-page online manifesto titled "The Great Replacement

-illustrates how the lone-wolf scenario involves an individual who believes in a certain ideology but who is not acting on behalf of an organized group. These individuals tend to exhibit a relatively low degree of criminal skill while carrying out their assault.

Ted Kaczynski

- medium degree of criminal sophistication who remained at least sporadically active.

- began constructing and detonating a series of bombs directed against corporations and universities

- to send the devices through the mail disguised as business parcels.

- authored a 35,000-word manifesto titled "Industrial Society and Its Future."

Ramzi Yousef

- detonated a bomb in a parking garage beneath Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City.

- objective was to topple Tower One onto Tower Two "like a pair of dominoes,

- "spent several months in Peshawar [Pakistan] in training camps funded by Osama bin Laden learning bomb-making skills.

Cells

Autonomous groups of terrorists who may be loosely affiliated with a larger movement but who are largely independent of hierarchical control.

Revolutionary Tribunals

Emerged in French Rev: The revolutionary court established during the French Revolution.

- thousands of opponents to the Jacobin dictatorship—and others merely perceived to be enemies of the new revolutionary Republic—were arrested and put on trial before a Revolutionary Tribunal. Those found to be enemies of the Republic were beheaded by a new instrument of execution—the guillotine.

- Komiteh: Revolutionary tribunals established after the Islamic revolution in Iran.

Hate Crimes

- crimes that are directed against protected classes of people because of their membership in these protected classes. Thus, hate crimes are officially considered to be a law enforcement issue rather than one of national security.

- Crimes motivated by hatred against protected groups of people. They are prosecuted as aggravated offenses rather than as acts of terrorism.

- bias-motivated

- Are hate crimes acts of terrorism? The answer is that not all acts of terrorism are hate crimes and not all hate crimes are acts of terrorism.

Terrorist

- One who practices terrorism. Often a highly contextual term.

- Terrorists always declare that they are fighters who represent the interests of an oppressed group.

- They consider themselves to be freedom fighters and justify their violence as a proportional response to the object of their oppression.

- Their supporters often "mainstream" the motives of those who violently champion their cause.

dissident terrorism

- terrorists frequently target a state or system with little or no animus against a particular race, religion, or other group.

- "Bottom-up" terrorism perpetrated by individuals, groups, or movements in opposition to an existing political or social order.

- POST ww2pitted indigenous rebels against European colonial powers or ruling local elites.

- involved the use of terrorism as an instrument of war by both state and dissident forces

"one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter"

The importance of perspective in the use of violence to achieve political goals. Championed groups view violent rebels as freedom fighters, whereas their adversaries consider them to be terrorists.

New Terrorism

- often characterized by by the threat of weapons of mass destruction, indiscriminate targeting, and intentionally high casualty rates

- he use of indiscriminate targeting and tactics against civilians—a common practice in the modern era—is indefensible, no matter what cause is championed by those who use them.

State-Sponsored Terrorist Environments

French Rev: state-sponsored domestic terrorism was both necessary and acceptable to consolidate power and protect liberties won during the revolution.

- Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia also sought to consolidate an ideological vision through internal political violence—a racial new order in Germany and an egalitarian workers' state in the Soviet Union

- requires an ideological vision and the deaths of millions of noncombatants/believers

- e.g. Dirty War in Argentina

Extremism

- precursor of terrorism

- Political extremism refers to taking a political idea to its limits, regardless of unfortunate repercussions, impracticalities, arguments, and feelings to the contrary, and with the intention not only to confront, but to eliminate opposition. . . . Intolerance toward all views other than one's own.

- KKK

- Not all extremists become terrorists, but certainly all terrorists are motivated by extremist belief

Characteristics of Extremism

- Intolerance: The cause is considered to be absolutely just and good, and those who disagree with the cause (or some aspect of the cause) are cast into the category of the opposition.

- Moral Absolutes: t the distinction between good and evil is clear, as are the lines between the extremists and their opponents and place superiority over those not in favor

- Broad Conclusions: generalizations are not debatable and allow for no exceptions. Evidence for these conclusions is rooted in one's belief system rather than based on objective data.

- New Language and Conspiratorial Beliefs: Extremists thus become an elite with a hidden agenda and targets of that agenda.

Guerrilla Warfare

guerilla = little war

- Terrorism is not synonymous with guerrilla warfare

- emerged during Spanish fight against Napoleon

- a numerically larger group of armed individuals who operate as a military unit, attack enemy military forces, and seize and hold territory (even if only ephemerally during the daylight hours), while also exercising some form of sovereignty or control over a defined geographical area and its population.

- Carrying out small-level attacks that were very brutal and meant to be noticed/theatricized

International Terrorism

Terrorism that spills over onto the world's stage.

- Targets are selected because of their value as symbols of international interests, either in the home country or across state boundaries.

State Terrorism

Terrorism "from above" committed by governments against perceived enemies.

- State terrorism can be directed externally against adversaries in the international domain or internally against domestic enemies.

Religious terrorism

Terrorism motivated by an absolute belief that an otherworldly power has sanctioned—and commanded—the application of terrorist violence for the greater glory of the faith.

- usually conducted in defense of what believers consider to be the one true faith.

Ideological Terrorism

Terrorism motivated by violent interpretations of political systems of belief. Some ideologies, such as anarchism and radical socialism, explicitly advocate the overthrow of perceived ideological opponents.

- Other ideologies, such as fascism, glorify the assertion of the natural supremacy of a particular nation, race, or ethnicity over nonmembers of the championed group.

Criminal Dissident Terrorism

Terrorism motivated by sheer profit or some amalgam of profit and politics. Traditional organized criminal enterprises (such as the Italian Mafia, Chinese Triads, and the Japanese Yakuza) accumulate profits from criminal activity for personal aggrandizement.

- Criminal-political enterprises (such as Colombia's FARC and Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers) accumulated profits to sustain their movement.

Gender-Selective Terrorism

Terrorist violence explicitly directed against the males or females of enemy populations in order to eliminate potential fighters and culturally degrade or otherwise terrorize the enemy population.

"One Man Willing to Throw Away His Life Is Enough to Terrorize a Thousand"

- The symbolic power of a precise application of force by an individual who is willing to sacrifice themselves can terrorize many other people.

- A moral concept that illustrates how a weak adversary can influence a strong adversary.

- The statement was made by the Chinese military philosopher Wu Ch'i.

"Extremism in the Defense of Liberty Is No Vice"

- An uncompromising belief in the absolute righteousness of a cause.

- A moralistic concept that clearly defines good and evil.

- The statement was made by Senator Barry Goldwater during the 1964 presidential election in the United States.

"It Became Necessary to Destroy the Town to Save It"

An extremist goal to destroy an existing order without developing a clear vision for the aftermath.

- A moral concept used to justify terrorist behavior.

- The statement was allegedly made by an American officer during the war in Vietnam.

THE POLITICAL VIOLENCE MATRIX

A framework for classifying and conceptualizing political violence. This classification framework is predicated on two factors: force and intended target.

Carlos the Jackal

The nom de guerre for Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, a Venezuelan revolutionary who became an international terrorist. He acted primarily on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

- a unique and interesting study of the career of an ideologically motivated revolutionary.

PFLP

- terrorist/hitman for hire

the decision to engage in violence may be

- logical choice and political strategy

- collective rationality

- lack of opportunity for political participation

- disaffection within an elite

Causes for terrorism

- National Level: nations may be victimized by traumatic events that shape their behavior and culture for an extended period of time

- ethonational level: the histories of ethnonational groups, massacres, forced migrations, or extended repression can affect them for generations

- group level: terrorism can grow out of an environment of political activism, when a group's goal is to redirect a government's or society's attention toward the grievances of an activist social movement. It can also grow out of dramatic events in the experience of a people or a nation.

- individual level: have distinguished rational, psychological, and cultural origins of terrorism

- the fact that so many nations, groups, and individuals resort to terrorist violence so frequently suggests that common motives and reasons can be found

social movements

Social movements are campaigns that try either to promote change or to preserve something that is perceived to be threatened.

- Movements involve mass action on behalf of a cause; they are not simply the actions of single individuals who promote their personal political beliefs.

- relates to group level causes of terrorism

dramatic events

They occur when an individual, a nation, or an ethnonational group suffers from an event that has a traumatizing and lasting effect.

- relate to the group-level causes of terrorism

common characteristics among politically violent groups and individuals.

- Political Violence as Strategic Choice

- Political Violence as the Fruit of Injustice (the disadvantaged group asserts its rights by selecting a methodology—in this case, terrorism—that from the group's perspective is its only viable option.)

- Moral Justifications for Political Violence

act of political will

an effort to force change and consists of strategic choices made by ideologically motivated revolutionaries who pursue victory by sheer force of will.

- It is a choice, a rational decision from the revolutionaries' perspective, to adopt specific tactics and methodologies to defeat an adversary.

- relates to political violence as a strategic choice

People's War

- A concept in irregular warfare in which the guerrilla fighters and the populace are theoretically indistinguishable.

- Mao's Red Army military-political doctrine:

- Indoctrinate the army.

- Win over the people.

- Hit, run, and fight forever.

- People's war required protracted warfare (war drawn out over time), fought by an army imbued with an iron ideological will to wear down the enemy

- war was to be fought by consolidating the countryside and then gradually moving into the towns and cities. Red Army units would avoid conventional battle with the Nationalists, giving ground before superior numbers

- A successful people's war required the cooperation and participation of the civilian population, so Mao ordered his soldiers to win their loyalty by treating the people correctly.

- example of political violence as a strategic choice

Relative deprivation theory

arguing that "feelings of deprivation and frustration underlie individual decisions to engage in collective action

absolute deprivation

- when a group has been deprived of the basic necessities for survival by a government or social order. In this environment, a group is denied adequate shelter, food, health care, and other basic necessities. These conditions can also lead to political violence

pan-arabist

national borders in the Arab world were not sacrosanct

Moral justifications

- Delineating Morality: Simplified Definitions of Good and Evil (which is an unambiguous conviction of the righteousness of one's cause. Terrorists believe that the principles of their movement are unquestionably sound + their cause and methods are completely justifiable because their opponents represent inveterate evil. There are no "gray areas" in their struggle

- Seeking Utopia: Moral Ends Through Violent Means - whereby an idealized end justifies the use of violence.

- Moral Purity: Codes of Self-Sacrifice

- Understanding Codes of Self-Sacrifice

Assassins: terrorist group

- 11th-century Muslim sect

- militant offshoot of this sect

- ended with arrival of Mongols

- led by the Old Man of the Mountain

- warned victims in advance

- But they were also believed to be a hash cult too (not really though)

Thugs & Thugees

- Militant Hindu sect resisting British occupation

- viewed themselves as freedomfighters against british rule

- they strangled victims

Militant anarchism and terrorism

- Assassination of Alexander II (goal was to reform system but the terrorists received the opposite goal of what they set out with)

- like 5% of actual 19th century anarchism

Black Hand & Terrorism

- Serb nationalists living in Austria who assassinated the archduke, the heir

- anti-Austral-Hungarian Empire

- their whole point was to help the Serbian people, but this event led to stereotypes of serbs emerging

- was an example of state-sponsored terrorism because the Serbs' intelligence networks were somewhat responsible

Russian Revolution & Terrorism

- Overthrowing monarchy/Romanov dynasty during WW1 when Russia was at war w/ Germany

- Lenin wanted a single dictatorship party and argued a state of terror needed to be created to prevent the revolution from being overthrown by rebel forces

- top-down terrorism

- Stalin and Trotsky

Wall Street bombing

- 1920

- first vehicle bomb

- They were trying to get major bankers killed but lower ranking ppl were killed

- Potentially an Italian-American protesting against their discrimination

- example of sub-national against gov't/private sector

- A result of discrimination but the attack resulted in more discrimination against Italians in the Northeast.