International Terrorism

Week 3:

09/10

Strategic Approach

  • Terrorist groups use terrorism to achieve their goals

  • Democracies are more likely to be wiling to concede

  • Terrorism causes psychological and osicla disruption

  • This can alter public preferences on the conflict issue

  • Parties need the support of the public to stay in office

  • Problems

    • Lack of evidence that terrorism is effective at coercing the government

    • Terrorism is more likely to backfire and lead to support for harsh government responses

Organizaitonal Approach

  • Dissent is more likely in democracies

  • Terrorist violence is one of many strategies groups use to express their grievances

  • Groups use terrorist violence to recruit and achieve their goals

  • Problems

    • Mixed empirical support

Political Approach

  • Particular types of democracies are more likely to experience terrorism than other types

  • Characteristics: polititcal ideology, human rights, conflict, foreign policy posititons

  • Problems

    • These factors drive some individiuals to engage in terrorism but not the majority

    • Unclear wheter these factors are a cuase or consequence of terrorism

Post 9/11 Dynamics

  • Non-democracies experienced more terrorism after 9/11

  • Terrorist groups stopped by harsh counter-terrorism laws

  • The global war on terror created conflicts that produce terrorism

  • Many authoritarian regimes share the characteristics associated with terrorism

  • These are incentives for Authoritarian regimes to report terrorist attacks

  • Difficulty in

Week 2:

09/01

What is Terrorism?

  • “The Systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion” ( Webster)

  • “The threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation” (Global Terrorism Index)

  • “Premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents” ( U.S. Congress Foreign Terrorist Organization List

Defining Terrorism

  • Crenshaw

    • Method/System used for specific political purposes

    • The treats/use of violence

    • Causes emotional and physical harm

    • Socially and politically unacceptable

    • Unpredictable and arbitrary

    • Symbolic targets (important to the outcome of the conflict

Psychological and Sociological Effectiveness

  • Psychological Effects: Aims to create extremem fear or anxiety

  • Social Effects: Aims to disrupt the social structure that people depend upon and trust

  • Backfiring:

    • Sustained/intense terrorism: The public can become desensitized to terrorism

    • Sporadic terrorism: Unpredictable and more successful

  • Different audience perceive terrorism and assign blame differently

  • Framing terrorism:

    • Ends justify the means

    • last resort

Week 1:

What is Terrorism?

  • No agreed defintion of terrorism

  • Difficult to distinguish terrorism from other political violence/violent crime

  • To classify an incident as terrorism, the action must be:

    • Carried out to achieve political, economic, religious, or social aims

    • Intended for a wider audience beyond the target

    • Targeting people unrelated to conflict (e.g. civilians or noncombatants)

    • Perpetrated by an organization or individuals inspired by a a terrorist movement

    • Conducted by a non-state actor

  • Defined by violence and its political or social motive

    • Threat of violence still counts as terrorism

  • What is the difference between a domestic and transnational terrorism attack?

  • It involves perpetrators or victims from another country, not just the venue country

What is Counterterrorism?

  • “Measures designed to combat or prevent terrorism”

  • “States must ensure that any measures taken to counter terrorism comply with all their obligations under International law, in particular International human rights, refugee, and international humanitarian law”

  • What are pre-emptive counter terrorism policies?

    • Proactively seeking to destroy terrorist groups

    • E.g. dismantling terrorists’ training camps or freezing their assets

    • Positive effects for all other countries facing terrorism threat

  • What are defensive counter terrorism policies?

    • Protecting against domestic threats and agents

    • E.g. Protecting airports and other infrastructure

    • Negative effect for other countries, especially those with weaker defensive policies