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Terrorism and counterterrorism; Summary all articles + all lecture nodes
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Terrorism and counterterrorism; Summary all articles + all lecture nodes
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INTRODUCTION TO TERRORISM AND POLITICAL VIOLENCELecture 1: Schuurman
What is terrorism?
No commonly accepted definition
Highly politicized debate
Debate:
- Negative connotations
- Subjective
- Too infrequent to generalize?
Result Condemnation, definitional weapon (normative responses, research agenda), difficult to
build upon other research.
Elements of a definition clarity through comparison (war, insurgency, crime)
Schmid 2011:
‘Terrorism refers on the one hand to a doctrine about the presumed effectiveness of a special form or
tactic of fear-generating, coercive political violence and, on the other hand, to a conspiratorial practice
of calculated, demonstrative, direct violent action without legal or moral restraints, targeting mainly
civilians and non-combatants, performed for its propagandistic and psychological effects on various
audiences and conflict parties’
Left-wing: Marxist / Leninist, revolutionary, struggle for a class-less society. Defined terrorism 1960s-
1980s.
Right-wing: Mistrust of government, conspiracy theories, racist, neo-fascist, highly conservative,
religious.
Nationalists, separatists: Self-determination, anticolonial, strong driver insurgency.
State terror: Large-scale violence to intimidate or control populations.
Religious: Revolutionary, millenarian, reform or destruction, (other) worldly goals
Criminal: FARC? Taliban? IRA? Mob-activities?
Single issue: Not focused on a particular ideology, but a particular grievance.
Lone actor: Individuals who plan, prepare & execute attacks in isolation.
Cyber: The increasing importance of the Internet.
,Boaz Ganor, ‘Defining terrorism: is one man’s terrorist another man’s freedom
fighter?’, (2002)
Who defines terrorism? States Definition must serve their own political ends.
Objective definition of terrorism Based upon accepted international laws and principles regarding
behavior in conventional wars. (Geneva, Hague conventions)
- Guerilla Warfare: Deliberate use of violence against military and security personnel in order
to attain political, ideological and religious goals.’
- Terrorism: Deliberate use or the threat to use violence against civilians in order to attain
political, ideological and religious aims. (No freedom-fighters)
Perpetrators terrorism Enemy of mankind. International agreement needed to stop states
sponsoring terrorists.
Awareness use of terror will bring them more harm than good focus on guerrilla warfare rather than
on terrorism.
- International legislation: any deliberate attack upon civilians in wartime by regular military
forces is a war crime.
- Attack in peacetime crime against humanity.
Under current IL organizations are not specifically prohibited from perpetrating actions that are
considered illegal and abhorrent when carried out by sovereign states.
To address this Moral standard: Definition of terrorism include only deliberate attacks on
civilians.
International antiterror coalition enforcement of international legislation aimed at forcing states to
act against terror organizations operating on their territory. But cultural relativism limits the fight.
Defining terrorism: present situation.
Defining problems Conceptual and syntactical. alternative concepts with more positive
connotations (guerrilla movements) are often used to describe and characterize the activities of
terrorist organizations.
Terror or revolutionary violence?
Rationalize acts of terrorism Terrorism and political violence as two different and unconnected
phenomena.
A political motive makes the activity respectable, and the end justifies the means.
Terrorism or national liberation?
Definitions of terrorism meaningless lump together terrorist activities and the struggle to achieve
national liberation.
Attempt to justify the ‘means’ (terrorism) in terms of the ‘end’ (national liberation). ‘liberation from
the yoke of a foreign occupation’ legitimate and justified activity. One man’s terrorist is another
man’s freedom fighter.
A terrorist organization can also be a movement of national liberation, and the concepts of
‘terrorist’ and ‘freedom fighter’ are not mutually contradictory.
,Targeting the innocent?
Politicians make political use of the definition of terrorism attempting to emphasize its brutality.
Harming the innocent.
Innocent = subjective must not be the basis for a definition of terrorism. otherwise political
game.
Proposing a definition of terrorism:
Definition: Exhaustive and objective. Accepted foundation for research + facilitating operations on
an international scale against the perpetrators of terrorist activities.
Terrorism is the intentional use of, or threat to use, violence against civilians or against civilian targets,
in order to attain political aims.
The essence of the activity (violence)
The aim of the activity is always political – namely, the goal is to attain political objectives. (The
motivation behind the political objective is irrelevant for the purpose of defining terrorism)
The targets of terrorism are civilians.
To reach accepted definition extrapolate from the existing principles of conventional warfare
(between countries) to arrive at similar principles for nonconventional warfare.
Countries: must differentiate between two types of military personnel who make use of force to attain
their aims.
Soldiers: members of the military who intentionally target members of rival armies.
War criminals: members of the military who intentionally harm civilians.
Guerilla warfare vs. terrorism:
Guerrilla war: prolonged war of attrition, with progressively increasing violence, blurred limits, a fluid
line of contact, emphasizing the human factor. (Combatants military forces)
Guerrilla warfare: a form of warfare by which the strategically weaker side assumes the tactical
offensive in selected forms, times and places.
A situation where organizations are involved simultaneously in terrorism and guerrilla activity
is a direct consequence of the lack of an accepted international definition for terrorism and
guerrilla warfare.
The terrorist and the guerrilla fighter may have the exact same aims, but they choose different means
to accomplish them.
Defining states’ involvement in terrorism:
Designation involvement states political weapon; rival states ascribe it to one another, and terrorist
organizations use it against states acting against them. Involvement:
1. States supporting terrorism (financial aid, ideological support, military or operational
assistance)
2. States operating terrorism (initiate, direct and perform terrorist activities through groups
outside their own institutions)
, 3. States perpetrating terrorism (perpetrating terrorist acts abroad through their own official
bodies intentionally attacking civilians in other countries in order to achieve political aims
without declaring war)
Individuals engaging in terrorist activities excluded from the civilian community, and rules
protecting civilians no longer apply to them.
Targeting terrorists who head operational, administrative or political branches in a terrorist
organization should not be considered a terrorist activity these people are responsible for
policy formulation and decision making in the organization.
Importance of a definition:
Terrorism international problem. need of responses on international scale. Effectiveness
international strategy depend on agreement definition Needed in every phase:
- Legislation and punishment – the laws and regulations enacted to provide security forces with
an instrument for combating terrorism.
- International cooperation – Internationally accepted definition of terrorism is required to
strengthen cooperation between countries in the struggle against terrorism, and to ensure its
effectiveness.
- States sponsoring terrorism – modern terrorism is increasingly dependent on the support of
nations. States sponsoring terrorism use terrorist organizations as a means to their own ends,
while these organizations depend on the assistance they receive from such countries.
- Offensive action – the state struggling against terrorism must retain the initiative. At the same
time, attempts must be made to limit, as far as possible, the operative capacity of the terrorist
organization.
- Attitudes toward the population supporting terrorism – terrorist organizations often rely on the
assistance of a sympathetic civilian population.
- Normative Scale – a definition that separates terrorism out from other violent actions will
enable the initiation of an international campaign designed to undermine the legitimacy of
terrorist organizations, curtail support for them, and galvanize a united international front
against them.
Attitude of terrorist organizations toward definition:
The moral consideration – Many terrorist organizations are troubled by the moral question
bearing on their right to harm civilians. (literature and interviews)
The utilitarian consideration – If the perpetrators know that attacking a kindergarten or other
civilian target will never be acceptable; they may think twice before choosing terrorism as their
modus operandi.
Summary:
A definition must rely on the same principles already agreed upon regarding conventional wars
(between states), and extrapolate from them regarding nonconventional wars (between organization
and a state).
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