CY4001 Criminology: An Introduction

Lecture: Terrorism
 Key questions in today’s lecture

Typologies of Types of Terrorist How is terrorism

Terrorism Campaigns? controlled?
• How is this type of • What are • What are the
crime constituted terrorist methods, measures to
in modern and what makes prevent and
polities? terrorism a reduce the
distinctive form of impact of
violence? terrorism?
 Typologies of Terrorism
• Religious Terrorism
• Ethnonational Terrorism
• Left-Wing Terrorism
• Right-Wing Terrorism
• State-Sponsored Terrorism
 Typologies of Terrorism
• Creating typologies of terrorism is very
difficult due to the nature of defining the term
terrorism and the infinite tactics used by
terrorists.

• Groups often fit into numerous groups and

often change from one type of group to
another to further their goals.
 Religious Terrorism
• “Terrorism in the name of religion has become
the predominant model for political violence in
the world” (Martin 2013).
• The groups sees the world as a battle field
between the forces of darkness and lightness.
• Laqueur explains religious terrorists are not
constrained by the same factors that inhibit other
types of terrorists.
• A high death toll is the goal for religious terrorists
and anything less is seen as a failure.
 Religious Terrorism
• Religious terrorism in the name of faith has a long history
(from Judeo-Christian Antiquity to the Christian Crusades,
the Assassins, and modern Arab Islamist extremism.
• By misconstruing religious texts, this type of terrorist
believes they have been given permission to act in a certain
way without constraints, as they are doing God’s bidding.
• Using religion as a justification for terrorism can make the
actual terrorist act holy and commendable in some
believers’ eyes.
• Martyrdom is a compelling lure and self-sacrifice is valued
above many other virtues, including mercy or pity.
 Religious Terrorism
• Religious terrorist groups are often extremely violent
and well organized, believing that a higher authority
than the law or government sanctions them, making
them very appealing to extremists.
• Extremism, or the potential for violent radicalization,
are necessary for terrorism to occur, however, they are
not the only factor as many revolutionary and
nationalist groups have refrained from using violence.
• Extremist religious propaganda cannot be prevented:
All religious extremists (Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and
others) have discovered the usefulness of modern
information and communication technologies
 Religious Terrorism
• al Qaeda and Daesh/Islamic State are more than just
terrorist organizations or networks: They have evolved into
a symbol, an ideology, a sub-culture
• “The jihadi movement has become a globalized
phenomenon” (Martin, 2013:153). The dissemination of
information and images through information and
communication technologies have created “a global sense
of solidarity among Islamists”.
• “Christian extremists continue to promote a religious
motivation for the counter-terrorism…and suggest that the
Islamic faith is wrong or evil or both, and the war on
terrorism is part of a divine plan pitting the true faith
against Islam” (Martin, 2013:153).
 Ethnonational Terrorism
• Ethnic and nationalistic terrorists are concerned
with creating a national identity, but practically
speaking, all that is necessary is for the group to
see itself as being different from those around it
and have the desire to do something about it.
• Ethnic and nationalist terrorism has the primary
goal of mobilizing a specific community, which is
done by appealing to a specific ethnic group who
has a shared historical or perceived grievance
 Ethnonational Terrorism
• Anthony Smith lists six requirements of
becoming an ethnicity:
1. a name, collectively agreed upon by members of
the ethnicity,
2. a myth of common ancestry,
3. a shared history,
4. aspects of culture that differ from those around
them,
5. an association with a specific ‘homeland’,
6. a sense of solidarity with other members of the
group. (Smith, 1991: p. 21)
 Ethnonational Terrorism
• Gaining equal rights or addressing a grievance creates a
social movement to assist with the acquisition of these
goals; terrorism comes when there are splits within the
group and one segment becomes more radical and
violent than the others.
• The use of violence is used to help create an identity
and make a statement about the group as a whole.
• The repercussion of the ethnic group using violence is
often heavy-handed reprisal from the state or other
authority that the ethnic group is fighting against.
• This helps the ethnic group in their assertion that they
are the ‘victim’ in the situation and draws both
national and international attention to the conflict
 Ethnonational Terrorism
• Violence in situations of ethnic terrorism plays a special
role in conflict.
– It sustains the conflict even if the goals of the group have
never and will never be obtained.
– It keeps the ideas and goals of what the group is fighting
for alive and creates a feeling of powerlessness and fear in
the ethnic community against whoever is on the outside of
the ethnic community.
– The terrorist group create violent situations where the
government is delegitimized in the ethnic community,
other groups are encouraged to avoid the area, and the
community itself is not allowed to develop any identities
that are in opposition to the ethnic identity for fear of
reprisal against themselves.
 Ethnonational Terrorism
• Ethnic terrorist organizations have the ability to
endure long periods and create lasting
organizational structures within the community.
• They easily blend in with the local community
and have support bases that do not often waiver.
• Some groups suffer as an ideological entity, but
become stronger when they abandon political
beliefs for their ethnic core.
 Ethnonational Terrorism
• Ethnic terrorism has become more common as
the world experiences globalization and the
ethnic groups grapple with how to maintain their
identity in a world that is increasingly
multicultural.
• Many groups believe the answer is to withdraw
from society and create their own society based
around the principles that they see as important,
which are often in conflict with that of the
national governments for the states where they
reside.
 Single Issue Terrorism
• There are a number of groups in the that employ terrorist
tactics that have no grand sociopolitical agenda but rather
seek to resolve special issues:
– Animal Liberation Front
– Earth Liberation Front
– Anti-Abortion Groups
• This can be demonstrated through the previous groups that
require changes in political policy to ban experiments on
animals, to prevent world disasters, or to stop the ‘murder’
of unborn babies.
 Single Issue Terrorism
• The focus for Single Issue Terrorism is a
particular policy of activity by the incumbent
political party or government.
• Their aim is not to change the entire political
system by the parts that they see as illegal,
morally wrong, or otherwise necessary.
• Extremisms has many faces and can disrupt
and erode even solid democratic societies.
 Right-Wing Terrorism
• At least 26 definitions of right wing extremism. Common
features include nationalism, racism, xenophobia, anti-
democracy, Most right-wing groups characterized as
terrorist are extremist rather than terrorist groups in that
they hold views that are to the extreme right of
mainstream.
• Some right-wing terrorist groups in the United States:
– Aryan Nations, National Alliance (Turner Diaries)
– The Klu Klux Klan
– Neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups (National Action etc.)
– The Army of God; Hammerskins Nation; The American Front
• In the post-World War II era, this type of violence has mainly
related to the hate crimes, conducted by individuals or small
groups to establish Christian-White supremacy.
 Right-Wing Terrorism
• Right-wing conservatism is the theoretical
foundation of right-wing terrorism: it is a political
philosophy that resists any change in the existing
political, economic, social and religious
institutions and beliefs.
• It aims to protect traditional values and beliefs,
mainly religious, from the perceived threats of
the ‘others’, perceive their values and cultures
superior to others; often believe that the modern
world is sinful.
 Right-Wing Terrorism
• The right-wing wish to preserve the status quo
not only in political, economic and social
institutions, but also in religion, tradition and
culture.
• The Right-wing conservatives advocate public
submission to the religious beliefs, oppose the
modernization process, and struggle for political
power to impose the religious traditions and
beliefs.
• They look backwards to a lost golden period of
triumph, power and glory. Their main effort is to
create a community by denouncing the ‘other’.
 Right-Wing Terrorism
• For them, perceived past values and traditions,
associated with the notion of an “original faith”, are
very sacred and supreme, and it is the collective
responsibility of all the followers of that faith to not
only struggle to purify it, but also endeavor to ensure
the unity and loyalty among the adherents of that
faith.
• Immigration combined with economic grievances has
become dominant issue
• USA 2008-16: “Right-wing extremists were behind
nearly twice as many incidents as terror acts associated
with Islamist domestic terrorism”. More people died in
Islamist-related incidents. 33% of right-wing extremist
incidents involved death, versus 13% of Islamist acts.
 State-Sponsored Terrorism
• This type of terror is often called ‘enforcement
terror’ or ‘regime terror’.
• Although most state-crafted definitions of
terrorism do not include terrorism initiated by a
state (focusing instead on substate groups), states
have been, and continue to be, involved in a wide
variety of violent acts against their own citizens
and those of other nations.
• State-sponsored terrorism requires a state to
support terrorist activities in pursuit of achieving
its political objectives.
 State-Sponsored Terrorism
• The state often carries out operations in its
own territory to achieve political goals and to
deal with threats to their power and authority.
• Often state sponsored terrorist activities are
carried out in other states where it is easy to
deny any cooperation or involvement with the
terrorist group
 State-Sponsored Terrorism
• There are two types of state sponsored
terrorism:
1. terrorist groups that are formally controlled by
the state and receive most or all of their funding
and training, as well as orders, from the state,
and
2. situations where a terrorist group is already
operating and the state then supports that
group.
 State-Sponsored Terrorism
• The truest form of state sponsorship of violence in
other countries for political ends would be situations in
which intelligence agencies actively plan the actions,
train the operatives, issue orders, and then send them
off to carry out these orders.
• Some level of covert activity is seen by states as the
cost of participation in international politics.
• Where the differentiation comes is when security
service operatives use violence and extraordinarily
detrimental actions or a state sponsored terrorist
group towards another state or the states own people.
 State-Sponsored Terrorism
Walter (1969: 341-342) has five prerequisites for maintaining
a terrorist regime:
1. A shared ideology that justifies violence… legitimacy suppresses
outrage.
2. The victims in the process of terror must be expendable… if the
violence liquidates a person who is needed for essential tasks, or if
replacements cannot be found for their roles, the system of
cooperation breaks down.
3. Dissociation of the agents of violence and of the victims from
ordinary social life. This double dissociation removes violence
from social controls and separates the victim from sources of
protection.
4. Terror must be balanced by working incentives that induce
cooperation.
5. Cooperative relationships must survive the effect of terror.
 Types of Terrorist Campaigns
• Attrition
• Intimidation
• Provocation
• Spoiling
• Outbidding
 Attrition
• In attrition, terrorists seek to persuade the enemy that the
terrorists are strong enough to impose considerable costs if
the enemy continues a particular policy.
• The higher the costs of terrorist acts and terrorism in
general, the more credible the terrorist organization is
considered.
• Terrorist groups that are able to inflict high cost terrorism
on a state are often granted concessions from the state.

• A source within Hamas quotes Yahya Ayyash, Hamas’s

master bomb maker as saying, “We paid a high price when
we used only slingshots and stones. We need to exert more
pressure, make the cost of the occupation that much more
expensive in human lives, that much more unbearable.”
(Hassan, November 19, 2001: p. 4)
 Attrition
• Three variables are likely to figure in the
outcome:
1. The state’s level of interest in the issue under
dispute,
2. The constraints on its ability to retaliate,
3. The States sensitivity to the cost of violence.
 Attrition
• The more thought and concern about human rights and the
effect of the response on the population the less costly the
terrorist campaign becomes.
• Democracies suffer under these conditions because of their
inability to use excessive force to end a terrorist campaign.
• Authoritarian regimes are much better at dealing with
attrition campaigns as they tend not to be as constrained
by human rights concerns and are capable of rounding
people up and using brutal interrogation techniques to gain
information about a terrorist group.
• They are also able to retaliate much more harshly against
the communities that are involved than a democracy would
be.
 Intimidation
• Terrorists use intimidation try to convince the population
that the terrorists are strong enough to punish
disobedience and that the government is too weak to stop
them, so the people behave as the terrorists wish.
• Members of society that oppose the terrorist group, or
support the government in its efforts to control the
terrorist campaign are often targeted by the terrorist
organization.
• These attacks are an effort to prove that the government is
not capable, or is unwilling, to protect the people from the
repercussions of the terrorist campaign should they choose
to support the government or speak out against the
terrorist group
 Intimidation
• By choosing their targets carefully and picking the
most visible ones, such as police, politicians, and
other high profile members of society, the
terrorist organization can make it clear that the
government is too weak or unwilling to protect
the citizens from the terrorist group.
• Intimidation strategies are often used when the
government does not implement policies the
terrorist group favors and there is not enough
public support for the policy to pressure the
government to implement the policy change.
 Provocation
• A provocation strategy is an attempt to induce the
enemy to respond to terrorism with indiscriminate
violence, which radicalizes the population and moves
them to support the terrorists.
• Often the goal of groups using a provocation campaign
is regime or territorial change.
• This type of campaign is designed to make the people
in the region believe that the government or group in
charge of the region is unfair and heavy handed,
making the people in the region believe that resisting
the government is the only method of change.
• Convincing the moderates within a society that their
government needs to be replaced is key for this type of
terrorist campaign to be successful.
 Provocation
• The goal of this type of campaign is to make the
government respond in such a heavy handed and
disproportional way that it actually harms innocent citizens
who have no part in the conflict.
• It is hoped that this response will create a hatred of the
government and create support for the terrorists who are
fighting the government.
• If the government does respond in a harsh way it gives the
terrorist organization further fuel for the fire, showing the
government as being unconcerned with its citizens, and
that the terrorists are the only ones fighting for citizens
rights.
• “Nothing radicalizes a people faster than the unleashing of
undisciplined security forces on its towns and villages.”
(Woodworth, 2001: p. 7)
 Provocation
• Democratic governments tend to make good targets for
provocation campaigns, due the fact that they desire to be
seen as winning against terrorists, but they have the
inability to commit genocide and other atrocities to deal
with the terrorist campaign in an equally terrorizing way.
• Democracies have been shown to be more susceptible to
being provoked into acting swiftly than totalitarian regimes.
• Governments who are unwilling to indiscriminately punish
terrorists for their actions are not seen as being susceptible
to a provocation campaign.
• Democratic governments are very difficult to prod into
sanctioning heavy-handed and unfair reprisals for
terrorists.
 Spoiling
• Spoilers attack in an effort to persuade the enemy that
the moderates on the terrorists’ side are weak and
untrustworthy, thus undermining attempts to reach a
peace settlement.
• The goal is to make sure that any peace proposals or
talks between the government and the terrorist
organization do not succeed.
• When relations between two groups begin improving,
a threat to the terrorist group’s long-term goals may
develop; it is then that elements within a group will
resort to spoiling so their long-term goals are not
discarded.
 Spoiling
• The term ‘spoiler’ is meant in the context of those parties
to a conflict who wish to disrupt the peace negotiations
and are opposed to a negotiated political settlement within
war-torn societies. It should be noted that the term
‘spoiler’ is not all encompassing and often has different
connotations to different sides of the conflict.
• It is the case that for many of these ‘spoilers’ that their
issue lies with the political system in which the negotiations
are taking place.
• It is conceivable that as time changes the political process
and the issues involved in the conflict, that the ‘spoilers’
themselves would also change, allowing space for
negotiations to succeed.
 Outbidding
• Groups engaged in outbidding use violence to convince the
public that the terrorists have greater resolve to fight the
enemy than rival groups, and therefore are worthy of
support.
• The most common example of this is the competition
between Fatah and Hamas where both groups are fighting
for the support of the everyday Palestinian and where the
everyday Palestinian does not have enough information to
make an informed decision as to which group they should
be supporting.
• It is necessary that citizens do not have enough information
about their choices in the competition; otherwise—if they
were well informed – they would just support the group
with the ideologies closest to their own.
 Outbidding
• There are three reasons a group would choose an outbidding
campaign and the rewards that come with such a campaign.
1. Someone who is more radical than the others is more likely to get a
better deal in negotiation by rejecting deals that the more moderate
segments would have accepted - forcing the opposing side to come
up with better deals.
2. If the population is unsure about the lengths the opposition would
go to, it is better to be represented by a known radical in their
group, so that if the conflict is inevitable, one can make certain their
principles are protected by someone unwilling to compromise the
mandatory needs of the group.
3. The known radical is thought less likely to sell out once in office. If
the incentives are high for one to sell out once elected, it would be
better to have someone who would not compromise in the
negotiations as they are seen as less likely to sell out once
confronted with the perks of being in office (money, power, etc.).
 Outbidding
• An attack motivated by outbidding may not even be
designed to achieve any goal related to the enemy,
such as inducing a concession or scuttling a peace
treaty.
• The process is almost entirely concerned with the
signal it sends to domestic audiences uncertain about
their own leadership and its commitment to a cause.
• The goal here is not to scare the opposition into an
agreement, it is to cause the other group’s supporters
to change their support to the group carrying out a
terrorist attack - by convincing them they are more
committed to the cause than the group they are
currently supporting.
 Terrorist Goals
1. Regime Change
2. Territorial Change
3. Policy Change
4. Social Control
5. Status Quo Maintenance

• Often, there is more than one goal or objective being

served by a specific terrorist campaign.
• Many cases exist where it is difficult to label the group as
having one specific underlying goal, as they place a great
deal of importance in more than one set of long-term
objectives.
 Regime Change
• Regime change is the overthrow of a government and its
replacement with one led by the terrorists or at least one more to
their liking.
• Regime change conflicts are often referred to as ‘revolutionary’
conflicts and encompass a great deal of grievances - from the
expulsion of a colonial power to the desire to bring a right or left
wing regime to power.
• For example, terrorism was an important element of the FLN's
eight-year struggle against French rule in Algeria and helped in their
successful bid to win independence from the French.
• “The revolutionary movement's decision to use terrorism should be
considered as a choice among violent means, not between violence
and nonviolence, because peaceful means of political protest are
usually denied by the regime.” (Hutchinson, 1972: pp. 386-387)
 Territorial Change
• Territorial change is taking territory away from a state
either to establish a new state (as the Tamil Tigers seek
to do in Tamil areas of Sri Lanka) or to join another
state (as Lashkar-e Tayyiba would like to do by
incorporating Indian Kashmir into Pakistan).
• Three out of the eight groups that have lodged terrorist
campaigns over territory have succeeded in some form
• This is the goal where terrorism has been the most
successful. Other types of goals almost unanimously
fail.
• The aim is liberation from what they perceive to be a
colonial situation or a repressive government.
 Policy Change
• Policy change is a broader category of lesser demands,
such as al-Qaida’s demand that the United States drop
its support for Israel and corrupt Arab regimes such as
Saudi Arabia.
• The use of terrorism for policy change can be very
effective if the reasons behind the violence are skillfully
articulated
• However, for a terrorist group to be successful in policy
change they need to have a large support base and the
potential to appeal to a larger audience.
• To make sure that the group has the most impact
possible they must use the media effectively to
disseminate information about their cause and cover
the attacks they carry out.
 Social Control
• Social control constrains the behavior of individuals, rather
than the state.
• In the United States, the Ku Klux Klan sought the continued
oppression of African Americans after the Civil War.
• More recently, anti-abortion groups have sought to kill
doctors who perform abortions to deter other doctors from
providing the service.
• This often is referred to as single-issue terrorism, due to the
aims of the group to stop or control one aspect of human
behavior.
• It should be noted, however, that governments have used
this type of terrorism, as well, to control behavior of its
citizens.
 Status Quo Maintenance
• Status quo maintenance is the support of an existing regime or a
territorial arrangement against political groups that seek to change
it.
• Many right-wing military paramilitary organizations in Latin
America, such as the United Self-Defense Force of Colombia, have
sought this goal.
• Protestant paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland supported the
maintenance of the territorial status quo (Northern Ireland as
British territory) against IRA demands that the territory be
transferred to Ireland.
• The protection of a way of life has been of great importance and
has led many groups to fight to maintain their same life style.
• It is common in these types of fights that terrorism be used, as it is
not just about principles, but rather it is more about preserving the
community and the way that things work and people live.
How is terrorism controlled?
 Counter-terrorism
▪ Counter-terrorism refers CONTEST is the UK
to attempts to prevent government’s counter-
terrorism or reduce its terrorism strategy:
frequency and severity
▪ Prevent
Henderson (2001) ▪ Pursue
▪ Prepare
▪ Protect

HM Government (2011)
 Measures to control terrorism

▪ Searches, investigations and questioning

▪ Seizure and forfeiture of assets
▪ Disclosure, information sharing, intelligence
▪ Detention and deportation
▪ Limits on travel and notification requirements
 Controlling terrorist suspects
▪ Terrorism Prevention ▪ Renewable
and Investigation ▪ Subject to high court
Measures review
[Terrorism Prevention and ▪ Breach is criminal offence
Investigation Measures
▪ Impose restrictions
Act (2011)]
(residence, association,
movement, occupation,
▪ Control orders
travel)
[Terrorism Act (2006)]
 Controlling terrorist suspects
▪ In 2013 there were 10 people subject to TPIMs
▪ In 2014, TPIMs for 7 subjects had expired and 3
subjects had absconded or were in prison
▪ TPIMs are controversial because restrictions are
intrusive and they are imposed on unconvicted
people
Anderson (2014)
 Seminar preparation
Newburn (2013)

▪ pp. 918-921 ‘Globalisation’

▪ pp. 934-941 ‘Human Rights’

 References
▪ David Anderson (2014) Terrorism Prevention and
Investigation Measures in 2013: Second Report of the
Independent Reviewer on the Operation of the Terrorism
Prevention and Investigation Measures Act 2011
▪ Catherine Besteman (ed.) (2002) Violence: A Reader
▪ Frank Furedi (2013) ‘Terrorism and the Politics of Fear’,
Criminology ed. C. Hale et al
▪ Alexander George (1991) Western State Terrorism
▪ Harry Henderson (2001) Global Terrorism