1. World Politics Since 1945 Week 20 TERRORISM Sebastiano
Sali20 March 2014
2. OUTLINE Definitions: WHAT is terrorism and WHO is a
terrorist? Narratives: NEW terrorism vs OLD terrorism (really?)
Reactions: COUNTER or ANTI terrorism?
3. DEFINITIONS US Gov: premeditated, politically motivated
violence perpetrated against non- combatant targets by subnational
groups or clandestine agents. US DoD: The calculated use of of
unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear,
intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the
pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or
ideological. US State Dept: Premeditated politically-motivated
violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subnational
groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an
audience. FBI: Terrorism is the unlawful use of force and violence
against persons s or property to intimidate or coerce a government,
the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in the furtherance
or political or social objectives. UN: Acts intended to cause death
or serious bodily harm to civilians or non- combatants, when the
purpose of such an act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate
a population, or to compel a government or an international
organisation to do or abstain from doing an act.
4. According to Schmid and Jongman there are of terrorism and
they have (and this was 1988!) A little more recently, in 2004,
Weinberg, Padahzur and Hirsch-Hoefler examined 3 major academic
journals: they found 55 articles with of terrorism
5. No panic! Lets try to keep it simple
6. The use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of
political aim (The Oxford Dictionary of English) , frightful fact,
or terrible happening (Dizionario Latino Olivetti) THREAT = to harm
something done or not done (The Oxford Dictionary of English)
7. NARRATIVES NEW TERRORISM OLD TERRORISM
8. Martyrdom Suicide bombers Hashishiyyin Tamil Tigers New
Terrorism Old Terrorism
9. Religion or Politics? With the end of the CW religion is the
only ideology left The Hindu Thugs New Terrorism Old Terrorism
10. Spread of political Islam Withdrawal of foreigners from
holy places Restoration of the Caliphate Elimination of the state
of Israel Expulsion of the non-Jewish people from the Roman
province of Judea (Zealots) Withdrawal of the British from Ulster
(IRA) or the French from Algeria (FLN) Unification of the Cyprus
island to continental Greece (EOKA)
11. State(-sponsored) Terrorism Syria and Hezbollah Yemen and
Al Qaeda Rgime de la terreur New Terrorism Old Terrorism
12. I want to point out, that besides Essen, we never actually
considered any particular industrial sites as targets. The
destruction of industrial sites always was some sort of bonus for
us. Our real targets always were the inner cities. RAF Marshall Sir
Arthur Bomber Harris
13. It seems to me that the moment has come when the question
of bombing German cities simply for the sake of increasing terror,
though under other pretexts, should be reviewed. Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
14. Network or Hierarchy? New Terrorism Independent cells Loose
global network Old Terrorism Centralised Top- Down Structure Local
groups
15. Iranian Domestic Terrorism in the 40 The Anarchist Cookbook
(1960) Assassination of the Tsar Alexander in 1881 Assassination of
the French President in 1894 Bombing of the Greenwich observatory
in 1894 Attack to the US President McKinsey 1904
16. Al Qaeda Central is no longer the main threat to the US, it
has ceased to exist as an organisation or as an operational entity
The main threat comes now in the form of the home-grown,
spontaneously self- organised groups of friends who become
terrorists. These are radicalised bunches of guys that for a
scattered global network. A leaderless Marc Sagemans Leaderless
Jihad
17. Bruce Hoffmans Inside Terrorism Al Qaeda continues to
exercise top-down and bottom-up direction and guidance, planning
and operational capabilities High impact-impact plots Al Qaeda Iraq
had been dispatched to establish cells in other countries Londons
7/7/05 attacks and the Trans-Atlantic jumbo in August 06 evidence
of Al Qaeda Central top-down direction
19. Counter-Terrorism US War on Terror Al Qaeda declares war to
the US Therefore they are US enemies Therefore it doesnt matter if
they attack righ now. They are a Proactive policies that seek to
eliminate terrorist environments and groups
20. There are known knowns; there are things we know that we
know. There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things
that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns
there are things we do not know we don't know. US Secretary of
Defence Donald Rumsfeld
21. The , which enables the strategic use of the unsaid, to
provide selected information and only those that justify the
policies adopted, as in the case of the War on Terror (Daase and
Kessler) UNKNOWN KNOWS
22. Anti-Terrorism Anti-terrorism: refers to target hardening,
enhanced security and other defensive measures seeking to deter or
prevent terrorist attacks Policy Change: eg US Patriot Act or UK
terror legislation Passive Actions, like making likely targets more
secure Active Actions, like engaging in political talks with
terrorist groups where possible
23. John Muellers No does, good does Greatest cost of terrorism
is the fear an over-reaction of governments Terrorist industry
drives perceptions After 9/11 in US fewer people died because of
international terrorism than have drowned in the toilet Governments
reactions are far more deadly than the terrorism they react
against
24. How terrorist groups end? Rand (2008) Military force 7%
Politicisati on 43% Policing 40% Victory 10%
25. So what do we know about it? Different terrorist groups
have shown some common features throughout history. Eg. Suicidal
acts, religion, state-sponsored, network/hierarchy The ultimate
goal is political and mostly in retribution to political/military
actions Military force works very little in crushing terrorism The
absence of certain knowledge leaves a lot of room for reaction
Terrorist is as terrorist does (Gump:1994)
26. THANK YOU! Sebastiano Sali20 March 2014
27. Some additional readings Schmid, A. and Jongman, A. (1988)
Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts,
Databases, Theories and Literature, Oxford: North Holland.
Weinberg, L., Pedahzur, A., Hirsch-Hoefler, S., (2004) The
Challenges of Conceptualizing Terrorism, Terrorism and Political
Violence, 16:4. Sageman, M., Leaderless Jihad: Terror networks in
the 21st century, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011 Hoffman,
B., Inside Terrorism, New York: Columbia University Press, 2006
Daase, C. and Kessler, O. Known and Unknowns in the War on Terror:
Uncertainty and the Political Constitution of Danger, Security
Dialogue, 38:4, 2007 Mueller, J.E., Overblown: How Politicians and
Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We
Believe Them, Simon and Schuster, 2006
28. EVALUATIONS Academic Year: 2013/14 Module Title/Code: World
Politics Since 1945, 4SSPP102 Programme of Study: International
Politics or Politics of the International Economy Lecturer: Ami
Abou-Bakr Seminar Tutors: Ali Hawks, Isabelle Anstey, Sebastiano
Sali For the scanner to read your responses please: Use blue or
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