Title: Chapter 2: Not Senseless Violence: The Social Underpinnings of Terrorism
1Chapter 2Not Senseless Violence The Social
Underpinnings of Terrorism
2Terrorism as a Social Process Two Frameworks
- Approaches to the study of social explanations of
group behavior tend to focus on - Meaning of activity
- Structure of actions
- Social scientists
- Use to examine terrorism from meaning and
structural frameworks - Meaning framework
- The way we interpret the world motivates the
action we take. - Structural framework
- A groups structure and purpose cause it to act
and groups are created for specific functions.
3Meaning framework
- Meaning Framework
- Subjective interpretations that people give to
events, physical objects or actions of others as
well as themselves. - Meanings are developed by individuals and groups.
- Huntington
- Future conflicts will take place between worlds
major civilizations . - World is divided into 3 economic groupings and
conflicts will be based on the distribution of
wealth. - Social action is based on social meaning.
Terrorist organizations are the result of
subjective meanings that need to be aggressively
confronted if the alternative meaning should be
introduced.
4Meaning Framework
- Juergensmeyer
- The clash between modern values and traditional
culture as one of the reasons for terrorism. - Lewis
- Trouble between Islam and Western modernity can
be attributed to the reasons for terrorism. - Nance
- Terrorists take action based on an ideological
desire for social change. - Terrorism results from the meanings applied to
the modern world by terrorists. - Counterterrorism involves specific steps to
prevent violence and deconstruct terrorist groups.
5Structural Framework
- Attempts to understand terrorist behavior by
looking at the way terrorists organizations
function is called a structural framework. - Black
- Terrorist organization take an action because
they belong to a structure that operates for a
special purpose. - The structure and movement of groups can explain
terrorism. - Terrorism develops when an inferior group moves
against a superior group, inducing mass
casualties.
6Structural Framework
- Latora and Marchiori
- Terrorist organizations
- Are structured in the same manner as
communication and transportation systems. - Are composed of networks moving in patterns.
- Criminal, terrorist, or revolutionary groups
organize themselves in a network of smaller
logistical structures. - Any point where information, weapons, or
personnel are gathered is called a node. - The node being the critical target for
counterterrorist operations. - If the node is destroyed, the network is
disrupted.
7Terrorism as a Religious Process
- Ellingsen reports two primary reasons for
continued influence of religion - Religion has always been an important factor in
the history of humanity. - Modernization tends to breakdown communities,
families, and social orientation people seek a
deeper meaning to their lives. - The impact of religion on terrorism, according to
Ellingsen, is more important than political and
economic factors.
8Terrorism as a Religious Process
- Stern
- People around the world are returning to their
religious roots as a means to escape the
complexity of modern life. - When mythological truths compete, violence often
results. - Stories change the nature of terrorist
organizations and aid in producing a number of
different group organizations and styles. - Individuals join a group because they believe
they are joining a holy cause, they are usually
motivated by the organizations sacred story. - To maintain the power formally given by the
sacred story, leaders develop internal
enforcement mechanisms rewards system. - Religion may also produce the lone wolf
avenger. - A person striking out with an ideology but no
group.
9Terrorism as a Religious Process
- Juergensmeyer
- Violence is a call to purify the world from the
nonbeliever and the incorrect interpretations in
a holy war. - Believers are participating in a struggle (a
cosmic struggle) to change history. - The holy terrorist is victorious either by
killing the enemy or by dying in the struggle.
10Terrorism as a Religious Process
- Berman
- Economic factors influence religious terrorism.
- Religious terrorism is deadlier than any other
form of terrorism. - Statistic there are 20 active religious
terrorist organizations 18 based on Islam. - Rather than attempting to counter a religious
ideology, counterterrorism must be aimed at
studying the internal ability of the group to
operate effectively.
11Clash of Civilization
- Huntington
- Cultural conflicts among worlds dominant
civilizations constitute a clash of civilization. - Regions in which more than one civilization exist
threaten international peace, and the USA should
avoid intervening in such areas. - Esposito
- Culture is defined by more than religion and
there is no monolithic Islamic civilization. - Pipes
- The major conflicts will occur within Islam
religion. - Chomsky
- The world is too complicated to be explained by
one big idea.
12Terrorism as Practical Criminology
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) created
localized terrorism task forces around the
country. - Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF)
- Allows the FBI to coordinate law enforcement
resources in the face of domestic terrorism and
to expand investigations. - The FBI also provides investigative resources
when Americans are victimized by terrorism in
other countries.
13Terrorists v Criminals
Bodrero
- Terrorists
- Find strength in a cause and the ideology behind
the cause - Focused
- Dedicated to a particular cause
- Disciplined, trained, targets have symbolic value
- Criminals
- Usually uncommitted, crime is a method for
obtaining goods - Opportunistic
- Undedicated to a cause
- Undisciplined, untrained, self-centered
14Group Reinforcement and Moral Justification
- Terrorists must feel they are justified in their
behavior. - Terrorists must look outside normative social
channels to gain approval. - Terrorist group becomes primary source of social
reality. - Terrorist group provides social recognition and
reinforcement. - Terrorist group reshapes identities and provides
a ticket to social acceptance. - Terrorist group must be isolated from mainstream
society.
15Group Reinforcement and Moral Justification
- Group reinforcement and isolation
- Wilkinson
- Terrorist groups reinforce individual loyalty
through justification process. - Constant reinforcement of antisocial behavior in
terrorist groups produces conforming behavior
inside the organization. - Post
- Terrorists group becomes the only source of
social reward because of its members isolation. - Terrorists reinforce one another.
- The rejection of external authority results in
the acceptance of internal authority because
behavior must be reinforced somewhere.
16Group Reinforcement and Moral Justification
- Borum
- Researchers have come to the conclusion that
there is no standard rational for justifying
behavior. - Three different phases of self-justification
- Reasons for joining
- Reasons for remaining
- Reasons for leaving
17Group Reinforcement and Moral Justification
- Victoroff
- There is a multiplicity of factors (social and
psychological) used to justify violence. - Terrorists operate and justify violence because
they emotionally attach themselves to an
ideology. - They will not tolerate moral ambiguity, and have
the capacity to suppress instinctive and learned
moral limitations on behavior. - There is a need to study the impact of leadership
on group behavior. - Cooper
- Terrorist would justify more destruction because
it is required for televised drama.
18Group Reinforcement and Moral Justification
- Blomberg, Hess, and Weerapana
- Economic factors play a role in justifying
terrorist violence. - Terrorist groups are not happy with the economic
status quo. - Terrorist see denial of economic opportunity as a
justification for their action. - Stern
- Several factors must be in place for group
cohesion - Group must identify an enemy.
- Group must have a story.
- Group needs its own language or symbolic words to
demonize the enemy.
19Can the Terrorist Personality be Profiled?
- FBI Behavioral Science Unit has attempted to
develop profiles of terrorists based on
individual psychological characteristics. - Rejecting Terrorist Profiles
- Laqueur no one can develop a composite picture
of a terrorist - Terrorist behavior fluctuates with historical,
political, and social circumstances. - Individual and group profiles are the result of
political and social conditions. - Borum there is no single terrorist personality
20Profiling Terrorist Behavior
- Ross
- It may be possible to conceptualize terrorism in
a model combining social structure with group
psychology. - There are five interconnected processes involved
in terrorism - Joining the group
- Forming the activity
- Remaining in the campaign
- Leading the organization
- Engaging in acts of terrorism
21Profiling Terrorist Behavior
- Two factors are involved in the rise of terrorism
at any point in history - Social structure
- Structural conditions
- Ross identified five psychological factors
involved in the development of terrorism - Facilitating traits
- Frustration/narcissism-aggression
- Associated drives
- Learning opportunities
- Cost benefit calculations
22Profiling Terrorist Behavior
- Marc Segeman
- Most people think that terrorism comes from
poverty, broken families, ignorance, immaturity,
lack of family or occupational responsibilities,
weak minds susceptible to brainwashing the
sociopath, the criminals, the religious fanatic,
or, in this country, some believe theyre just
plain evil. - Taking these perceived root causes in turn, three
quarters of his sample came from the upper or
middle class. - The vast majority 90 percent came from
caring, intact families. - Sixty-three percent had gone to college, as
compared with the 5-6 percent thats usual for
the third world. - These are the best and brightest of their
societies in many ways.
23Profiling Terrorist Behavior
- Marc Segeman
- Al Qaedas members are not the Palestinian
fourteen-year- olds we see on the news, but join
the jihad at the average age of 26. - Three-quarters were professionals or
semi-professionals. - They are engineers, architects, and civil
engineers, mostly scientists. Very few humanities
are represented. - Quite surprisingly, very few had any background
in religion. - Bin Laden himself is a civil engineer, Zawahiri
is a physician, Mohammed Atta was, of course, an
architect and a few members are military, such
as Mohammed Ibrahim Makawi, who is supposedly the
head of the military committee. (Sageman, M.
(November 1, 2004) Understanding Terror Networks.
Retrieved from - http//www.fpri.org/enotes/20041101.middleeast.sag
eman.understandingterrornetworks)
24Routes to Terrorism and Paths to Radicalization
- Psychological and social factors motivate people
to join and remain in terrorist groups. - Segeman
- Process of among man
- Alienated man find one another
- Discover religion
- Terrorism enters the equation if the newfound
religious orientation turns toward violence
25Groups in Prison and Radicalization
- Internal and external process
- Internal charismatic prison leader gathers an
entourage - External through visiting chaplains
- Patterns of conversion
- Crisis
- Protection seekers
- Religious searcher
- Manipulation for personal gain
- Free world recruitment throughout outsiders
26Radicalization
- Individual radicalization
- When a relatively weak group feels that its
existence is threatened by superior group - This may be enhanced when the superior group is
seen to be morally depraved - Commonalities in radicalization
- Literalist interpretations of religion
- Trust only to selected sources
- No toleration for deviation
- Acceptation of the idea of the clash of
civilization - Selective interpretation of government policy