Terrorism: Terrorism and Religious Groups Essay

Submitted By dianamarko
Words: 1910
Pages: 8
Open Document
Marisa Kote
11/17/2014
PS 360: International Terrorism
Exam #2

Terrorists are often times assumed to be "insane" or "psychopaths" individuals whose activities are irrational, and their terror attacks are both unpredictable and indiscriminate. This initial conception, however, has taken a different turn as many studies have been conducted to demonstrate the rationality of terrorist groups. Several of these studies have shown that terrorist groups hold various purposeful motivations and goal- oriented objectives. Their decision- making is carefully thought out, and their actions are well- calculated to achieve successful results. Whether these groups are secular or religious terrorist groups, they are guided by their own ideologies allowing them to take on violent actions, which they eventually attempt to justify in their own terms.
To begin with, it is important to identify the motives and ideologies that drive individuals to joining terrorist groups in the first place and why they eventually resort to violence. It is worth noting that it’s often the young, educated, middle-class and normal individuals who choose terrorism in order to search for opportunities that they believe have been taken from them by a society (Ferracuti, 53). Many of those individuals feel the need to rebel against those who pressure them and join terrorist groups, which allow them to promote and practice the values they believe in. For instance, the New Left terrorist groups attracted a lot of these individuals, offering them a sense of purpose against a government that they did not trust and did not adhere to their particular needs. Thus, this can be seen as their key reason for why they join terrorist groups, blaming the society. At the same time, the ideology of politically motivated groups frequently allows them to justify their violence and blame their opponents for forcing them to choose the path of violence. The New Left wanted a revolution, a total transformation of all existing conditions, a Utopian world, and they believed that the use of violence was the only method it could achieve that (Kellen, 51). Likewise, for the West German terrorists, their political protests towards the Vietnam War were not responded to and thus they turned to violence (Kellen, 47). This belief that other methods don’t work became a common theme amongst many terrorist groups as well.
However, this shift toward violence for many of these groups was a gradual process. As Sprinzak demonstrates, the process of delegitimation through which ideological terrorism is formed involves three stages: crisis of confidence, conflict of legitimacy and crisis of legitimacy. In the first stage, the crisis of confidence, the groups lose confidence in the political leadership of the State. They begin to refuse by playing according to the established political rules and instead try to establish their own ways (Spinzak, 80). Following up, conflict of legitimacy is where the groups discover that the government can mislead and manipulate them, thus they channel their frustrations into a form of protest. Not only do they develop an ideology of delegitimation, they also respond with intense political action, to the application of small-scale violence (Sprinzak, 81). Lastly, the crisis of legitimacy is the stage where a dehumanization of everyone involved with the political system occurs. At this point, all the earlier clusters of the process of radicalization are brought together and a complete transformation takes place as the groups fully turn to strategic terrorism (Spinzak, 83). This process, yet again, can be seen as another “rational” reason for why these groups were not just some lunatics who became terrorists because they were “isolated and their psyche was split or suffered from low esteem; rather it involved a group of true believers who challenged authority long before they become terrorists, recruited followers, clashed with the public agencies of law enforcement from a
Show More

Related Documents: Terrorism: Terrorism and Religious Groups Essay

Terrorism Essay

Definition of Terrorism Essay Systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective. Since September 11th, 2001, the world has witnessed a radical change in the world order, fear, anxiety, hate, and mostly a deep sentiment of great uncertainty took their place and dominated, and still dominates most of our daily lives. Since then, there have been much discussions and debate about the events that took place…

Words 530 - Pages 3

Explain The Four Eras Of Terrorism

are four eras of terrorism. The four eras are Anarchism (1880s to end of World War I); Anti-Colonialism (end of WWI to end of 1960s); New Left (end of 1960s to near present); Religious terrorism (1980 to present). New trends of terrorism influence political violence. Terrorism will continue to thrive where rebels have a “safe haven”. Political violence will continue to be justified by terrorist. They are five terrorist environments in the 21th Century. State-sponsored terrorism is domestic domination…

Words 297 - Pages 2

The Pros And Cons Of Terrorism

Terrorism has been a problematic issue since the beginning of man until now. Politifact.org contends that terrorism was not always a senseless act of violence against the innocent to get a message across to the government. In earlier centuries terrorist committed “noble acts” of violence. They only attacked and killed nobility and government officials. Although now, the game has changed and with it no one whether a government official or an innocent bystander is safe from an act of terror. The reason…

Words 898 - Pages 4

Critical Analysis Essay

activity. For many people, terrorism is easier to recognize than define, yet is definition carries crucial policy implications. However, perhaps even more important is an understanding of the groups and individuals who carry out terrorism. By studying what groups choose terrorism and why, as well as the factors that cause individuals to become terrorists, we can easily devise and execute strategies to reduce the threat. This chapter reviews the various definitions of terrorism and considers the debate…

Words 1273 - Pages 6

Revolutionary Terrorism Analysis

In order to understand the transformation of terrorism and in order to come up with somewhat of a remedy to this word wide complication, we must first understand its meaning and its origin. Depending on whom you speak with and the lens through which you view the issue, terrorism has several definitions. It has been widely discussed that the core elements to terrorism are violence, noncombatant targets, intention of spreading fear, and political aims (LIBAW 2011). But formulating a global definition…

Words 2393 - Pages 10

Johnson: Terrorism and Weathermen Group Terrorism Essay

370 Terrorism Research Weathermen Group Terrorism dates back to the 11th century when the Shia Muslims were attacked by the Assassins, early in the 19th century The Reign of Terror group was attacking France and the Ku Klux Klan was coming in existence in the United States to oppress African Americans, late in the 20th century Timothy McVeigh a homegrown terrorist from the United States bombed Oklahoma City, and in the 21st century Al-Qaida brought down the World Trade centers, Terrorism has been…

Words 673 - Pages 3

Terrorism Essay

Terrorism Terrorism has shown its ugly face for many centuries, creating disruptions to normal life, the economies, nations and people. Many innocents have lost their life due to terrorism. Terrorisms are violent acts committed with the intention to kill, injure, maim and psychologically disturb people. People committing such acts are called terrorists. The objective of terrorists and terrorism is to create disruptions that will bring a nation to…

Words 1459 - Pages 6

Revenge Of Terror Groups

government in influencing the revenge of terror groups? The role of government is to provide safety and to insure economic and social integration for all citizens. A lack of efficiency of the government is one the causes of domestic terrorism. Governments insure these protections by creating a spectrum of institutions, e.g.. Police forces, schools, universities, economic regulation. When governments fail to provide this structures, the level of terrorism increases. Also, the government uses its criminal…

Words 827 - Pages 4

Domestic Terrorism Research Paper

“What makes a Terrorist differ from a “domestic terrorist/religious extremist / hate crime / activism” Is there a line of line of contrast? INTRODUCTION: The word terrorism has an eminent importance in the present day’s world. According to the United nations report terrorism is an act intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to the civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing…

Words 983 - Pages 4

Essay on ipcr terror

contrast ‘old’ and ‘new’ (Post-September 11) terrorism Researchers and scholars believe that from the beginning of the 1990s, the world is developing «new terrorism» - in many ways different from the «old» one. After September 11th “new” terrorism became our reality. “New” terrorism consists of the new ideology of terrorism, new actors, and new sponsors. The "new" terrorism differs incomparably by being more deadly than the traditional. The "old" terrorism, which existed in the world since 1940s,…

Words 1189 - Pages 5