An Introduction to Terrorism, by Professor Joel hayward By the end of this lecture students should be able to: Recognise some major forms of terrorism Understand some basic motivations behind them Understand the nature and scope of the threat to us

1. An Introduction to Terrorism
Professor Joel Hayward

2. By the end of this lecture students should be able to:
Recognise some major forms of terrorism
Understand some basic motivations behind them
Understand the nature and scope of the threat to us

3. Terrorism: A Definition
“The premeditated coercive intimidation of non-combatants, especially
civilians, by the threat or use of violence for political purposes by sub-
state actors”

4. Why have many insurgents not employed terrorism?
• Numerical strength; belief they can compete militarily
• Terrain suitable for hiding, training, fighting and dispersing
• Strong public awareness of their cause
• Strong local support
• Ease of recruitment
• No societal traditions celebrating revenge, violence or martyrdom

5. Common factors or “causes”?
• Occupations / foreign exploitation
• Extreme adherence to secular or religious ideologies
• Histories of political violence, civil wars, invasions or
occupations
• Spiralling revenge (“cycles of reprisal”)

6. Types of terrorism:
• 1. Demonstrative Terrorism
• 2. Destructive Terrorism
• 3. Suicide Terrorism

7. 1. Demonstrative Terrorism
• Acts of “political theatre” as much as acts of violence
• Aimed at gaining publicity
– To recruit more activists
– To draw attention to the grievance from soft-liners on the
other side

8. Main methods of Demonstrative Terrorism
• Bombing of infrastructure
• Hostage-taking
• Airline hijacking
• Explosions announced in advance

9. 2. Destructive Terrorism
• More aggressive
• Aimed at inflicting maximum bloodshed on target audience
• High risk of losing sympathy of soft-liners and even members of
own community

10. Main methods of Destructive Terrorism
• Assassination
• Publicly shown murder of captives
• Letter bombs
• Remotely detonated and unannounced explosions
• Release of poisons

11. 3. Suicide Terrorism
• The most aggressive form of terrorism
• With perverse irony, it is seen by the perpetrators and
supporters of being the most altruistic in motive
• Death required for correct placement of weapon and maximum
lethality
• Lower risk of losing sympathy of own community

12. • Car bombs
• Suicide vests
• (Crashing aircraft)
Main methods of Suicide Terrorism

13. Altruism?
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends”
– John 15:13

14. Note: some organisation have employed more than one type of
terrorism during various phases of their campaigns
• 1. Demonstrative Terrorism
• 2. Destructive Terrorism
• 3. Suicide Terrorism

15. • 1. Demonstrative Terrorism
• 2. Destructive Terrorism
• 3. Suicide Terrorism

16. • 1. Demonstrative Terrorism
• 2. Destructive Terrorism
• 3. Suicide Terrorism
Guerrilla Warfare
+

17. • 1. Demonstrative Terrorism
• 2. Destructive Terrorism
• 3. Suicide Terrorism
Guerrilla Warfare
+

18. Critiquing several popular assertions about terrorism

19. Poverty is a root cause of terrorism
• Insurgents who undertake guerrilla war often come from
disadvantaged communities
• Terrorism is not common in some of the world’s poorest regions
• Terrorists tend not to come from poor states or from the poorest
parts of other states
• They tend to come from average or above average socio-
economic backgrounds

20. Terrorists are poorly educated
• Of 1,891 identified terrorists involved in acts of terror between
1982 and 2004 41% have attended university.
• All the top 15 El-Qaeda leaders have university degrees
• 50% of Islamic Jihad and Hamas suicide bombers with post-
secondary school education (15% in general pop.)

21. Terrorists are insane, “irrational actors,” or criminals
• Terrorists have no higher levels of psychopathology than the
norms in their societies
• Suicide terrorists have strong familial and community bonds
• Few possess the typical risk factors for suicide
• Almost no known terrorists have ever been recidivist criminals
• Few terrorist attacks have ever been for profit

22. Suicide bombers are mainly “radical Islamists” wanting martyrdom
• Until the War on Terror, most suicide bombings were by secular
political activists
• Tamil Tigers world’s most prolific
• Even in Islamic regions, suicide bombing are by secular Arabs –
incl. Baathist socialists – and by religious advocates
• Lebanese / Palestinian bombers = Muslims and Christians;
same faith ratios as found in wider populations

23. Some concluding thoughts
• Our understanding of terrorism includes some mistaken
assumptions
• Our response to terrorism is therefore often clumsy
• Linking terrorism with any religion or ideology
exacerbates tensions
• States may need to re-think the way they maintain
engagement with some strategically fragile regions

24. Thank you