Understanding Motives

Question 1

Definitions - why are they needed?

Answer 1

Legal - to consistently apply laws

Academic - to consistently apply research and corroborate findings

Question 2

the key points defining terrorism (academic) (3 and 2)

Answer 2

1. Act of violence or the threat of force and or violence
2. Non state actor
3. through fear and/or intimidation

one of the following
1. aimed at attaining political, economic, religious or social goal; or
2. an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims

Question 3

Expand on 1 act of violence or the threat of violence

Answer 3

Usually easy to decide
Some definitions exclude property (most do not)
Threats on property are the most common but do not make the news

Question 4

Expand on 2 designed to cause fear in general population

Answer 4

About fear induced in wider populations
Public fear that the will be targeted
? Do assassinations fit this profile?
Fear is to pressure an authority to enact change

Question 5

Expand on aim is to use fear to pressure an authority into change

Answer 5

Change can be political, religious or social
NOT personal
How do we consolidate actions within a campaign? Eg ransom demand for solely money, but part of a wider political campaign?

Question 6

How are the terrorist victims described?

Answer 6

For terrorism to hold, victims need to be identified as civilian

Some terrorist groups consider off duty law enforcement/military as combatants

Question 7

How are the terrorist perpetrators described?

Answer 7

Some definitions, eg CIA, define terrorists as being sub national, therefore states can never carry out terrorism.

That said, international law would suggest that Nations carrying out acts of violence against specific groups could be considered to be carrying out genocide/war crimes

Question 8

What is the global terrorist database?

Answer 8

Research tool trying to monitor and gather statistics on all terrorist related events

Question 9

Is a terrorism label a value judgement?

Answer 9

No, it is a specific set of metrics that combine to label an event ‘terrorism’

Question 10

Why do terrorists want publicity?

Answer 10

To generate fear that can be used as leverage to bring about change

Publicity about the acts creates the fear

Question 11

What is ‘new terrorism’?

Answer 11

Jenkins (1987) ‘terrorists want a lot of people watching not a lot of people dead’

? Has it changed

? Is higher body count due to requiring more media attention

? Multi national approaches, is there less concern about alienating a core population IRA vs ISIS

Question 12

Reasons terrorism is a form of communication

Answer 12

Create fear in public
Develop a supporter base
Backlash from supporter base v important
Targets and methods important to deliver impression management - eg IRA bomb warnings
Can be a recurring tool after successful attacks

Question 13

Terrorism as a propaganda tool

Answer 13

Show of power
Message to those claimed to be represented by the group
Policies to only attack or not to attack certain groups - similar to rules of warfare

Question 14

Why does Terrorism seek to deliver provocation of a government?

Answer 14

Terrorists regularly cite ill treatment by authorities (Hogan and Silke)

Terrorists can provoke authorities into heavy handed responses - eg Israeli policy on assassinations in early 2000’s.

Provocation also know as jujitsu politics (McCauley 2006)

Provocation can make things worse due to reprisals

Question 15

Is there a ‘cause’ of terrorism?

Answer 15

Misleading, rarely one cause, complex factors usually at play.
Implies a directly causal relationship rather than ‘one policy too far’
Correlation does not equate causation in these cases
Individual factors rarely predict terrorist leanings but do help understand the wider views of the terrorist community being supported

Question 16

Is profiling useful?

Answer 16

Yes in that it frees up cognitive abilities of law enforcement and creates a simple checklist of indicators for them to look for.

BUT

IF the terrorist does not follow the ‘standard’ archetype, ie gender, skin tone, accent etc then will lead to false sense of security

No, ends up demonising a community and potentially increase support for a terrorist group rather than breaking it.

Most research indicates that most terrorists are ‘normal’

Question 17

What is Silke’s 2003 take on terrorism radicalisation factors?

Answer 17

Wrong circumstances create terrorists

Most people Support or consider joining a terrorist group when exposed to discrimination against yourself/loved ones can make terrorism seem a justified response

Question 18

2 terrorism myths

Answer 18

Not related to poverty or lack of education

Blackmail / coercion is rare

Question 19

Cases where terrorism has not been related to education or wealth

Answer 19

2007 Glasgow airport bomb 5 of 8 questioned were doctors, one was a engineering PhD

2009 underwear bomber UCL trained Mech eng

? But these are cases against western targets, would this hold true for Tamil Tigers etc?

Further research by Krueger Maleckowa 2003, Sageman 2004, Pape 2005 support this hypothesis

Question 20

What are Borums 3 main causes of terrorism?

Answer 20

Perceived injustice

Identity

Need for belonging

Question 21

Additional factors with Borums 3?

Answer 21

No way to change through legitimate political means

Feelings of revenge against those believed to perpetrate perceived injustice

Question 22

Social factors leading to people becoming terrorists?

Answer 22

Need for social identity and belonging (IRA and ETA)

Excitement

Question 23

Common correlates for terrorists in western countries? (X6)

Answer 23

Sociological discrimination
Feelings of alienation
Social exclusion or marginalisation
Political exclusion
Educational or occupational discrimination
Racism

Question 24

cases where it is really hard to decide on whether an act was or
was not an act of terrorism and the reasons for that. See also the tutorial.

Answer 24

Murder of Jo Cox and David Amess

If no political rhetoric is put forward, if the attack does not inspire fear in general population, is it against citizens or just infrastructure?. Ie does it meet the 3 criteria for a terrorist act?

Question 25

What is the difference between terrorism and hate crime?

Answer 25

Hate crime focus on minority groups whereas terrorism is against society as a whole.

Hate crime can cover speech, whereas terrorism needs to be a physical act, incitement to commit an act or plan to commit a violent act

Hate crimes are generally single ideology - anti gay, trans, Jew, Muslim, etc that would stray from the societal norm of creating an inclusive society

Question 26

Remember that terrorism is defined by the act not the actor and can be carried
out by people with many different political, religious or social motivations

Question 27

There are three common components of definitions of terrorism

Answer 27

Use of force
Create climate of fear
Get a government to change its policies on a topic

Some specifically exclude nation states from being terrorist organisations

Question 28

What are the PURPOSEs of terrorism?

Answer 28

Not just about killing, some acts and organisations try their best to avoid this, some groups eg Greenpeace in France, do not target people
Long term goals - not just a prisoner release
Publicity
Communication
Recruitment
Provocation

Question 29

Purpose of terrorism - Publicity definition

Answer 29

is needed in order to create the fear that will pressure for change.
• The ‘symbiotic’ relationship between terrorism and the media.
• Is there such a thing as new terrorism?

Question 30

What is ‘new terrorism’?

Answer 30

Juergensmeyer5 calls new terrorism the “anti-order of the new world order of the 21st century”, stating that “[new terrorism] appears pointless since it does not lead directly to any strategic goal, and it seems exotic since it is frequently couched in the visionary rhetoric of religion.”

New terrorism can be broadly defined by three main characteristics:
1. Ethno-nationalist and separatist based
2. Inspired by the rise of extremist fundamentalist religious factionalism
3. Emergence and prevalence of ‘Ad hoc’ terrorism

Generally:
Amorphous in structure
Us against the West rhetoric
Fundamental religious tie

Seen as ‘performance violence’ but this could be due to the need for more sensationalist attacks for media to report, particularly if the attack is outside a Western nation. Also organisations may not have same need to protect core demographics as the IRA or ETA did for their support.

Question 31

Purpose of terrorism - Communication definition

Answer 31

Highlight strength of organisation with own constituency and therefore potentially also propaganda.

Question 32

Purpose of terrorism - Provocation definition

Answer 32

They are deliberately trying to provoke us (government/society) into responding…why?

generate fear
create a disproportionate response so government looks bad

• “Jujitsu Politics” - McCauley (2006).

Question 33

What is Jujitsu Politics?

Answer 33

McCauley (2006)

A terrorist act designed to provoke a massive over reaction by the victim nation. Arguably the most effective example was US response to the 9/11 attacks. Huge economic drain on the US as they put in place measures to counter potential violent extremism

Question 34

What factors increase someone’s likelihood of becoming a terrorist?

Answer 34

Mental health
Personality
Significant life event

Question 35

What factors are not indicative of being a terrorist?

Answer 35

Poverty
Education

Question 36

What are common factors between terrorists of different movements that lead to someone’s involvement with terrorism?

Question 37

What is Target hardening and Situational Crime Prevention

Answer 37

Target hardening - increase of security on building/installation/city area to mitigate/lessen the impact of an attack

Situational crime prevention

Situational crime prevention aims to increase risk and/or minimise reward, thus making either the commission of a criminal act too difficult, or the reward for committing the act too low to risk being caught.

Uses rational choice theory and routine activities theory to create the following effects on someone trying to committee a crime:

increasing the effort
increasing the risk
reducing the rewards
reducing provocations
removing excuses

Question 38

What is the difference between prevention and deterrence

Answer 38

Prevention is an upstream approach, it is about wanting to stop people wanting to commit a crime

Deterrence is about making an attacker choose a different target because your target is too difficult or boring to attack

Question 39

How can we measure the success of counter terrorism measures?

Answer 39

Great question, observe how other countries with similar threat profiles to yours fair over the same time period.

Whether database such as GTD demonstrate a downward trend in activity against your nation, and Indra hopefully overall!

Question 40

what are Substitution or Transference in terrorism terms?

Answer 40

this is when terrorists decide that a target is too difficult for attack so transfer to one of the following approaches:

Time - come back when a target is less well protected - murder of Lee Rigby

Space - attack the same type of target but in a different location - IRA murder of Horse guards in Hyde park

Target - change target type - eg embassy hostages for hotel hostages. 7/7 from tube to bus

Mode - switch to a different form of action eg transfer of action from bombing, to marauder shooter to driven vehicle

Question 41

What is Routine Activity Theory ? (3 components)

Answer 41

in order for a crime to occur, there must the presence of three linked elements:

motivated offenders,
suitable targets and
the absence of capable guardians.

Capable guardians can include people such as security guards or the police, as well as environmental factors, such as locks or other security devices.

Question 42

What is Rational Choice Theory?

Answer 42

Minimise risk, maximise reward

potential offenders rationally choose to commit crime, and also the methods used in order to do so. This choice is influenced by the offender’s need to maximise reward while minimising risk.

Note this has its detractors as to accurately measure on this model you need to account for cognitive biases, at the moment there are approx 200 which could be indicative of the mode needing to be reassessed