CRMJ 521 WEEK 2 DISCUSSION

Chapter 3

Beginnings

The Causes of Terrorism

Political Violence as Strategic Choice

· Making Revolution: Acts of Political Will

· A rational strategic choice to force change.

· Terrorism as a tool to achieve a desired goal.

· Case: Mao Zedong and “people’s war.”

Perception and Cultural Disconnect: Adversaries in the War on Terrorism

· Perceptions.

· Western: A war against Western-style civilization.

· Non-Western: An imbalance in policies toward Muslim countries vis-à-vis Israel.

· Concept: The behavior of the West is the cause of angry sentiment in the Muslim world.

· Case: CIA’s 2007 National Intelligence Estimate warning Iraq is a new training ground for terrorists.

Political Violence as the Fruit of Injustice

· Sociological Explanations of Terrorism

· Intergroup conflict that leads to collective violence.

· Structural theory: Social conditions (‘structures”) that affect group access to societal benefits.

· Deprivation theory: Relative deprivation and absolute deprivation.

· Cases: Basque Nationalism in Spain, Irish catholic Nationalism, Palestinian Nationalism, and French Canadian Nationalism

· Criminological Explanations of Terrorism: The Path to Political Criminality

· Differential Association Theory.

· Anomie and Strain Theories

· Routine Activity Theory.

· Radical Criminology.

· Psychological Explanations of Terrorism: Rationality and Terrorist Violence

· Individual-level explanations.

· Group-level explanations.

· Generalized psychological explanations.

· Case: The Stockholm syndrome.

The Morality of Political Violence

· Moral Convictions of Terrorists

· Terrorists have an unambiguous certainty in the righteousness of a cause.

· Concepts:

· A group concludes it has been morally wronged by an immoral, evil enemy.

· A group concludes it possesses an inherent moral superiority to an enemy.

· Simplified Definitions of Good and Evil

· A clear line is drawn between good and evil.

· Violent methods are justified by the ennobled goals of the cause.

· Seeking Utopia: Moral Ends Through Violent Means

· The promised good outweighs present actions.

· “The end justifies the means.”

· Moral Purity: Codes of Self-Sacrifice

· Superior codes of living that “cleanse” those who follow the code.

· Case: Germany’s Waffen SS.

· Case: Japan’s code of Bushido.

· The Morality of Political Violence (continued)

· Understanding Codes of Self-Sacrifice

· Codes of self-sacrifice are an important explanatory cause for terrorist behavior.

· Belief systems “cleanse” participants.