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ISSUE-IN-FOCUS
REGIONAL SECURITY
May 23, 2007
COUNTERING THE TERRORIST MENTALITY
eJournal USA: Foreign Policy Agenda
Volume 12, Number 5, May 2007
Full text is available at http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itps/0507/ijpe/ijpe0507.htm
[PDF version; 58 pages; 1.67 MB]
This edition of eJournal USA, "Countering the Terrorist Mentality," provides a look at the complex, global problem of terrorism. Several of the world’s leading scholars in this field, including Walter Laqueur, Bruce Hoffman, Jerrold Post, David Kilcullen, Mohammed Hafez, and Mia Bloom, examine the motivations of those who carry out terrorist attacks and the techniques terrorist organizations like al-Qaida use to recruit and motivate them.
CONTENTS
About This Issue
The Editors
Terrorism and Children
An Interview With Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, International Award-winning Pakistani Documentary Filmmaker
Obaid-Chinoy chronicles the many losses that children suffer when their societies are torn apart by terrorism, and their subsequent vulnerability to being recruited into extremism.
A Form of Psychological Warfare
Bruce Hoffman, Professor at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and Senior Fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center, U.S. Military Academy at West Point
Terrorism is intended to have psychological effects beyond the immediate victims, intimidating or otherwise affecting the behavior of a much wider target audience.
Collective Identity: Hatred Bred in the Bone
Jerrold Post, Director of the Political Psychology Program, The George Washington University
The most powerful lens through which to view terrorist behavior is that of group, organizational, and social psychology, with a particular emphasis on collective identity.
Women as Victims and Victimizers
Mia Bloom, Assistant Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, University of Georgia
Although women have long been involved in terrorist movements, they have recently migrated from mostly supportive roles to more active, operational ones, including suicide bombers.
Terrorism: A Brief History
Walter Laqueur, Distinguished Nonresident Scholar and Affiliated Adviser and Expert, Center for Strategic and International Studies
A leading terrorism expert provides some historical context for the phenomenon of modern-day terrorism.
From Profiles to Pathways: The Road to Recruitment
John Horgan, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, and Lecturer in International Relations, University of St. Andrews, Scotland
With so many people exposed to the presumed generating conditions for terrorism, why is it that so few are actually recruited?
Mass-Media Theater
Gabriel Weimann, Professor of Communications, Haifa University, and Visiting Professor, School of International Studies, The American University
Modern terrorism can be understood in terms of the same production requirements as any theatrical engagement: meticulous attention paid to script preparation, cast selection, sets, props, role-playing, and minute-by-minute stage management.
A Case Study: The Mythology of Martyrdom in Iraq
Mohammed Hafez, Visiting Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Missouri
Through online video clips and biographies of suicide bombers, the jihadists in Iraq play on themes of humiliation, collusion, and redemption to demonize their enemies and motivate their cadres to make "heroic" sacrifices. These emotive elements are intended to galvanize support not just from a narrow circle of activists, but from the broader Muslim public as well.
New Paradigms for 21st Century Conflict
David Kilcullen, Senior Counterinsurgency Adviser, Multi-National Force-Iraq, and Former Chief Strategist, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, U.S. Department of State
If the confrontation with terrorism is based on long-standing trends, it follows that it may be a protracted, generational, or multigenerational struggle. Thus, we need a grand strategy for combating terrorism that can be sustained by the American people, successive U.S. administrations, key allies, and partners worldwide.
A Strategic Assessment of Progress Against the Terrorist Threat
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, U.S. Department of State
Cooperative international efforts in the world community's conflict with transnational terrorists have produced genuine security improvements. But despite this undeniable progress, major challenges remain.
Sidebar-Terrorism in 2006: Statistical Data from the Country Reports on Terrorism 2006 of the U.S. Department of State.
Additional Reading
