The latest 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. This new eJournal is currently available in English in HTML
and PDF
(4.0MB) formats. | |
|
Washington
– The psychological worlds of modern terrorist groups
like al-Qaida are complex, and members rarely operate out
of a single political motive. Most often, such terrorist
organizations seek to instill far-reaching fear and intimidation
throughout a society, according to the terrorism experts
and analysts whose articles appear in the latest edition
of eJournal USA, an online publication series of
the State Department.
"It is only by understanding the terrorist
mentality that civil societies can hope to counter terrorist
tactics effectively," the editors of Countering
the Terrorist Mentality conclude.
In an opening interview, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy,
a journalist and documentary film producer, describes the
devastating impact of terrorism on Afghan children.
"When a generation grows up under this
kind of violence and fear," Obaid-Chinoy observes,
"it is deprived of an education and knowledge of its
true culture."
In "A Form of Psychological Warfare,"
terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman points out that all terrorists
-- left-wing or right-wing, secular or religious in background
-- seek to inculcate fear and destroy normal daily life
by threatening personal safety and unraveling the social
fabric of trust on which society relies.
Psychiatrist and author Jerrold Post analyzes
the importance of group or collective identity in developing
a cult of martyrdom in terrorist organizations.
Mia Bloom, professor of international relations
at the University of Georgia, examines the complex, changing
role of women as victims of terrorism as well as perpetrators
of terrorist acts.
In a brief history of terrorism, noted scholar
Walter Laquer points out that terrorism is as old as recorded
human history. Acts of targeted political terrorism proliferated
in Europe in the 19th century, Laquer writes, but experts
date the modern era of indiscriminate terrorism from the
1970s and the advent of extreme left-wing groups like the
Red Brigades in Italy.
There is no consistent profile with which
to identify potential terrorist recruits, warns John Horgan
of St. Andrews University in Scotland, whose book, Walking
Away from Terrorism: Accounts of Disengagement from Radical
and Extremist Movements, will be published in 2008.
Although terrorist acts can have large-scale
consequences, according to Horgan, terrorism remains essentially
a "low-level, low-volume activity" largely perpetrated
by individuals.
In "Mass-Media Theater," Gabriel
Weimann, professor of communications at Haifa University
in Israel, compares terrorism to a theatrical production
in which the terrorists' principal motive is to publicize
themselves as well as their grievances and causes.
Weimann and other authors stress the growing
importance of the Internet as a medium for terrorists to
spread their messages of hate and violence and communicate
with each other.
Mohammed M. Hafez, author of Suicide
Bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom,
provides a case study of the "narratives" that
terrorists create to recruit suicide bombers in Iraq.
Act 1 depicted the humiliation and suffering
of Muslims by outsiders, he writes. Act 2 criticizes existing
Muslim and Arab governments as failures, and Act 3 claims
the inevitability of radical Muslim victory through martyrdom.
David Kilcullen, Australian counterinsurgency
adviser to coalition forces in Iraq, calls for a new set
of overarching concepts as an essential step in forging
a long-term strategy for successfully defeating global terrorism.
The final article, an excerpt from the State
Department's 2006 terrorism report, concludes that governments
succeed in defeating terrorism when they "cooperate,
build trusted networks, seek active informed support from
their people, provide responsive, effective, and legitimate
governance, and engage closely with the international community."
The journal also offers a video feature,
"Terrorism, War Without Borders," along with an
extensive bibliography and listing of Internet resources.
The full text of Countering the Terrorist
Mentality is now available in English in HTML
and PDF
(4.0MB) formats. Language versions, including French, Spanish,
Arabic and Russian, will be available shortly.
Howard Cincotta
USINFO Special Correspondent
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