Origins of Terrorism

by Reich, Walter

• ISBN13: 9780943875897
• ISBN10: 0943875897
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-09-18
• Publisher: Woodrow Wilson Center Pr

Summary

"These essays contain an excellent blend of theory with specific facts and narrative accounts of dealing with terrorism. I don't know of another book which has the sweep of this one, the illustrative detail, and the welcome, refreshing recognition that there is no neat explanation for terrorism. This book will have a major impact on future research."--David F. Musto, Yale School of Medicine Terrorists and terrorism have become a major force internationally. Hostage-taking and other acts of violence for political ends are common all over the globe. This groundbreaking study sheds new light on the phenomenon of terrorism. This book examines and explains the nature and sources of terrorists' beliefs, actions, goals, worldviews, and states of mind. Origins of Terrorism addresses, with scholarly responsibility as well as necessary urgency, one of the most vexing intellectual and political challenges of our time. The contributors to this book bring deep learning and experience in realms that are vital to an understanding of the arenas within which terrorist behavior takes place-arenas such as ideology, nationalism and religion. The authors explore terrorist behavior in its troubling richness and diversity, and identify the ways in which it develops, grows and sustains itself. In addition, they study the mechanisms that enable terrorists to easily carry out violent acts against innocents, as well as the ways in which leaders of governments respond to terrorist actions and threats. Finally, they identify the opportunities for future research in the psychology of terrorism as well as the limits of such research This collection, under Reich's editorship, will help us to understand terrorism as well as the motivations behind it. Origins of Terrorism, which is being published simultaneously in hardcover and paperback, is an important study which is bound to affect the way we look at world politics.

Author Biography

Walter Reich is a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. A psychiatrist, he is former director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and was a Senior Research Psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix	(2)
Walter Laqueur
Preface	xi
Walter Reich
Introduction	1	(6)
Walter Reich
Part I. Strategy or psychology?: Origins of terrorist behavior	7	(36)
1 The logic of terrorism: Terrorist behavior as a product of strategic choice	7	(18)
Martha Crenshaw
2 Terrorist psycho-logic: Terrorist behavior as a product of psychological forces	25	(18)
Jerrold M. Post
Part II. Varieties of terrorism: Ideological and religious motivations	43	(118)
3 Ideology and rebellion: Terrorism in West Germany	43	(16)
Konrad Kellen
4 Ideology and repentance: Terrorism in Italy	59	(6)
Franco Ferracuti
5 The psychopolitical formation of extreme left terrorism in a democracy: The case of the Weathermen	65	(21)
Ehud Sprinzak
6 Terrorism in democracies: Its social and political bases	86	(17)
Ted Robert Gurr
7 Sacred terror: A contemporary example from Islam	103	(28)
David C. Rapoport
8 The moral logic of Hizballah	131	(30)
Martin Kramer
Part III. States of mind: How do terrorists think? Which psychological mechanisms enable them to do what they do?	161	(50)
9 Mechanisms of moral disengagement	161	(31)
Albert Bandura
10 The readiness to kill and die: Suicidal terrorism in the Middle East	192	(19)
Ariel Merari
Part IV. Responding to terrorism: Decision making and the pressures on leadership	211	(36)
11 Hostage taking, the presidency, and stress	211	(19)
Margaret G. Hermann
Charles F. Hermann
12 Taking vows: The domestication of policy-making in hostage incidents	230	(17)
Gary Sick
Part V. The psychology of terrorism: What can we know? What must we learn?	247	(34)
13 Questions to be answered, research to be done, knowledge to be applied	247	(14)
Martha Crenshaw
14 Understanding terrorist behavior: The limits and opportunities of psychological inquiry	261	(20)
Walter Reich
About the editor and contributors	281	(4)
Index	285