Department of Criminal Justice California State University - Bakersfield CRJU 477 Terrorism

1. Department of Criminal Justice California State University - Bakersfield CRJU 477 Terrorism Dr. Abu-Lughod, Reem Ali The Causes of Terrorism

2. Causes of Terrorism • The case of Ramirez Sanchez “Carlos the Jackal” • Venezuelan born T • Palestinian cause • Marxist ideologies • In Moscow Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

3. WHY VIOLENCE • Logical choice and political strategy • Collective rationality • lack of opportunity for political participation • Dissatisfaction of an elite INDIVIDUAL V. GROUP LEVEL • Rational, psychological, cultural V. political activism and social movements…dramatic events, e.g. Intifadeh NATIONAL LEVEL: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ETHNO-NATIONAL LEVEL: massacres, forced migrations

4. Extreme Convictions: Motives and Terrorists 1. Moral convictions of T • Certainty of righteousness of their cause (please read examples provided by author) 2. Simplified definitions of Good & Evil • Cause is just • Mini-manual of Urban Guerilla by Brazilian revolutionary Carlos Marighella

5. 3. Seeking Utopia: • Sir Thomas More 16th C • Ideal political and social system • T: destruction of order in status • Nihilist dissident Terrorism • What type of UTOPIA is desirable: end justifies the means 4. Codes of Self Sacrifice: • Russian anarchist Sergei Nechayev……..living a revolution • Racial soldiers at war • The New Samurai” Japan’s Code of Bushido PLEASE READ TABLE 3.2 PAGE 87

6. Extreme Circumstances: Explanations of T: 3 categories Acts of political will Forcing change Rationality E.g. evolution of Marxist revolutionary strategy: act of political will Strategy of people’s war: Chinese revolution, Mao Zedong…1: indoctrinate the army, 2: win over the people, 3: hit, run, and fight forever

7. The Fruit of Injustice: 2) sociological explanations of T • Intergroup conflict: collective violence STRUCTURAL THEORY: identifying structure that affect groups in terms of their freedom, civil rights, access to services, etc… HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO TERRORISM RELATIVE DEPRIVATION THEORY • ? Anomie • Deprivation in an unfair manner • Shortcomings of theory

8. International Cases in Point (please be prepared to volunteer discussing the following cases in class). • Basques in Spain • Irish Catholic Nationalism • Palestinian Nationalism • French Canadian Nationalism

9. Rationality and Terrorist Violence: 3) Psychological Explanations of Terrorism • Internal psychological violence • Insanity or mental illness? Or lunatic fringe? • Individual-level explanations: • Researchers: no pattern of psychopathology among terrorists. But psychosocial commonalities???, fragmented families??? • Group-level explanations: • Acceptance within a group, the need to belong particularly within the context of political violence

10. Generalized Psychological Explanations • Terrorism as a choice • Terrorism as a technique • Terrorism a way to build esteem • Terrorism as a path to the “truth” • Terrorism as means of justification CASE: • THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME (please be prepared to discuss this in class)

11. Lighting the Fuse: Adversaries in the War on Terrorism • Perception of the West in other regions across the world • Example of September 11th 2001 and attacks on civilizations • Muslim perspective on the attacks • How many Muslims have adopted western culture but remained loyal to their own • How can perceptions be reconciled??? E.g. the troops n Iraq and the war

12. CONCLUSION • Significance of theory in explaining behavior • Individual behavior v. group dynamics • Idealistic approach and achieving “utopia” • Justification of violence • Sociological, psychological, etc… explanations in T activity • The importance of “perception”