INTERPRETATION OF TERRORISM - FACTS, FICTION AND POLITICAL SCIENCE (FROM TERRORISM - INVESTIGATIONS OF STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE OF REVOLUTIONARY POLITICAL POWER, 1977, BY MANFRED FUNKE - SEE NCJ-53136)

• NCJ Number: 53138
• Author(s): W LAQUEUR
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 46 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: German
• Country: West Germany (Former)

Annotation

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN ANALYTICAL THEORIES ABOUT THE CAUSES OF TERRORISM AND LITERARY INTERPRETATIONS OF TERRORISM ARE OUTLINED.

Abstract

EARLY RESEARCHERS ATTRIBUTED TERRORIST ACTIVITIES TO PATHOLOGICAL CIRCUMSTANCES OR TO MASS POVERTY; MORE RECENT EXPLANATIONS DEFINE TERRORISM AS AN AGGRESSIVE REACTION TO FRUSTRATION WITH A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SYSTEM (CONFLICT THEORY), OR AS THE RESPONSE TO STRESS RESULTING FROM THE SOCIAL SYSTEM, DISCRIMINATION, OR NATIONAL SEPARATIST TRENDS. MORE RADICAL POLITICAL SCIENTISTS VIEW TERRORISM AS A MORAL EXPLOSION BY THE MASSES IN REPRESSIVE SYSTEMS. TERRORISM IS IN ANY CASE MORE PREVALENT IN THE MOST JUST, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES. WHILE STUDIES OF POLITICAL FORCES HAVE NOT ILLUMINATED THE CAUSES, LITERATURE AND FILMS PROVIDE ENLIGHTENING EXPLANATIONS. VARIOUS NOVELS PORTRAY THE MENTALITY OF TERRORIST COLLABORATORS, THE PROPAGANDA EFFECTS OF TERRORIST DEEDS, AND MORAL PROBLEMS AND DILEMMAS OF TERRORISM. RUSSIAN LITERATURE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY HAS A PARTICULAR PROCLIVITY FOR MORAL ISSUES SURROUNDING TERRORISM, WHILE FRENCH AND ENGLISH LITERATURE ON ANARCHY TENDS TO SAY MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR THAN THE MOVEMENT. THE AUTHORS OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES DEVOTE THEIR WORKS TO REPRESENTING INDIVIDUAL MOTIVES (E.G., BOREDOM, AMBITION, SACRIFICE) WITHOUT GIVING A UNIFORM PICTURE OF THE TYPICAL TERRORIST. CAREFUL STUDY OF TERRORISTS IN LITERATURE COULD PERHAPS ESTABLISH COMMON TERRORIST CHARACTERISTICS OF A PARTICULAR TIME AND PLACE. --IN GERMAN. (KMD)