NCJ Number
111819
Date Published
1986
Length
222 pages
Annotation
So far, the subject matter of terrorism has been dominated by polemical treatments that encourage the illusion that terrorism is alien to American patterns of conduct and that violent responses to terrorism are legitimate forms of fighting back.
Abstract
It is argued that the mainstream view of terrorism as a form of depravity undertaken by dispossessed political extremists, particularly those on the Left, is misleading and obscures the true nature of terrorism. Such a view overlooks the often calculating character of recourse to wanton and indiscriminate political violence from a variety of sources including governments. Here, terrorism is defined as any type of political violence that lacks adequate moral and legal justification, regardless of the perpetrator of that violence. To use the label terrorism to establish a double standard of action is hypocritical self-deception that invites the very violence that is so deplored. The Reagan administration's focus on counterterrorism was a costly exaggeration of revolutionary violence that served to increase the salience of terrorist activities and, thus, abetted them. It also was used as a means of mobilizing American public opinion in support of an activist foreign policy. A broader understanding of terrorism suggests that the standard tactics and weaponry used by all sides in political conflicts possess a terrorist character. Index, chapter notes, and 58-item bibliography.