Showing papers in "Terrorism and Political Violence in 1995"
TL;DR: This article identified the distinctive features of right-wing terrorism and developed an analytical typology of particularistic terrorist organizations based on the conceptual framework of the process of delegitimization developed earlier by this author.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to identify the distinctive features of right‐wing terrorism and to develop an analytical typology of particularistic terrorist organizations. The article is based on the conceptual framework of the process of delegitimization developed earlier by this author. It argues that right‐wing radicals usually reach terrorism through a trajectory of split delegitimization, which implies a primary conflict with an ‘inferior’ community and a secondary conflict with the government. Six sub‐types of right‐wing terrorism are identified: revolutionary terrorism, reactive terrorism, vigilante terrorism, racist terrorism, millenarian terrorism and youth counterculture terrorism.
100 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a case is made for the use of events data rather than the presence of terrorist groups in the Eubank and Weinberg analysis of democracy and terrorism, and some alternative tests are indicated, which can be done when data become available.
Abstract: This article raises some methodological issues concerning the Eubank and Weinberg analysis of democracy and terrorism. A case is made for the use of events data rather than the presence of terrorist groups. Eubank and Weinberg's classification of countries, as having or not having terrorist groups, is questioned. Further details of their criteria of classification are requested. Some alternative tests are indicated, which can be done when data become available.
99 citations
TL;DR: A typology of radical right wing movements which emphasize their roles in what may be termed an oppositional community is presented in this article, which stresses both their interdependence through the application of Colin Campbell's theory of the cultic milieu and the movements' isolation from the American cultural mainstream.
Abstract: This article offers a typology of radical right wing movements which emphasizes their roles in what may be termed an oppositional community. The examination stresses both their interdependence through the application of Colin Campbell's theory of the cultic milieu and the movements’ isolation from the American cultural mainstream, a graphic picture of which is provided via Martin Marty's mapping theory. Secondarily, the article offers some suggestions for the further refinement of Ehud Sprinzak's theory of split delegitimization.
64 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine some of the key principles that should guide a liberal democratic state's response to terrorism, if it responds in a manner which is effective and consistent with its own principles.
Abstract: This article examines some of the key principles that should guide a liberal democratic state's response to terrorism, if it responds in a manner which is effective and consistent with its own principles The author proceeds by examining four areas where the tension between democratic acceptability and effectiveness is seen to be greatest A model of counter‐terrorism consistent with liberal democratic norms is then proposed
54 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a wave-like process of escalation and triggering and amplifying factors (police reaction, political deficits, public opinion) are identified for right-wing and xenophobic violence in Germany.
Abstract: Acts of violence against foreigners have increased dramatically since 1991 in Germany. The author underlines the wave‐like process of escalation and tries to identify triggering and amplifying factors (police reaction, political deficits, public opinion). He analyses police data concerning biographical and socio‐demographic characteristics of the perpetrators and discusses some of the prominent scientific interpretations (disintegration, individualisation, right‐wing activities) concerning the recent waves of right‐wing and xenophobic violence in Germany.
36 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an original and dynamic community-based problem-solving linkage system proposes co-operation between Northern Ireland's grassroots constituents, paramilitary groups and political elites, which is facilitated by a quasi-mediator comprising the three Northern Irish Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and four MEPs -two each from the Netherlands and Belgium.
Abstract: This article evaluates previous third‐party efforts to broker a consociational power‐sharing solution on the peoples of Northern Ireland. Instead, an original and dynamic community‐based problem‐solving linkage system proposes co‐operation between Northern Ireland's grassroots constituents, paramilitary groups and political elites. The process would be facilitated by a quasi‐mediator comprising the three Northern Irish Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and four MEPs – two each from the Netherlands and Belgium. This is a vision of how to create a mutually beneficial process linking psychocultural and structural dimensions by promoting dialogue, understanding, tolerance and the sharing of commonalities in beliefs, identity, and behaviors among groups involved in intercommunal conflict situations.
33 citations
TL;DR: The murder of Dr David Gunn in 1993 by Michael Griffin made a decisive break with the pro-life rescue movement's 20-year history of non-violent protest against abortion in America, and brought to public notice a violent splinter sect of the larger millenarian subculture dedicated to the rescue of the unborn as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The murder of Dr David Gunn in 1993 by Michael Griffin made a decisive break with the pro‐life rescue movement's 20‐year history of non‐violent protest against abortion in America. That act opened the floodgates to other violent attacks on doctors, and brought to public notice a violent splinter sect of the larger millenarian subculture dedicated to the ‘rescue’ of the unborn. This essay seeks to detail the stages through which the radical fringe of the rescue movement passed before they came to embrace the necessity of ‘Defensive Action’. By allowing the rescuers to speak in their own voices, it is hoped that the study will contribute to a greater understanding of the process by which a millenarian movement turns from non‐violent witness to violent activism.
32 citations
TL;DR: The Earth First! movement as discussed by the authors was one of the earliest environmental movements, which advocated both biodiversity and biocentric equality, and determined to protect the environment through both non-violent direct action, and "monkeywrenching", the destruction of private property.
Abstract: The radical environmental movement ‘Earth First!’ began in 1980. Its adherents predicted an imminent biological meltdown that would cause the destruction of one‐half to one‐third of the earth's species, and significant areas of habitat. In response, they adopted a doctrine that emphasized both biodiversity and biocentric equality, and determined to protect the environment through both non‐violent direct action, and ‘monkeywrenching’, the destruction of private property. Over time, the movement split into two factions, one that focused on the relationship of environmental issues and social justice; its goal was public education, and it stressed the use of non‐violent direct action. The second faction argued that protecting the planet's biodiversity was the most critical goal; it continued to stress that the planet's biodiversity should be protected ‘by any means necessary’. Earth First!'s doctrine and evolution illustrate in concentrated form the tendency of all environmental ideologies to incorporate mill...
31 citations
TL;DR: A detailed account of right-wing violence in Italy over the past four decades is given in this article, where the authors place the phenomenon in the general context of Italian politics and seek to explain the violence by reference to the Cold War-based objectives of various anti-communist organizations.
Abstract: Right‐wing violence in Italy has displayed characteristics that set it apart from the violent operations of rightist groups active in the other Western democracies. In the Italian case the violence has been protracted, stretching from the immediate postwar period to our own time. For the most part, it has been aimed at Communists and other leftists rather than racial or ethnic minorities. And it has appeared in a variety of forms, ranging from street‐corner brawling to terrorist bombing campaigns to schemes designed to achieve a coup d'etat. In addition to offering a detailed account of neo‐Fascist violence in Italy over the past four decades, this study places the phenomenon in the general context of Italian politics and seeks to explain the violence by reference to the Cold War‐based objectives of various anti‐communist organizations.
23 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors described the most extreme form of the organised hostility towards refugees and migrants, while the unorganised perpetrators of attacks against refugee hostels can be regarded as the extreme expression of an established mentality in the local community.
Abstract: Since World War II, Swedish national socialists and right wing extremists have been divided into two main factions: nationalists, who are parliamentarian, non‐racist but ethnocentric, non‐revolutionary; and race ideologists, who are revolutionary, racist and internationally oriented. During the 1980s a new generation took over, and activities increased. The militant racist subculture, consisting of small independent networks, exists within a long tradition of organised racism or extreme nationalism in Sweden. The organised activists of small militant race‐ideologist sects can be described as the most extreme form of the organised hostility towards refugees and migrants, while the unorganised perpetrators of attacks against refugee hostels can be regarded as the extreme expression of an established mentality in the local community. The organised and unorganised exist in a symbiosis. The perpetrators of violence are in most cases to be found at the intersection between the subculture of ‘white power’ and th...
21 citations
TL;DR: This article used a model of peasant decision-making to assess the impact of crop eradication, crop substitution and drug interdiction strategies on the economic behavior and political loyalties of Peruvian coca cultivators.
Abstract: Coca eradication programmes in Peru are undermined by the interaction of cocaine economics and insurgent politics. Coca cultivators can earn far more from the illegal market in coca than from any legal crop and government efforts to eradicate coca production create a political space in which Sendero Luminoso guerrillas can cultivate popular support by protecting coca cultivators from law‐enforcement agents and Colombian traffickers. We use a model of peasant decision‐making to assess the impact of crop eradication, crop substitution and drug interdiction strategies on the economic behaviour and political loyalties of Peruvian coca cultivators. We use the model to assess the likelihood that even successful anti‐drug programmes may destabilize the Peruvian government by generating popular support for Sendero Luminoso.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the relationship between right-wing political groups, organized crime groups (yakuza), and professional corporate extortionists (sōkaiya), and found that the use of violence by such groups as forms of private policing facilitated the formation of bogus rightwing groups to facilitate extortion, intimidation and political corruption.
Abstract: Political organizations enjoy considerable legal protection under Japan's postwar constitution, and right‐wing organizations acquired additional political protection during four decades of uninterrupted rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party. These circumstances facilitated the development or re‐emergence of (1) complex links and overlapping memberships between right‐wing political groups, organized crime groups (yakuza), and professional corporate extortionists (sōkaiya); (2) tolerance and encouragement by state authorities of the use of violence by such groups as forms of private policing; and (3) the formation of bogus right‐wing groups to facilitate extortion, intimidation, and political corruption under cover of legal protections afforded to political organizations. This situation is reassessed in light of new legislation, current changes in the Japanese political situation and a recent influx of foreign workers.
TL;DR: In this article, a comparative survey of contemporary patterns of anti-foreign violence in Europe and some historical antecedents, such as pogroms and individual and small group attacks on visible foreigners, is presented.
Abstract: This is a comparative survey of contemporary patterns of anti‐foreign violence in Europe and some historical antecedents, such as pogroms and individual and small group attacks on visible foreigners. It considers the perpetrators and the long list of different categories of victims, many of them not foreigners at all. Against the background of general youth violence in schools and neighborhoods and waves of asylum‐seekers, the motives of anti‐foreign violence are examined and attributed to the under‐educated, ‘no‐future’ youth or underclass ‘losers’ of the ‘communications revolution’ of the 1980s. The skinhead and soccer hooligan anti‐foreign violence is, on the whole, not remotely as political as the fascist blackshirts and Nazi stormtroopers of the inter‐war period were. A look at the evidence from different European countries reveals on the one hand recruitment attempts by extreme right‐wing organizations among the skinhead and hooligan groups ‐ but rather limited success. On the other hand, most of th...
TL;DR: The authors suggest that contemporary cultural fragmentation exacerbates patterns of identity confusion and narcissistic "split self dynamics" which project disvalued elements of self onto ‘enemies' including unbelievers, and suggest that some young persons voluntarily attempt to resolve identity confusion through identification with messianic leaders and their apocalyptic absolutist mystiques.
Abstract: This study presents an alternative psychological model to the ‘extrinsic model’. The latter emphasizes the external imposition through brainwashing of a pattern of depersonalization facilitating the enslavement of participants in totalist sects. An alternative approach can be extrapolated from the writings of Robert Lifton and more particularly, Erik Erikson's original conception of totalism. We suggest that contemporary cultural fragmentation exacerbates patterns of identity confusion and narcissistic ‘split self dynamics. Some young persons voluntarily attempt to resolve identity confusion through identification with messianic leaders and their apocalyptic absolutist mystiques. The ‘Exemplary Dualist’ worldviews of such groups facilitate ‘contrast identities’ which project disvalued elements of self onto ‘enemies’ including unbelievers. Emergent projective systems are unstable and may require reinforcement through appropriate interactions with outsiders, for example, converting them. Other vicissitudes ...
TL;DR: In this article, a comparative analysis of white supremacists and anti-immigration activists in Norway, Denmark and Sweden with regard to their rhetoric and justifications for violence against "foreigners" and political opponents, and actual patterns of violence and harassment is presented.
Abstract: This is a comparative analysis of neo‐Nazis and anti‐immigration activists in Norway, Denmark and Sweden with regard to their rhetoric and justifications for violence against ‘foreigners’ and political opponents, and actual patterns of violence and harassment. Different traditions of nationalism in the three Scandinavian countries, and highly dissimilar historical experiences ‐ especially during World War II ‐influence the rhetorical strategies of the two types of extreme nationalists, and their respective abilities to appropriate national symbols. However, based on divergent historical analogies, most extreme nationalist groups present themselves as a ‘resistance movement’ fighting ‘foreign invaders’ and ‘traitors’.
TL;DR: This paper reviewed the background to the rise of the right wing in South Africa and argued that there has always been a strand in Afrikaner politics with a proclivity to violence.
Abstract: This article reviews the background to the rise of the right wing in South Africa and argues that there has always been a strand in Afrikaner politics with a proclivity to violence. The transformation in South Africa began in the 1980s and accelerated in the 1990s, alienating conservatives and those in the security forces who were still in the grip of the militarist doctrines espoused during the P.W. Botha era. Hit squads, dirty tricks and efforts to destabilise neighbouring governments were part of the state's response to the rise of black militance in the 1980s. Terrorism was also practised by paramilitary right‐wing groups, the biggest of which was the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB). Eventually the right‐wing counterrevolution failed, in large measure because potentially the most effective of the paramilitary forces, led by retired General Constand Viljoen, rejected the option of violence and sought instead a negotiated accommodation
TL;DR: There are three broad types of politics: monism (administration, populism, totalitarianism); dualism (total war, class or race struggle); pluralism (liberal democracy, constitutional regimes) as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Politics involves conflict within the community for control over the community; it also involves conflict among communities. In either case, it provokes anxiety to which the vision of a conflict‐free millennium is a response. There are three broad types of politics ‐ monism (administration, populism, totalitarianism); dualism (total war, class or race struggle); pluralism (liberal democracy, constitutional regimes). Millenarian movements are monistic in their view of the future but dualistic in their view of the present. If, as most political scientists hold, complex societies are inherently pluralistic, millenarian projects are bound to be infeasible (utopianism) or to eventuate in high levels of force in an effort to transform reality (totalitarianism).
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the effects of the Israeli counterinsurgency tactics on the Palestinian strategy from the period of 1967 through 1987, and proposed that the implementation of Israel's counter insurgency policy since 1967 was a crucial factor in creating the conditions for revolution and influencing the Palestinians' adaptation of their tactics, culminating in the intifada.
Abstract: In December 1987 the uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip significantly changed the nature of the Palestinian threat to Israel and pushed the West Bank and Gaza Palestinians into the forefront of the Palestinian‐Israeli conflict. This article examines the effects of the Israeli counterinsurgency tactics on the Palestinian strategy from the period of 1967 through 1987. It proposes that the implementation of Israel's counterinsurgency policy since 1967 was a crucial factor in creating the conditions for revolution and influencing the Palestinians’ adaptation of their tactics, culminating in the intifada.
TL;DR: The multiform Pai Marire tradition in New Zealand exhibited a continuum of behaviors from peaceful to violent, religious to political as mentioned in this paper, leading to a heuristic model of millenarianism.
Abstract: Millenarian movements arise when a people anticipates the imminent death of their particular world. Prophets adopt archetypal roles and reveal myths about the Endtime that relate to their specific antecedent religious histories. By examining the symbolism and the roles adopted by prophets and messiahs we may be able to assess more accurately any given group's potential for violence or terrorism. The multiform Pai Marire tradition in New Zealand exhibited a continuum of behaviors from peaceful to violent, religious to political. Comparison of Pai Marire with like phenomena worldwide would test and refine our provisional conclusions and lead to a heuristic model of millenarianism with greater explanatory value and predictability. Such a model will be strengthened if we examine the religious myths of constituted states and orthodox religions as well as those of sectarian movements.
TL;DR: The authors examined Sprinzak's theory of split delegitimization and found that although it provides a persuasive account of why some extreme right groups become so radicalized that they perpetrate acts of terrorism and political violence, its major weakness is that it fails to explain the emergence and long-term survival of mass parties of the extreme right.
Abstract: The author begins by examining Sprinzak's theory of ‘split delegitimization’ and finds that although it provides a persuasive account of why some extreme right groups become so radicalized that they perpetrate acts of terrorism and political violence, its major weakness is that it fails to explain the emergence and long‐term survival of mass parties of the extreme right. The article briefly surveys some of these mass parties and finds that there is no clear correlation between the electoral success of extreme‐right mass parties and the level of terrorism and political violence from small extreme‐right groups. However, the evident ambivalence of mass parties of the far right towards violence, and intensification of the propaganda of violence, racisim and xenophobia are clearly conducive to violence and Terrorism and Political Violence.
TL;DR: In this article, the author traces the long history of terrorism during this period and enables the reader to understand how the phenomenon was allowed to grow so uncontrollably that it has now become a permenant feature of contemporary Greek political culture.
Abstract: From the mid‐1970s to the present, Greece has been suffering a systematic terrorist assault on her political and socieo‐economic institutions‐mainly at the hands of the 17 November and ELA, intransigent communist organizations. During these two decades, the Greek state has failed to make a correct diagnosis of the problem. This article traces the long history of terrorism during this period and enables the reader to understand how the phenomenon was allowed to grow so uncontrollably that it has now become a permenant feature of contemporary Greek political culture. The author concludes that the Greek terrorists will continue their violent campaign attacking the people and institutions they despise for several years to come‐at least until Greece's established political clas takes a clear‐cut stand and effective measures to oppose and resolve this seemingly intractable problem
TL;DR: This article examined the worldview of William Pierce, a prominent figure among fringe right and neo-Nazi groups. A self-proclaimed race separatist, Pierce established his own spiritual community, which he called a "race separatist" community.
Abstract: This article examines the worldview of William Pierce, a prominent figure among fringe right and neo‐Nazi groups. A self‐proclaimed ‘race separatist’, Pierce established his own spiritual community...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored how the Khmer Rouge group conditioned its uncooperative response and tactics towards United Nations intervention and how UNTAC was able to salvage the 1989-93 Cambodian peace process despite the best efforts of the Cambodian Rouge.
Abstract: Approaching the 1989–93 Cambodian peace process from the Khmer Rouge point of view, this article explores how the group's nature, history and ideology conditioned its unco‐operative response and tactics towards United Nations intervention. It observes that the Khmer Rouge, once it realized it could not manipulate the structures of the peace process to the benefit of its own aspirations, adopted a two‐track policy. It remained outside the peace process, awaiting the withdrawal of the UN, preserving its military potential to take power afterwards. At the same time, it attempted to retain its international and domestic support despite its non‐co‐operation, by accusing UNTAC of subverting the Peace Agreements. Finally, the article explores how UNTAC was able to salvage the peace process despite the best efforts of the Khmer Rouge.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the importance of cultural norms and what part they play in requiring us to tolerate others out of respect, and formulate some guidelines designed to prescribe boundaries to liberty and tolerance conducive to safeguard the rights of individuals and, in turn, democracy.
Abstract: The primary aims of this article are (a) to examine the importance of cultural norms and what part they play in requiring us to tolerate others out of respect, and (b) to formulate some guidelines designed to prescribe boundaries to liberty and tolerance conducive to safeguard the rights of individuals and, in turn, democracy. I argue that a liberal democracy can interfere in the business of its sub‐cultures when some cultural norms subvert the basic principles upon which a liberal society is founded. I proceed by making a further radical claim that democracy may prevent cultural groups from entering society if their conceptions of the good essentially conflict with its norms. My basic argument is that considerations of context and intentions must be taken into account, and that they may require the introduction of constraints. I conclude by considering the question whether or not the intolerant group has any right to complain, arguing that it does not.1
TL;DR: This study reviews these relatively new avenues of search in the field of terrorism and observes its growing interdisciplinarity.
Abstract: The potential for research in the field of terrorism expanded considerably with the increase in the size, availability, and types of computerized databases, from on‐line systems to the CD‐ROM. This study reviews these relatively new avenues of search in the field and observes its growing interdisciplinarity.
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that traditional concerns with locating causes and the tendency to offer structural determinants (such as social dislocation and high levels of unemployment) provide the best explanations for the appeal of ultra-right politics.
Abstract: This article critically analyses some of the traditional scholarship that deals with the rise of ultra‐right politics and the requisites for the emergence of such collective action. It is argued that such approaches have limited explanatory value for understanding why people commit political crimes. The question is asked whether traditional concerns with locating causes and the tendency to offer structural determinants (such as social dislocation and high levels of unemployment) provide the best explanations for the appeal of such politics. The article continues by developing a rationale and framework for an alternative interpretative or hermeneutic approach to research on contemporary Nazism.
TL;DR: In this paper, Carrigan's The Palace of Justice: A Colombian Tragedy is criticised for its contention that the Colombian Army massacred most of the hostages who died in the massacre.
Abstract: This critique examines Ana Carrigan's The Palace of Justice: A Colombian Tragedy1 by (1) taking issue with her contention that the Colombian Army massacred most of the hostages who died in the nati...
TL;DR: The definitional, but not factual, ambiguities surrounding the commandeered crash of Egged interurban bus number 405 on the main Tel Aviv‐Jerusalem road on 6 July 1989 exemplifies the manner in which anti-Israeli violence has been utilized as political discourse by the main Arab/Palestinian and Israeli parties to the Arab•Israeli conflict as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The definitional, but not factual, ambiguities surrounding the commandeered crash of Egged interurban bus number 405 on the main Tel Aviv‐Jerusalem road on 6 July 1989 exemplifies the manner in which anti‐Israeli violence has been utilized as political discourse by the main Arab/Palestinian and Israeli parties to the Arab‐Israeli conflict. Though the act itself‐ in which 16 people were killed and 25 injured ‐ appeared to have been motivated mainly by the perpetrator's desire for personal revenge against Israel and Israelis, it was quickly accepted as terrorism by both sides, and so labeled, affected both national politics in Israel and the temper of the Arab/Palestinian‐Israeli confrontation. How an act of violence acquires political meaning ‐ here its definition as ‘terrorism’ ‐ is more often a consequence of the political context in which it occurs than of its legal, objective, or purely descriptive character.