Terrorism: Its Political Uses and Abuses

Abstract

.ERRORISM, TO PARAPHRASE CLAUSEWITZ, is the continuation of politics by other means. The political content of the terrorist act distinguishes it from such ordinary criminal activities as murder, robbery, hijacking and extortion— all of which are committed with far greater frequency by vastly larger numbers of nonterrorists for motives of simple profit or passion. Terrorists become terrorists, at least initially, for reasons associated with politics. After a certain amount of time, of course, terrorists may continue to be terrorists for no reason except that they are terrorists. More than most vocations, terrorism does not easily lend itself to career changes. But the initial impulse that led a group to adopt terrorism as a method of operation or that persuaded an individual to participate in such activities almost certainly had its origins in political circumstances. Indeed, the political nature of their origin and proclaimed purpose is the most important common characteristic shared by such disparate groups as the Sendero Luminoso of Peru, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the dissident Sikhs of India, the Moro National Liberation Front of the Philippines, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, the Italian Red Brigades, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and in the United States, organizations as diverse as the Puerto Rican Front for National Liberation, the Weather Underground, the Jewish Defense League, and a scattering of neo-fascist groups.