Bruce Allen Scharlau PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

7
German and English language academic literature to provide a theoretical
framework for the case study. Some of the fr@nework portions are new as
described in chapters four through seven in discussions on individuals,
groups, government response and public and media reaction are covered.
The communiques and other writings of the diverse left-wing terrorist
groups are comprehensively used by including those of the Second of
June, the Revolutionary Cells and the Autonanen, which have generally
been ignored by academic writers,28 in favour of those by the Red Army
Faction. The discovery and arrest of former RAP members in the former
German Democratic Republic provided more autobiographical articles by
former terrorists, which added more examples for the historical and
theoretical frameworks.
The resultant synthesis of these information sources produced a
thesis that does two things. First, it elaborates on left-wing terrorism
in the Federal Republic of Gennany with the benefit of new materials.
Second, the theoretical context lifts the thesis fran a pure case study
to one which examines general motivation processes in terrorism. This
relieves the West German case study of the problem of covering the same
ground as previous studies because it approaches the questions from new
perspectives in light of new theoretical approaches.
3. The Study of Terrorism
Terrorism is a subjective emotional experience. What terrorises
one, may not terrorise another. 29 Its subjectivity extends to the
public's perception of terrorists' capabilities, and contributes to its
perception as a world-wide menace, and its impact beyond the actual
target audience of the terrorists and their victims. 3o
Subjectivity also extends to the perpetrators with the oft repeated
claim that 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom-fighter'. This
implies that terrorism has no agreed upon moral position, because the
well-wishers on both sides allow the perpetrators to be either of these.
This problem arises because terrorism is not derived from any particular
ideology, or religion. Many ideological or religious perspectives use
terrorism to support their ends. 31
28 Except for David Th. Schiller, "Germany' s Other Terrorists II
Terrorism 9 (1) 1987 (II), 87-99, which covers the RZ and Autonanen.
29 Paul Wilkinson, Terrorism and the Liberal State (London:
Macmillan Education Ltd., Second Edition, 1986), 11-2.
30 Nehemin Friedland, Ariel Mehari, liThe Psychological Impact of
Terrorism: A Double-Edged Sword" Political Psychology 6 (4) 1985, 591-
604, 592.
31 Walter Laqueur, The Age of Terrorism (London: Weidenfeld and
Nicolson, 1987) , 7 i Martha Crenshaw, Terrorism and International
Cooperation (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989), 5-6.