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Journal of National Defense Studies, No. 6, May 2008
Introduction
New Perspectives on Terrorism
Jay Albanese *
This special issue of the Journal of National Defense Studies comes from a
conference in held in 2006 in Herzelia/Gelilot, at the Israel National Defence
College. Principal organizers were Edna Erez and Pini Yehezkeally, with the
assistance of Orit Shalev and Jay Albanese, who sought to bring together experts
on terrorism from relevant countries to address the different legal, cultural,
religious, and political dimensions of terrorism found among different locations
and groups. The National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S.
Department of Justice, co-sponsored the conference, and participated in the coediting
of this issue. The findings and conclusions of the research reported
here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official
positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
New Perspectives
Terrorism is a term used to connote unlawful violence used for the purpose of
political or other ideological objectives. The violence is often inflicted on noncombatants
in order to create fear or terror among the general public and
destabilize existing government and institutional structures. It has become the
province of criminology, as terrorism has shifted from state-sponsored activity to
the actions of more loosely-formed networks and cells linked by ideology, rather
than by government sponsors. This shift from a focus on “outlaw nations” to
“outlaw individuals and networks” has created a new spotlight on the motivations
and actions of individuals, rather than solely on the actions of states.
There is a long history in criminology of explanations which attempt to spell out
the causes and correlates of crime. Most of these explanations are focused in six
perspectives:
* Virginia Commonwealth University
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