Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

IDEOLOGY • 269exercise of political power. An ideology plays a role similar to that of atheory in a scientific system or to that of a creed in a religious system.Ideology, along with extremist religious convictions, is considered tobe a force multiplier of terrorism because it serves to mobilize actualterrorists and their support networks, while the ideological or religiousmotivation increases the awareness and galvanizing effect of the terroristact once its motivation is made known to a wider audience ofmembers of the targeted group or of potential sympathizers.The Frenchman Deshutt de Tracy invented this term in 1797 to describethe “true ideas” of political philosophy that had been “proven”in the testing grounds of the French Revolution. He and his fellowthinkers became known as les idéologues. Karl Marx used the term todesignate instead what he regarded as a “false consciousness” of traditionalsocial and religious beliefs used by the dominant economicclass to maintain its rule and legitimacy. Rather than using ideologyas a term to designate false political ideas or a system of true politicalideas, it may refer to any system of political ideas that support eachother and that simplify political analysis and decision making for theindividuals and groups who adhere to the ideology. A key point isthat certain essential beliefs of any ideology are irrational or nonscientificand these components of the ideology may not be amenableto rational deliberation or debate, for example, assumptions aboutthe moral nature of man and the inevitability of human progress. Themore ideological a politically engaged person is, the more selectivewill be his or her perception and interpretation of events.The personal or group ideology of the political extremist or terroristachieves a near religious or revelatory quality, such that it becomesthe prism through which all events, people, and groups are evaluated.Whoever questions the ideology of the extremist group is viewed notsimply as in error or disagreement with the truth but rather as being amorally reprehensible or evil person. Thus, highly ideological thinkingfacilitates the depersonalization and demonization of perceived“enemies,” which allows the political extremist or terrorist to carryout horrific acts of violence against them with little sense of remorseor sympathy. Ideological thinking tends to be stereotypical and rigidin interpretation of events. The tendency of terrorist groups to formthemselves into closed, clandestine cells reinforces the tendency towardgroupthink, which is reinforced by the ideological beliefs andmotivations of the group.