Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

272 • INSURGENCYhired itself out to various regimes to commit assassinations on acontract basis. The group ceased to exist under Communist rule inpost-Yugoslavia due to arrests and purges of suspected Macedoniannationalists and other potential dissidents.INSURGENCY. One definition for insurgency is “a struggle betweena group lacking authority and the governing authorities in which thegroup lacking authority uses both political resources and violence toeither destroy the legitimacy of the ruling group or else to change theterms by which legitimate power is held, and to establish their ownalternative legitimacy” (Bard E. O’Neill, Insurgency and Terrorism:Modern Revolutionary Warfare [Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s,1990]). Another criterion for distinguishing insurgencies fromisolated guerrilla hit-and-run attacks or terrorist actions is whetherthe guerrillas have begun openly to control areas of land within acontested country. As such, insurgency falls between the extremesof revolution, in which the major part of the society becomes involvedin the change of regime, and terrorism by individuals orgroups lacking any nonterrorist complementary political program.Insurgents generally will use either conventional warfare or terroristtactics as they perceive the situation warrants but may limit theirterrorist actions as their political program requires. Insurgents maychoose to target civilians as a tactic to delegitimize the government,which may be perceived as unable or unwilling to provide civilianswith security, or else to provoke the government into overreacting.Using this definition, one may regard the Basque Fatherland andLiberty group as part of a Basque insurgency rather than as merelya terrorist group. The political goals of this group have directed theirterrorist actions to attacking symbols of Spanish hegemony, and theSpanish security forces in particular, rather than Spanish civiliansgenerally.INTELLIGENCE. This term refers to the systematic gathering andanalysis of information for decision makers concerning real or potentialenemies, or even about erstwhile allies, in order to protect one’sown national or group interests. Nation-states maintain intelligenceorganizations often specializing in criminal, diplomatic, economic,or military information gathering. But in addition to this function ofsurveillance, or espionage, these agencies may also be mandated toengage in covert operations to protect or advance the nation-state’s