Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

INTRODUCTION • lxvOsama bin Laden network illustrates how dangerous entrepreneurialterrorists can use private resources for political purposes in a worldwhere the power of independent wealth and the Internet come to rivalthe more traditional interactions among states. The impact of suchindividuals will be multiplied when they are able to recruit or hire likemindedindividuals who are also highly versed in computer technologyand therefore able to engage in technological terrorism in the form ofinformation operations, in which the gun or bomb is replaced by thepersonal computer. NGOs can use this power for both good and evil.The Seattle riots against the World Trade Organization (WTO) illustratehow disparate groups can use the Internet to coordinate themselves inseeking to achieve what may be either laudable or evil goals. Moreover,within such netwar social and political movements there have alwaysbeen entrepreneurs who will use violence created by such protests toachieve both political and personal goals.The development of such groups has serious implications for thosegovernments that are seeking to combat terrorism. Just as there has beena vast increase in internal defense budgets, there will also be a massivegrowth of private security firms, which will compete not only with eachother but also with national governments in providing security for theircitizens. We are witnessing what has elsewhere been labeled the “privatizationof public violence,” 18 a trend that will challenge the state’sclassic monopoly over the use of force. National governments seekingto combat terror will increasingly face a difficult choice: by seeking tocooperate with private security firms, the nation-state increases its abilityto fight the terrorists but then may become co-opted by these sameprivate agencies, creating public-private conflicts of interest. Or else thenation-state can seek to maintain its own monopoly over counterterrorismthrough government oversight and regulation of private securityfirms, but at the potential cost of depriving itself and society of thepotential counterterrorism contribution by the private sector.FUTURE TRENDSThe trends noted in the first and second editions will likely not only continuebut intensify. The breakdown of the Soviet Union, unleashed bythe forces of nationalism so long repressed and hidden under Communistrule, manifested a profound and fundamental change in the international