Psychology of Terrorism - National Criminal Justice Reference Service

ethnic group: he or she must also support the identity against rival claims. Thus, in order to becomepolitically effective it must organize.-Almost every ethnic terrorist group actively raises funds among its own people.-By calling attention to a group and its cause, terrorist acts fulfill another organizational goal:recruitment into the movement. Radical groups commonly vie for the same members, particularlyyoung disaffected males.-At times group maintenance becomes the primary goal of an ethnic terrorist group, subsuming evenits identity-strengthening agendas.-Impact of Rival Populations:-Ethnic terrorism creates fear among political victims. Fear serves two purposes. First, it silencestalk of compromise and accommodations by discrediting the political system and the mediationprocess. Second, it stimulates immigration and population transfers.-Ethnic violence can also undermine an incipient democracy, which might otherwise bringmultiethnic societies together.Terrorist Groups, Insurgencies, and Popular Movements:-Nonviolent mainstream groups have an ambivalent relationship with terrorist organizations.-Mainstream ethnic movements often capitalize on terrorist violence.-Clever moderate leaders can capitalize on extremist pressure even as they denounce extremistactivities.-The climate of fear by terrorist is particularly important for ethnic insurgencies. Even when apopulation does not support an insurgent group's cause, fear of terrorist violence can leadindividuals to cooperate.-Political movements can also act as fonts for terrorist groups.-The International Aspect of Ethnic Terrorism:-If the focus of ethnic terrorism is on local issues and identities, why might an ethnic terrorist groupstrike an international target such as the United States? Terrorists often justify such strikes aspunishment for foreign support of their rivals.-Tremendous publicity is generated for the group that commits an act of international terrorism.-A second attraction of international targets is that they force a state response.-More often than not, successful ethnic terrorist groups receive some form of aid from outsidepowers or Diaspora communities.-The usual tried-and-tested means of countering terrorism are often not effective in fighting ethnicterrorism. Particularly futile is the use of moral outage. Statements declaring ethnic terrorists to beoutlaws and other such legal and rhetorical tools do not work.-The ideal way to counter ethnic terrorism is through "in group" policing in which the ethnic groupas a whole identifies, ostracizes, and suppresses radicals.-Thus authorities should encourage groups to police themselves. Such self-monitoring is far moreeffective and causes less resentment in the community as a whole.-A first step toward encouraging "in group" policing is to recognize and protect the forces ofmoderation..-In general, crackdown against terrorists should steer on the side of caution with regard to moderatepolitical activists.-In addition to "in group" policing, governments might consider fostering an identity that competeswith that promoted by the terrorists.-Policymakers and analysts alike must recognize that ethnic terrorism often differs considerablyfrom other types of terrorism. Ethnic terrorism has its own goals-and its own vulnerabilities-thatanalysts should recognize when examining how to cope with this problem.-One key is the relationship that a government has with a mainstream ethnic opposition movement.-States should try to improve a mainstream movement's desire to police radicals in its owncommunity.-By giving moderate forces more influence, the state can often drive a wedge between moderates andradicals.-Indeed, one danger governments must avoid is being too successful against moderate ethnicopposition movements.-Governments with resistive ethnic groups often must choose between stopping terrorist violence orpreventing ethnic governments from achieving their particular goals.