Terrorism

Question 1

Defining terrorism: Canada’s criminal code.

Answer 1

an act or omission, in or outside Canada,

(i)that is committed

(A)in whole or in part for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause, and

(B)in whole or in part with the intention of intimidating the public, or a segment of the public, with regard to its security, including its economic security, or compelling a person, a government or a domestic or an international organization to do or to refrain from doing any act, whether the public or the person, government or organization is inside or outside Canada, and …

(ii)that intentionally

(A)causes death or serious bodily harm to a person by the use of violence,

(B)endangers a person’s life,

(C)causes a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or any segment of the public,

(D)causes substantial property damage, whether to public or private property, if causing such damage is likely to result in the conduct or harm referred to in any of clauses (A) to (C), or

(E)causes serious interference with or serious disruption of an essential service, facility or system, whether public or private, other than as a result of advocacy, protest, dissent or stoppage of work that is not intended to result in the conduct or harm referred to in any of clauses (A) to (C)

Question 2

Defining terrorism: US State Department

Answer 2

Terrorism is “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine state agents.”Our definition consistent with standard definition.

Question 3

How dangerous is terrorism?

Answer 3

• A (relatively) minor mortality risk
  -Some people think terrorism is centrally about violence, but its not. Terrorism is not an especially efficient method of killing people. Modal terrorist attack kills no one. Instead, terrorism uses violence for the purpose of stimulating intense emotional reactions among target audiences.

Question 4

What are terrorists after? Terrorists and audiences: A mediated relationship

Answer 4

Targets–Audiences–Terrorists Symbolic violence; targets often unimportant from a military standpoint.

Question 5

Terrorism: Four goals

Answer 5

1. Coerce enemies.
2. Mobilize supporters.
3. Enforce loyalty.
4. Provoke indiscriminate responses.

Question 6

Terrorism and credibility problems

Answer 6

Uncertainty motivates terrorism.

• Power: the capacity of organizations to influence outcomes.
• Resolve: the intensity of preferences; willpower.
• Trustworthiness: the willingness of parties to deliver on their promises; reliability.

Question 7

How do terrorist organizations solve their credibility problems?

Answer 7

Costly signals

Question 8

Costly Signals

Answer 8

Actions or statements that require a significant sacrifice.

Question 9

Attrition

Answer 9

The action of process of reducing the strength or effectiveness of someone or something through sustained attack or pressure; to wear down.

Effort to persuade the enemy that terrorist organization is strong and resolute enough to inflict serious costs. Ability to impose costs signals ability to do so in the future.

Question 10

Intimidation

Answer 10

To frighten or overawe.

Works by demonstrating that terrorists have power to punish those that disobey them and that the government is helpless to stop them.

Question 11

Provocation

Answer 11

To stimulate or incite someone to do or feel something, especially by arousing anger in them.

Question 12

Political ju-jitsu.

Answer 12

Using regime strengths against it.

Question 13

Spoiling

Answer 13

To diminish or destroy the value of; damage.

Question 14

Outbidding

Answer 14

Offer to pay a higher price for something.

Question 15

New research questions terrorism’s efficacy.

Answer 15

Abrahms:

Foreign terrorist organizations achieve their goals only 7% of the time.
Groups are particularly ineffective when they target civilians.

Mueller and Stewart:

Experts massively exaggerate the capacities and dangers presented by terrorism.
Best descriptors of terrorists: incompetent, ineffective, unintelligent, idiotic, ignorant, inadequate, unorganized, misguided, dopey, etc. . .

Question 16

Moderate consequences

Answer 16

Local terror attacks cause Israelis to be more willing to grant territorial concessions to the Palestinians.

These effects are stronger for demographic groups that are traditionally right-wing in their political views.

Question 17

The power of civil resistance

Answer 17

Chenoweth and Stephan: Between 1900 and 2006, non-violent resistance campaigns against authoritarian regimes 2x more likely to succeed than violent movements.

Succeeds because it is more likely than armed resistance to attract a large and diverse base of participants.