The challenges of conceptualizing terrorism

Terrorism and Political Violence

Volumn 16, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 777-794

  Weinberg, Leonard ^a   Pedahzur, Ami ^b   Hirsch Hoefler, Sivan ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA   (Israel)

^c UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP   (Belgium)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 12144270858     PISSN: 09546553     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/095465590899768     Document Type: Article

References (25)

1. Walter Laqueur, Terrorism (Boston: Little, Brown 1977) p.5.
2. Martha Crenshaw, "The Psychology of Terrorism" Political Psychology 21/2 (2000) p.406.
3. David C. Rapoport, "The Four Waves of Modern Terrorism" in Audrey Cronin and James Ludes (eds), Attacking Terrorism: Elements of a Grand Strategy (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press 2004) p. 54; David C. Rapoport "Introduction to Part I" in David C. Rapoport and Yonah Alexander (eds), The Morality of Terrorism: Religious and Secular Justifications (New York: Pergamon Press 1982) pp.3-11.
4. David C. Rapoport, "The Four Waves of Modern Terrorism" in Audrey Cronin and James Ludes (eds), Attacking Terrorism: Elements of a Grand Strategy (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press 2004) p. 54; David C. Rapoport "Introduction to Part I" in David C. Rapoport and Yonah Alexander (eds), The Morality of Terrorism: Religious and Secular Justifications (New York: Pergamon Press 1982) pp.3-11.
5. The second wave of terrorism, also known as the "Anti-Colonial Wave," began in the 1920s and crested in the 1960s. All groups in the second wave struggled against colonial powers that had become ambivalent about retraining their colonial status. The second wave receded largely as the colonial powers disappeared (Rapoport, "The Four Waves of Modern Terrorism").
6. Rapoport, "The Four Waves of Modern Terrorism," p.54. Moreover, as Rapoport explained, "Because the anti-colonial struggle seemed more legitimate than the purposes served in the first wave, the "new" language became attractive to potential political supporters as well. Governments also appreciated the political value of "appropriate" language and began to describe a!! violent rebels as terrorists. The media, hoping to avoid being seen as blatantly partisan, corrupted language further. Major American newspapers, for example, often described the same individuals alternatively as terrorists, guerrillas, and soldiers in the same account" (p.54).
7. See, for example, Boaz Ganor, "Defining Terrorism: Is One Man's Terrorist Another Man's Freedom Fighter?" Annual Editions: Violence and Terrorism 03/04 (Guilford, CT:Dushkin 2003) pp.11-19.
8. William Connolly, The Terms of Political Discourse 3rd ed, (Princeton: Princeton University Press 1993) p.10. The idea comes from W.B. Gallie, "Essentially Contested Concepts" in Max Black (ed), The Importance of Language (Ithaca: Cornell University Press 1969) pp.121-146.
9. William Connolly, The Terms of Political Discourse 3rd ed, (Princeton: Princeton University Press 1993) p.10. The idea comes from W.B. Gallie, "Essentially Contested Concepts" in Max Black (ed), The Importance of Language (Ithaca: Cornell University Press 1969) pp.121-146.
10. See, for example, Giovanni Sartori, Social Science Concepts (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications 1984) pp.28-35.
11. David Collier and James Mahon, "Conceptual 'Stretching' Revisited: Adapting Categories in Comparative Analysis," The American Political Science Review 87:4 (1993) p.846.
12. Alex Schmid, "The Response Problem as a Definition Problem," Terrorism and Political Violence 4:4 (1992) pp.7-25.
13. See, for example, Donatella della Porta, "Left-Wing Terrorism in Italy," in Martha Crenshaw (ed), Terrorism in Context (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press 1995) pp. 105-159.
14. Alex Schmid, Albert Jongman et al., Political Terrorism (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1988) p.28. Schmid is in the process of updating this work, see, "The Problem of Defining Terrorism" (a paper presented at a conference on Terrorism and Security Studies, George Marshall Defense Center, Garmisch Germany, June 28 2004) pp. 1-30.
15. Alex Schmid, Albert Jongman et al., Political Terrorism (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1988) p.28. Schmid is in the process of updating this work, see, "The Problem of Defining Terrorism" (a paper presented at a conference on Terrorism and Security Studies, George Marshall Defense Center, Garmisch Germany, June 28 2004) pp. 1-30.
16. Our research attempted to define terrorism throughout the last two decades. In order to do so, we extensively collected all articles from three central journals (Terrorism; Terrorism and Political Violence; Studies in Conflict and Terrorism) that pertain to the matter at hand. Initially, the data we collected were divided into different categories that did not only include the context of the article but included information about its author, as well. Within the context of the article we examined the subject of the article, its focus, its research method (i.e., qualitative/quantitative case study, qualitative/quantitative comparative research, qualitative/quantitative theoretical research), its nature (i.e., conceptual, analytic, theoretical or case-study), and whether it constructs a typology, a theory, or a definition. In addition to the article's context we noted the author's professional affiliation, field of education, and place of residence. These categories allowed for a wide observation of the phenomenon of terrorism. The second step of our research was to extract from the 110 articles found relevant, the various definitions for terrorism. Within 55 articles, the 73 definitions that originated were examined according to twenty-two elements revealed in the work done by Schmid & Jongman (1988). It was this type of incongruity which led to the main question of our research: Are the entire twenty-two elements needed in order to reach a substantial definition of terrorism or are there definitional elements that may have been crucial in the past, but are no longer relevant in the present?
17. Schmid reported that, of his 58 respondents, 10% said they were psychologists (Scmid and Jongman, p.207), while 7 of the 55 authors of the journal articles were identified with that profession.
18. In order to determine whether differences according to country of origin are significant, we considered performing an analysis of variance (ANOVA, for example). However, due to the small number of scholars in each origin (e.g., two scholars from Africa, three scholars from Australia and six scholars from the Middle East) we were unable to perform this kind of statistical test.
19. David Rapoport, "The Fourth Wave: September 11 in the History of Terrorism" Current History (December 2001) pp.419-424.
20. See, for example, Bruce Huffman, Inside Terrorism (New York: Columbia University Press 1999)pp.86-129.
21. Schmid, "The Response Problem as a Definition Problem," p.11.
22. I-b-i-d.
23. Huffman, p.38.
24. Schmid, "The Response Problem as a Definition Problem," p.9.
25. Giovanni Sartori, "Concept Misinformation in Comparative Politics," The American Political Science Review LXIV/4 (December 1970) p. 1041.