Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, 4 Volume Set

SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF TERRORISM

FATHALI M. MOGHADDAM AND NAOMI LEE

Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

1 INTRODUCTION

Claims that “one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter” have made it notoriously difficult to define terrorism [1]. From a social psychological perspective, terrorism can be defined as politically motivated violence, perpetrated by individuals, groups, or state-sponsored agents, intended to bring about feelings of terror and helplessness in a population in order to influence decision making and to change behavior [Reference 2, p. 161]. Social and psychological processes are at the heart of terrorism, because it is through bringing about particular feelings and perceptions (terror and helplessness) that terrorists attempt to change actual behavior of victim individuals and societies.

2 SOCIAL ROOTS OF TERRORISM

In order to explain why people commit terrorist acts, a variety of socio-psychological explanations have been put forward [3, 4]. These include irrationalist explanations influenced by Freud, as well as rationalist, materialist explanations. An overlooked factor is functionality: terrorism is adopted as a tactic because it sometimes works effectively. For example, it is generally agreed that the March 11, 2004, terrorist attacks in Madrid, resulting in close to 200 deaths and over 1000 serious injuries, led to the ruling party in Spain being voted out of power because of their close alliance with the Iraq policies of the ...