The aim of this course is to familiarize students with the
sociological and psychological study of terrorism - terrorism seen as one of the
main social problems in contemporary society. More precisely, the purpose of the
course is to focus attention on the types of individuals and groups that are
prone to terrorism. The emergence of amorphous and largely unknown terrorist
individuals and groups operating independently (freelancers) and the new
recruitment patterns of some groups, such as recruiting suicide commandos,
female and child terrorists, and scientists capable of developing weapons of
mass destruction, provide a measure of urgency to increasing our understanding
of the psychological and sociological dynamics of terrorist groups and
individuals.
TYPOLOGY OF THE COURSE
30 hours (second semester/ two hours a week), "konwersatorium".
The lecturer will present one topic of the program in the first hour and will
require the participation of students in a free discussion in the second hour.
EVALUATION
Students will be asked to attend the course regularly and to
participate actively. At the end of the course, they will be asked to pass a
written examination. Those who fulfill these requirements will obtain a sign for
the attendance and a mark for the exam.
TOPICS OF THE COURSE
The course is set up in two main parts and it is mainly patterned on R. A.
Hudson’s research in the field. First, we examine the relevant literature and
assess the current knowledge of the subject. In particular, we review the main
types of terrorism (normative, extranormative, nationalist-separatist, social
revolutionary, right-wing, religious) and the main sociological and
psychological theories explaining the emergence of these social phenomena.
Secondly, we analyze psychological and sociological profiles of terrorist
individuals and selected groups to use as case studies in assessing trends,
motivations, likely behavior, and actions that might deter such behavior, and we
shall also reveal vulnerabilities that would aid in combating terrorist groups
and individuals. Psychological factors relating to terrorism are of particular
interest to sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, and government
officials, who would like to be able to predict and prevent the emergence of
terrorist groups or to thwart the realization of terrorist actions.
Besides, this course focuses on individual psychological and sociological
characteristics of terrorists of different generations as well as their groups
in an effort to determine how the terrorist profile may have changed in recent
decades, or whether they share any common sociological attributes. The
assumption underlying much of the terrorist-profile research in recent decades
has been that most terrorists have some common characteristics that can be
determined through psychometric analysis of large quantities of biographical
data on terrorists. One of the earliest attempts to single out a terrorist
personality was done by Charles A. Russell and Bowman H. Miller (1977). Although
there appears to be no single terrorist personality, members of a terrorist
group(s) may share numerous common sociological traits.
Yet, this course is not about terrorism per se. Rather, it is concerned with
the perpetrators of terrorism. Prepared from a social sciences perspective, it
attempts to synthesize the results of psychological and sociological findings of
studies on terrorists published in recent decades and provide a general
assessment of what is presently known about the terrorist mind and mindset.
Because this study includes profiles of diverse groups from Western Europe,
Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, care has been taken when making
cross-national, cross-cultural, and cross-ideological comparisons. Some of the
papers included in the bibliography examine such topics as the age, economic and
social background, education and occupation, gender, geographical origin,
marital status, motivation, recruitment, and religion or ideology of the members
of terrorist groups.
It is hoped that an examination of the extensive body of behaviorist
literature on political and religious terrorism authored by psychologists and
sociologists as well as political scientists and other social scientists will
provide some answers to questions such as: Who are terrorists? How do
individuals become terrorists? Why do some individuals decide to break with
society and embark on a career in terrorism? Do political or religious
terrorists have anything in common in their sociopsychological development? How
are they recruited? Is there a terrorist mindset, or are terrorist groups too
diverse to have a single mindset or common psychological traits? Are there
instead different terrorist mindsets? Can a terrorist profile be developed that
could reliably help security personnel to identify potential terrorists, whether
they be would-be airplane hijackers, assassins, or suicide bombers? Do some
terrorists have a psychotic personality?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Handbooks:
Hudson R. A., The Sociology And Psychology Of Terrorism: Who Becomes A
Terrorist And Why? A Report Prepared under an Interagency Agreement by the
Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, September 1999.
Combs, Cindy C. Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century. Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997.
United States. Department of State. Patterns of Global Terrorism,
1998. Washington, D.C.: 1999.
Monographic works:
Amos II, John W. "Terrorism in the Middle East: The Diffusion of
Violence." Pages 149-62 in David Partington, ed., Middle East Annual,
1984. London: G.K. Hall, 1985.
Berkowitz, B.J., et al. Superviolence: The Threat of Mass Destruction
Weapons. Santa Barbara, California: ADCON Corporation, 1972 (fragments).
Bodansky, Yossef. Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America.
Rocklin, Georgia: Prima, 1999 (fragments).
Ciment, James. The Kurds: State and Minority in Turkey, Iraq and Iran.
Conflict and Crisis in the Post-Cold War World Series. New York: Facts on
File, 1996 (fragments).
Clark, R. "Patterns in the Lives of ETA Members," Terrorism,
6, No. 3, 1983, 423-54.
Corsun, Andrew. "Group Profile: The Revolutionary Organization 17
November in Greece (1975-91)." Pages 93-126 in Dennis A. Pluchinsky and
Yonah Alexander, eds., European Terrorism: Today & Tomorrow.
Washington: Brassey's 1992.
Della Porta, Donatella. "Political Socialization in Left-Wing
Underground Organizations: Biographies of Italian and German Militants."
In Donatella Della Porta, ed., Social Movements and Violence: Participation
in Underground Organizations, 4. Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press, 1992.
Doyle, Leonard. "The Cold Killers of 17 November Who Always Go Free,"
The Observer [London], September 28, 1997.
Ferracuti, Franco. "Ideology and Repentance: Terrorism in Italy."
Pages 59-64 in Walter Reich, ed., Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies,
Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press, 1990.
Ferracuti, Franco. "Psychiatric Aspects of Terrorism in Italy." In
I.L. Barak-Glantz and U.R. Huff, eds., The Mad, the Bad, and the Different.
Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington, 1981.
Flemming, Peter A., Michael Stohl, and Alex P. Schmid. "The Theoretical
Utility of Typologies of Terrorism: Lessons and Opportunities." Pages
153-95 in Michael Stohl, ed., The Politics of Terrorism. 3d ed. New
York: Marcel Dekker, 1988.
Foote, Donna. "A Shadow Government: An Insider Describes the Workings
of the IRA, Europe's Most Potent Guerrilla Organization," Newsweek,
September 12, 1988, 37-38.
Gunaratna, Rohan. "LTTE Child Combatants," Jane's Intelligence
Review, July 1998.
Heskin, Ken. "The Psychology of Terrorism in Ireland." Pages
88-105 in Yonah Alexander and Alan O'Day, eds., Terrorism in Ireland.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984.
Jaber, Hela. Hezbollah: Born with a Vengeance. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1977 (fragments).
Jerome, Richard. "Japan's Mad Messiah: Jailed in Tokyo's Subway Gassing,
A Guru is Alone with His Grand Delusions," People Weekly, 43, No.
23, June 12, 1995, 48.
Joshi, Monoj. "On the Razor's Edge: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam," Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 19, No. 1, 1996, 19-42.
Juergensmeyer, Mark. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of
Religious Violence. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000 (fragments).
Kaplan, David, and Andrew Marshall. The Cult at the End of the World: The
Terrifying Story of the Aum Doomsday Cult, from the Subways of Tokyo to the
Nuclear Arsenals of Russia. New York: Crown, 1996 (fragments).
Karan, Vijay. War by Stealth: Terrorism in India. New Delhi: Viking (Penguin
Books India), 1997 (fragments).
Kellen, Konrad. "Ideology and Rebellion: Terrorism in West Germany."
Pages 43-58 in Walter Reich, ed., Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies,
Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind. Washington: Woodrow Wilson Center,
1998.
Kolinsky, Eva. "Terrorism in West Germany. Pages 75-76 in Juliet Lodge,
ed., The Threat of Terrorism. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1988.
Kramer, Martin. "The Structure of Shi'ite Terrorism." Pages 43-52
in Anat Kurz, ed., Contemporary Trends in World Terrorism. New York:
Praeger, 1987.
Kurz, Anat, with Nahman Tal. Hamas: Radical Islam in a National Struggle.
Tel Aviv: Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University, 1997 (fragments).
Lewis, Bernard. "License to Kill: Usama bin Ladin's Declaration of
Jihad," Foreign Affairs, 77, No. 6, November/December 1998, 14-19.
Melman, Yossi. The Master Terrorist: The True Story Behind Abu Nidal.
New York: Adama, 1986 (fragments).
Mylroie, Laurie. "The World Trade Center Bomb: Who Is Ramzi Yousef? And
Why It Matters," U.S. News and World Report, 118, No. 7, February
20, 1995, 50-54.
Reeve, Simon. The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the
Future of Terrorism. Boston: Simon Reeve/Northeastern University Press,
1999 (fragments).
Stern, Jessica. The Ultimate Terrorists. Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1999.
Watanabe, Manabu. "Religion and Violence in Japan Today: A
Chronological and Doctrinal Analysis of Aum Shinrikyo," Terrorism and
Political Violence [London], 10, No. 4, Winter 1998, 80-100.
Wege, Carl Anthony. "The Abu Nidal Organization," Terrorism,
14, January-March 1991, 59-66.
Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P. Guerrillas and Revolution in Latin America: A
Comparative Study of Insurgents and Regimes since 1956. Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992 (fragments).
STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE
October (typologies and theories of terrorism)
Typologies:
Flemming, Peter A., Michael Stohl, and Alex P. Schmid
(1998).
Theories:
Hudson R. A. (1999 - fragments)
Theories:
Stern J. (1999 - fragments).
Theories:
Berkowitz B.J. (1972 - fragments).
November (case-studies of nationalist-separatist
terrorism)
Spanish terrorism: Hudson R. A. (1999 - fragments); Clark R. (1983).
Irish terrorism:
Foote D. (1988); Heskin K. (1984).
Kurdish terrorism:
Ciment j. (1996); Entassar N. (1992).
Palestinian terrorism:
Melman Y. (1986); Kurz A. (1997); Wege C. A.
(1991); Amos II, John W. (1985).
December (case-studies of political terrorism)
Italian terrorism: Hudson R. A. (1999 - fragments); Della Porta D.
(1992); Ferracuti F. (1981, 1990).
German terrorism:
Kolinsky E. (1988); Kellen K. (1998).
Latin American terrorism:
Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P. (1992).
Greek terrorism:
Corsun A. (1992); Kramer M. (1987); Dyle L. (1997).
January (case-studies of religious terrorism)
Japanese terrorism: Watanabe M. (1998); Gerome R. (1995); Kaplan, D.,
and Marshall A. (1998).
Indian terrorism:
Joshi M. (1996); Gunaratna R. (1998); Karan V. (1997).
Islamic terrorism:
Juergensmeyer, M. (2000); Jaber H. (1977); Reeve S.
(1999); Mylroie L. (1995);
