Revija za sociologiju, Vol. 10 No. 3-4, 1980.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
Causes of Terrorism
Katarina Tomaševski
; Institut za društvena istraživanja, Zagreb
Sažetak
Research on political violence, including terrorism, can broadly be divided into two phases: the first one, quantitative, could be described as seeking answers to questions: who did what, when and how. That one has been extensively dealt with in the current social science literature. The second phase leads into a more thorough research of human behaviour by posing the dilemma why did particular people do such a thing as an act of terrorism or a political murder. In spite of the fact that causality cannot be traced all the way neither generalized without becoming inapplicable, research on causes is far more advantageous. It enables us to look for more definite solutions for the problems of political violence by curing its causes instead of merely punishing for its consequences. Besides, we are thus moving from describing and categorizing what has happened to predicting what is likely to happen.
Data on political violence, already gathered and systematized, form the framework for research of its causes. However, the quest for scientific objectivity requires utmost caution when analyzing such data: information is often biased, statistics are frequently incomparable. That is an indication that consensus on what political violence really is has not yet been reached. Objective criteria for its definition are generally supplemented by subjective connotations, such as motives and aims of the perpetrators and perceptions of researchers or of the general public.
Identification of causes of political violence has recently gained much attention in literature on terrorism. There are basically four types of terrorism determined by the causes established so far. First, we have to take account political and/or ideological terrorism often tied to the appearance and strategy of the New Left. Secondly, terrorism is also one of the consequences of ethnic and racial separatist or emancipatory movements. The third type could be attributed to socio-economic conditions and aspirations of marginalized social strata, such as students at over-crowded universities, the unemployed or migrant-workers. The fourth type could be defined as pathological terrorism, and criminal terrorist acts can be subsumed into that category.
Although terrorism cannot be explained by one set of causes only, as it usually falls into more than one type of the four enumerated above, such a classification serves as a beginning of identification of its causes.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
155984
URI
Datum izdavanja:
31.12.1980.
Posjeta: 3.224 *