NCJ Number
84379
Editor(s)
Y Alexander,
J M Gleason
Date Published
1981
Length
405 pages
Annotation
Essays are presented under the topics of definitional and typological approaches to terrorism; psychological perspectives on terrorism; data bases, quantitative analyses, and case studies of terrorism; and future prospects for terrorism.
Abstract
Definitional problems in the study of terrorism and a tentative typology of terrorist activities and targets are discussed in two introductory essays. Studies' on psychological perspectives of terrorism treat the psychodynamics of terrorism, the psychological sequelae of terrorization, the contagion and attraction of terror and terrorism, a psychological role model for terrorist organizational functions, and a case study of the social and psychodynamic pressures that produced an American revolutionary terrorist. The quantitative study of terrorism is examined in essays focusing on the Iterate data base that monitors transnational terrorism, quantitative approaches to the study of diffusion patterns in transnational terrorism, the dynamics of insurgent violence, perspectives for quantitative research on Third World terrorism, and multivariate time series analysis. Also considered are terrorism, alienation, and German society, and terrorism, violence, and the international transfer of conventional armaments. The essay on the future prospects for terrorism considers the likelihood of terrorists attempting to use chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Notes accompany each presentation. A selected bibliography with about 360 listings is provided, along with a subject index. For individual entries, see NCJ 84380-85.