Terrorist Activities and Terrorist Targets - A Tentative Typology (From Behavioral and Quantitative Perspectives on Terrorism, P 11-32, 1981, Yonah Alexander and John M Gleason, eds. - See NCJ-84379)

• NCJ Number: 84380
• Author(s): E A Fattah
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Pergamon Press, Inc
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Topics discussed are defining terrorism, categorizing terrorism, victimological classifications of terrorism, and a typology of terrorist targets.

Abstract

The search for a useful definition of terrorism is a search for one or more denominators common to all terrorist activities. One such denominator is the use of violence -- actual or threatened, physical or psychological -- in some extreme form to achieve certain ends. Terrorism may be political or nonpolitical, although most terrorist acts are committed by groups claiming a political identity or political goals. Terrorism may also be repressive (used by a government to control a population), defensive (used by a private group to maintain the status quo or ensure order), or offensive (used against a regime or political system). Terrorism can be national or transnational, legitimate (countermeasures against aggression) or illegitimate (difficult to justify ideologically or methodologically). Victimological classifications of terrorism include individual and mass terror, random and selective terror, and face-to-face terrorism and terrorism at a distance. Terrorist targets may be typed as immediate and secondary, appropriate and inappropriate, accessible and inaccessible, and personalized and generalized. In understanding how and why certain terrorist groups select their targets and the tactics generally used against such targets, target hardening, proven to be an effective preventive measure, can be improved. A total of 22 references are provided.