TERRORISM AND MILITARY THEORY: AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
In: Terrorism and political violence, Band 3, Heft 1, S. 6-33
ISSN: 0954-6553
LATE TWENTIETH-CENTURY TERRORISM SHOULD BE VIEWED AS A FORM OF WAR AND FALLS WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF MILITARY THEORY. TERRORISM, LIKE GUERRILLA WARFARE A FORM OF UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE, REPRESENTS A REVIVAL OF PRIMITIVE WARFARE. DISTINCTIONS OF TERRORISM FROM GUERRILLA WARFARE ARE FORMALISTIC AND IGNORE OPTIONS TO CONDUCT AND ACTUAL PRACTICE. THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF CONTEMPORARY TERRORISM ARE EXAMINED. BESIDES CLASSICAL DOCTRINE ON TYRANNICIDE, THE THEORY ALSO DERIVES FROM THE GRAECO-ROMAN MILITARY DOCTRINE OF STRATAGEM, WHICH INFLUENCED THE ISLAMIC IDEA OF JIHAD AND HAS A DEMONSTRABLE RECORD IN WESTERN MILITARY THOUGHT FROM ANTIQUITY TO MODERN GUERRILLA TERRORISTS. TERRORISM AS AN OFFSHOOT OF STRATAGEM STRESSES PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE, AVOIDANCE OF DIRECT CONFRONTATION, AND A TEST OF MORAL ENDURANCE. TERRORISM IS A STRATEGY PRONE TO APPEAR UNDER FAVORABLE CONDITIONS, NOT A SOCIETAL PROBLEM WITH A DEFINITE SOLUTION.