The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why

By Hudson, Rex A.

Book Id: WPLBN0000697925
Format Type: PDF eBook
File Size: 1.53 MB.
Reproduction Date: 2005

Title:	The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why
Author:	Hudson, Rex A.
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Government publications, Armed Forces, Military law
Collections:	Military Law Review
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	Government Publication


Citation APA MLA Chicago Hudson, R. A. (n.d.). The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Military Law Review

Excerpt
Excerpt: Dear Reader: This product was prepared by the staff of the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under an Interagency Agreement with the sponsoring United States Government agency. The Federal Research Division is the Library of Congress's primary fee-for-service research unit and has served United States Government agencies since 1948. At the request of Executive and Judicial branch agencies, and on a cost-recovery basis, the Division prepares customized studies and reports, chronologies, bibliographies, foreign-language abstracts, databases, and other directed-research products in hardcopy and electronic media. The research includes a broad spectrum of social sciences, physical sciences, and humanities topics using the collections of the Library of Congress and other information sources world-wide.

Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: MINDSETS OF MASS DESTRUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 New Types of Post-Cold War Terrorists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 New Forms of Terrorist-Threat Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 TERMS OF ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Defining Terrorism and Terrorists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Terrorist Group Typologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 APPROACHES TO TERRORISM ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The Multicausal Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The Political Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The Organizational Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 The Physiological Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The Psychological Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 GENERAL HYPOTHESES OF TERRORISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Negative Identity Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Narcissistic Rage Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE TERRORIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Terrorist Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Process of Joining a Terrorist Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 The Terrorist as Mentally Ill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The Terrorist as Suicidal Fanatic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Fanatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Suicide Terrorists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Terrorist Group Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Pressures to Conform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Pressures to Commit Acts of Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Terrorist Rationalization of Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 The Terrorist?s Ideological or Religious Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41