1. Terrorism: Undefinable and Out-of-Context?
- Author:
- Jochen Hippler
- Publication Date:
- 01-2016
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Institute for Development and Peace
- Abstract:
- Terrorism studies have developed since the 1970s. But the research field still suffers from several weaknesses: the inability to formulate a consensus on what exactly “terrorism” is; the vagueness and arbitrariness of the practical usage of the term “terrorism”; its politicization and the habit to use it as a moral label instead as an analytical tool; and the tendency to use the term outside of any political context. This study firstly reconsiders these conceptual weaknesses, and proposes how to deal with them. Secondly, it suggests to focus terrorism studies more on the political contexts, which produce domestic and international terrorism, by using the key example of terrorism resulting from a context of civil wars and insurgencies. The study argues that terrorism is not an ideology, not a type of warfare, rarely a strategy, but mostly a tactical instrument, which has to be analyzed in the respective political contexts.
- Topic:
- Civil War, Development, Terrorism, Conflict, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus