Human Security, Law and the Prevention of Terrorism by Andrej Zwitter

Author:Andrej Zwitter [Zwitter, Andrej]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138874251
Google: q3zKrQEACAAJ
Amazon: B004OBZTDO
Barnesnoble: B004OBZTDO
Goodreads: 20132392
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-04-09T10:00:11+00:00

Although the physical threat posed by terrorism is an important aspect, it must not be confused with a root cause. It has been argued in a previous chapter that a preventive approach to terrorism makes it necessary to see it as a derivative threat. Nevertheless, it has to be asked whether this is a relevant root cause for terrorism as well. What are the mechanisms that lead someone from experiencing personal insecurity to becoming a terrorist?

The most obvious link between personal security and terrorism is revenge. A person (or someone close to him) gets hurt physically or mentally and seeks to cause harm to the assumed perpetrator. Another possible scenario is that a person (or someone close to him) is threatened and therefore resorts to ‘preventive self-defence’. There is of course no causal and compulsory link that makes people resort to terrorism; it always depends on the mindset of the individual. Passive (mental) support for terrorist groups is more likely when there is only limited personal commitment to the ideology.

Ted Gurr describes the fundamentally human phenomenon of force and counterforce as one element to coercive balance; anger evolves particularly if the force is believed to be illicit or unjust. ‘If a regime responds to the threat or use of force with greater force, the effect is likely to be an intensification of resistance: dissidents will resort to greater force.’76 The perception of the act of a regime being illicit or unjust thereby depends strongly on the ideological understanding of the targeted group as to why it has become the target. This escalating spiral of force and counterforce is limited by two inherent limitations: the depletion of one group’s resources for coercion, or the attainment of a genocidal victory by one group.77

The more equal both groups are in terms of their capacity of coercion the more likely is the outbreak of an internal war. Successfully dealing with the dissidents reduces this likelihood. To overthrow a regime requires at least an equal capacity on the part of the dissidents. If the dissidents’ capacity is very small and the violent oppression by the regime is strong enough and involves measures to eradicate conspiracy at its very beginning (in particular the use of intelligence services against the population – the police state), then as a result we have the archetypical dictatorship. If a revolution has resulted in the successful overthrow of a regime and the stabilization of power with the same measures described, the result would reflect what was described above as the ‘capability of terrorism’ – where terrorism becomes state terrorism. For the purposes of finding a preventive solution to these scenarios, it has to be considered that within a democratic (non-oppressive and human rights-respecting) state the solution cannot be mere force; neither the establishment of a police state, nor the use of similar means under cover in foreign countries. It becomes clear that a successful suppression of dissident tensions is only possible with peaceful and long-term preventive means.

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