Alex P. Schmid

Terrorism and democracy

When there is a confrontation between the absolute politics of terrorism and the compromising politics of democracies, the former seems to be in a position of advantage. This essay discusses the strengths of democracies (non‐violent change through elections, open criticism in and by the media, courts that protect the weak against the strong) as well as their weaknesses (freedom of movement and association, abundance of accessible targets and a legal system that requires solid proof). The weaknesses of democratic societies are increased by some features of the market system (it not only increases wealth but also inequality, sells weapons to supporters of terrorism, manages their banking and offers them access to the media through the commercial basis of the concept of news value). Ultimately, the struggle between terrorism and democracy is one for legitimacy and maintaining the latter is strategically more important for democratic governments than winning short‐term victories through tactical ‘quick fixes’...

FRAMEWORKS FOR CONCEPTUALISING TERRORISM

Terrorism has been situated—and thereby implicitly also defined—in various contexts such as crime, politics, war, propaganda and religion. Depending on which framework one chooses, certain aspects of terrorism get exposed while others are placed ‘outside the picture’ if only one framework is utilised. In this article five conceptual lenses are utilised: 1. terrorism as/and crime; 2. terrorism as/and politics; 3. terrorism as/and warfare; 4. terrorism as/and communication; and 5. terrorism as/and religious fundamentalism.

Western responses to terrorism: A twenty‐five year balance sheet

This concluding essay surveys the kinds of responses that have been developed by Western nations over the past 25 years, both domestically and internationally, and also considers the kinds of responses that have not been adequately developed. Special attention is devoted to the military dimension, which has received considerable notice in recent years, and the propaganda dimension, never adequately addressed in the literature. The study also examines the effectiveness and democratic acceptability of the various response options: sometimes it is the effectiveness of certain options that can be questioned, while at other times it is the acceptability of a particular option for a democratic state that is more in doubt. Finally, the question to what extent the balance between acceptability and effectiveness has been achieved in various democratic states faced with varying forms and degrees of terrorism is addressed. What factors affect this balance and under what circumstances is one side of the equation favo...

Terrorism and the media: The ethics of publicity∗

After distinguishing three main purposes of terrorism (intimidation, blackmail and propaganda), the author maintains that the revolution in communication technology since the 1870s has favoured the emergence of terroristic ‘propaganda by the deed’. Such terrorism aims at gaining access to the news system through the creation of violent pseudo‐events. The implications for the medias code of ethics are illustrated by a case study on the coverage of the hijacking of TWA flight #847 in June 1985. The use of terrorists by the media turns out to be as crucial as the use of the media by the terrorists. Media principles and news practices are compared and the agenda‐setting power of the media is detailed. Dilemmas arising from the fact that news is a commercial product as well as a social product are identified. Existing codes of ethics are found to be insufficient and it is suggested that it is time for a new professional journalistic code and rules of enforcement be formulated by the media themselves to preven...

Creating a composite index for assessing country performance in the field of human rights: proposal for a new methodology

This article sets out to provide a new methodology for attributing weights to the various indicators of human rights abuse. A number of studies have already collected data on various indicators of human rights abuse. These studies fall short, however, because they do not attribute weight to these indicators, and thus produce neither a composite indicator nor a group classification of countries according to their overall levels of performance. Relative weights can be attributed to these indicators in one of two ways. First, indicators can be weighted to reflect the values of the one constructing the index-an arbitrary scale. Alternatively, our methodology defines the extreme ends of the spectrum of human rights records by some widely acceptable standard, and then assesses the weights for the whole spectrum through Discriminant Analysis. Although this methodology will not end all the controversies on giving each human right indicator its relative place, nor rank individual countries on a world scale, this method is a step closer to a more objective measurement of human rights performance.

Countering terrorism in the Netherlands

This essay contends that there is something called the ‘Dutch approach’ to anti‐terrorism. The great degree of tolerance in Dutch society has absorbed many protests and, with few exceptions, prevented them from evolving beyond material destruction. Most protest groups were co‐opted even before they reached this stage. The authorities have combined pragmatism with strict adherence to the rule of law. Downright repression has been exceptional and negotiation with terrorists during incidents or with leaders from their constituency afterwards has been the rule. No fully‐grown terrorist underground organization has ever evolved. International terrorists have found few local sympathizers. Both local militants and foreign terrorists have received fair trials and have sometimes been set free when legal procedures were not strictly followed or evidence could not stand up in court. Imprisoned extremists have not been successful in mobilizing sympathizers from the outside who could be recruited to form new generatio...

Terrorism and Human Rights: A Perspective from the United Nations

ABSTRACT The chapter begins with a discussion of the draft definition of terrorism in the UN Ad Hoc Committee on Terrorism, a definition which covers both terrorist blackmail and intimidation of target audiences but does not address the terrorist goal of impressing potential and actual constituencies with their “propaganda by the deed”. It distinguishes then between a military response to terrorism, based on maximum force within the framework of the laws of war, and a law enforcement response, based on minimal use of force, within the framework of the rule of law. Subsequently twelve principles of the rule of law are outlined and their relationship to human rights is clarified. Next a discussion of specific human rights and how they relate to terrorism and countering terrorism follows. The activities of the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime are discussed in the framework of the three-pronged UN Strategy against international terrorism. The chapter ends by stressed that upholding human rights and effective anti-terrorist measures are not exclusive. On the contrary: human rights and the rule of law are essential tools in the effort to combat terrorism. By its very nature, terrorism is an assault on the fundamental principles of law, order, human rights, and peaceful settlement of disputes upon which the United Nations is established. K. Annan, 4 October 2002

Comments on Marc Sageman's Polemic “The Stagnation in Terrorism Research”

Marc Sageman’s lamenting about the ‘‘Stagnation in Terrorism Research’’ stands in stark contradiction to my conclusion in the Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research (2011) that ‘‘Terrorism Studies—despite many shortcomings—has matured’’ and that ‘‘Terrorism Studies has never been in better shape than now.’’ While I agree with much else of what Marc Sageman says, there are a few points I disagree with. To begin with the notion of ‘‘stagnation’’: Terrorism Studies began, with few exceptions (Crozier, 1960; Thornton, 1964; Walter, 1964, 1969; Gaucher, 1965), in the 1970s. Yet there had never been a period of real bloom in the 20th century—something which logically should precede the alleged stagnation after 9=11. As Andrew Silke noted in 2006: