Purpose and Motivation for Terrorism
Throughout history, individuals, organizations, and nation-states for more reasons than there are definitions to explain terrorism in the first place have perpetrated terrorist attacks. However, the common thread underlying the motivation for terrorism is that through horrific acts of violence, the threat of violence, and especially fear the terrorists themselves attempt to compensate for their relative lack of resources, whether it be political power, military power, financial power, manpower, or legitimate philosophical, religious, or nationalistic demands. In virtually all cases, the terrorists lack the necessary resources to bring about change through lawful processes. These relatively small organizations or nation-states attempt to exert influence or power exponentially larger than their resources would normally facilitate. For example, in the case of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, 18 members of Al Qaeda with a budget of about $500,000 unquestionably changed the American way of life, whether for the better or worse is debatable, but clearly, significant damage was achieved not just to the World Trade Center or to the Pentagon but to the psyche of the American people and to some extent to the entire Western World.
“The critical role fear plays in the terrorist strategy has been acknowledged by leading security experts. The Geneva Declaration on Terrorism asserts that ‘the distinguishing feature of terrorism is fear and this fear is stimulated by threats of indiscriminate and horrifying forms of violence directed against ordinary people everywhere.’ Because terrorists lack the military prowess, political power, and material resources of their adversary, their strategy is critically dependent upon the strategic benefits of inciting a perception of vulnerability that far exceeds realistic dangers, an aim that depends heavily upon mass-media publicity. The threat of terrorism should thus bear ‘no relation to the actual statistical probability of one’s being killed or injured in a terror attack or even of a terror attack taking place at all.’ The strategy of terrorism aims to undermine the public’s sense of security, disrupt everyday life, and sway public opinion by ‘creating an unremitting, paralyzing sensation of fear.’ Terrorists strive to provoke a pervasive feeling of threat that comes to assume priority over all other social and political concerns…It is not surprising that fear and apprehension can have considerable political consequence. The role of emotions in most matters of political interest is powerful and pervasive because emotions bias judgments, frame perceptions, prime supporting memories, and influence agenda setting. Precisely these psychological constructs also characterize the basis of the media’s influence on public opinion. Affective influences on attention, memory, and judgment contribute to widespread experience of disproportionate vulnerability and looming threat appraisal that make terrorism a more psychologically complex phenomenon than mere ‘scare tactics.’ (Breckenridge and Zimbardo, 2007, pp. 117 – 118).”