the common understanding of terrorism is that it is the use or the threat of the use of violence intended to influence a target group through fear. it is important to note that this target group is not necessarily the victim of the terrorist acts, but rather the witnesses. the fear within the target group causes social cohesion to disintegrate and increases the power of the terrorists. the concept can be thought of as a triangle:
after class, i found myself thinking about this concept in terms of politics. it's a stretch, but one could almost argue that some current political rhetoric is causing fear among certain groups of the american population, and that this fear is influencing their behavior. the catch in this argument is that it is not politicians who are threatening the american population with violence, they are simply highlighting the threats of others (for example: "the terrorists will get us unless we do X" or "homosexuality is going to destroy american society"). their intent may be the same: by highlighting these threats, politicians create or encourage fear, and this fear makes their constituents easier to control (maybe control is a poor word to use - manipulate? not sure).
anyway, despite the fact that these are just speculations, i think it's interesting that a parallel (however tenuous) between american politics and terrorism can be made at all. clausewitz wrote that war is politics by other means, but can we maybe also say that, sometimes at least, politics is terrorism by other means? probably a stretch, but interesting nonetheless...
