Chapter Topic Discussions

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Chapter 1: Terrorism: First Impressions 

  • Are deliberate attacks against civilians legitimate acts of war?
  • Were deliberate attacks on civilians during the Second World War acts of terrorism?
  • If these attacks were acts of terrorism, were some attacks justifiable acts of terrorism?
  • Is there such a thing as justifiable terrorism? Is terrorism malum in se or malum prohibitum?
  • Is the practice of total war by individuals or small and poorly armed groups different from its practice by nations and standing armies? How so or how not? 

Chapter 2: The Nature of the Beast: Defining Terrorism 

  • Che Guevara is revered by many on the left as a “principled” revolutionary. He believed that a revolutionary “spark” was needed to create revolution throughout Latin America. Guevara was killed in Bolivia trying to prove his theory. Was Che Guevara an internationalist freedom fighter?
  • The United States used sabotage to destabilize Cuba’s economy and government and plotted to assassinate Fidel Castro. Did the United States engage in state-sponsored terrorism? Compare this to the Soviet Union’s support of its allies. Is there a difference?
  • The Soviet Union sponsored the Cuban troop presence in Africa during the 1970s. The wars in Angola, Ethiopia/Somalia, and Mozambique were particularly bloody. Did the Soviet Union engage in state-sponsored terrorism? Compare this to the United States’ support of its allies. Is there a difference?
  • During the Soviet–United States rivalry in Angola, Jonas Savimbi commanded the pro-Western UNITA army. He was labeled as a freedom fighter by his U.S. patrons. Savimbi never overthrew the MPLA government. Promising efforts to share power after an election in 1992 ended in the resumption of the war when Savimbi refused to acknowledge his electoral defeat, and a 1994 cease-fire collapsed. From the U.S. perspective, has Jonas Savimbi’s status as a freedom fighter changed? If so, when and how?
  • The Sandinistas overthrew a violent and corrupt government. The Contras were presented by the Reagan administration as an army of freedom fighters battling a totalitarian Communist government. Contra atrocities against civilians were documented. Were the Contras freedom fighters? How do their documented atrocities affect your opinion? 

Chapter 3: Beginnings: The Causes of Terrorism

  • What role do you think these incidents had in precipitating the IRA’s and PLO’s cycles of violence?
  • Were the IRA’s and PLO’s tactics and targets justifiable responses to these incidents?
  • What, in your opinion, would have been the outcome in Northern Ireland if the British government had responded peacefully to the Irish Catholics’ emulation of the American civil rights movement?
  • What, in your opinion, would have been the outcome if the Jordanian government had not responded militarily to the Palestinian presence in Jordan?
  • How should the world community have responded to Bloody Sunday and Black September?

Chapter 4: Terror From Above: Terrorism by the State 

  • Are authoritarian methods morally compatible with democratic principles and institutions?
  • Under what circumstances are authoritarian policies justifiable and necessary, even in democracies with strong constitutional traditions?
  • The postwar Red Scare investigations in the United States have been labeled by many as “witch hunts.” Were these investigations nevertheless justifiable, considering the external threat from the Soviet Union?
  • The British security services detained hundreds of innocent people and searched the homes of many thousands of non-IRA members. Considering the threat from the IRA, were these inconveniences nevertheless justifiable?
  • Assume for a moment that some security environments justify the use of authoritarian measures by democracies. What kind of “watchdog” checks and balances are needed to ensure that democracies do not move toward permanent authoritarianism? 

Chapter 5: Terror From Below: Terrorism by Dissidents 

  • Is terrorism a legitimate tactic in a war for national independence? Does the quest for national freedom justify the use of terrorist tactics?
  • When a cause is considered just, is it acceptable to use propaganda to depict the enemy as uncompromisingly corrupt, decadent, and ruthless, regardless of the truth of these allegations?
  • Is suicidal resistance merely fanatical and irrational, or is it a higher form of commitment to one’s struggle for freedom? Is this type of indoctrination and myth building necessary to sustain this level of commitment to a just cause?
  • When a cause is just, are arms smuggling and drug trafficking acceptable options for raising funds?
  • Were the Tamil Tigers terrorists or freedom fighters?

Chapter 6: Violence in the Name of the Faith: Religious Terrorism 

  • Is faith-motivated activism a constructive force for change?
  • At what point does the character of faith-motivated activism become extremist and terrorist?
  • Does faith-based natural law justify acts of violence?
  • Why do religious traditions that supposedly promote peace, justice, and rewards for spiritual devotion have so many followers who piously engage in violence, repression, and intolerance?
  • What is the future of faith-based terrorism?

Chapter 7: Violent Ideologies: Terrorism From the Left and Right 

  • What are common themes in these case studies of revolutionary nationalists?
  • In what ways do these examples differ?
  • Were these leaders freedom fighters? Were they terrorists?
  • Compare and contrast the points in their lives at which these individuals became radicals.
  • Were Fidel Castro and Ho Chi Minh justified in taking up arms against their respective enemies?
  • Should the mission of the armed forces include stepping in to save the nation, even at the expense of democratic liberties?
  • Was the Argentine military coup d’état necessary, considering the violent political environment?
  • Was the Chilean military coup d’état justifiable, considering the damage Allende’s policies had caused the economy and the influx of communist aid and left-wing activists?
  • What are the reasons for the strong undercurrent of fascism in many Latin American armed forces?
  • To what degree did the United States benefit from the coups in Chile and Argentina? To what degree was the United States harmed by these coups?

Chapter 8: Terrorist Spillovers: International Terrorism 

  • Is the international arena a legitimate option for the expression of grievances?
  • Is Europe an appropriate venue for conflicts originating in the Middle East or North Africa?
  • Are some grievances more legitimate, or more acceptable, for spillovers?
  • What is the likely future of spillover attacks in Europe?
  • Since Europe has historically been perceived to be an easy battlefield with soft targets, should the European Union “harden” itself?

Chapter 9: Emerging Terrorist Environments: Gender-Selective Political Violence and Criminal Dissident Terrorism 

  • Why was systematic violence against women historically defined as something other than terrorism? Does it make sense to define such violence as terrorism in the modern era?
  • At what point does violence against women become an act of terrorism? What are the parameters of terrorism against women?
  • What are the causes of systematic violence against women? Is it likely to occur more often in some sociopolitical environments than others?
  • How should governments and international organizations respond to gender-selective terrorism against women?
  • What are the long-term implications of the emerging recognition of the existence of terrorism against women?

Chapter 10: Tools of the Trade: Tactics and Targets of Terrorists 

  • Were the Lebanese militia fighters terrorists or freedom fighters?
  • Is terrorism “poor man’s warfare” and therefore a legitimate option for waging war?
  • Were the suicide bombings acceptable methods for opposing the deployment of the MNF?
  • Was the presence of Western soldiers indeed an understandable precipitating cause of Amal’s and Hezbollah’s resistance?
  • Were the targets—the French and American headquarters—logical targets for relatively weak opposition forces?

Chapter 11: The Information Battleground: Terrorist Violence and the Role of the Media 

  • Should the United States adopt information-control regulations similar to Britain’s Official Secrets Act?
  • What are the policy implications of permitting journalists to have the same degree of access to information as occurred during the Vietnam War?
  • What are the policy implications of permitting journalists to have the same degree of access to information as occurred during the Gulf War?
  • Under what circumstances should the state increase restrictions on the media? How would you justify these restrictions?
  • Do you think that the media in democracies are more prone to manipulation by terrorists? Is this a myth?

Chapter 12: The American Case: Terrorism in the United States 

  • Assume that a nascent anarchist movement continues in its opposition to globalism. How should the modern leftist movement be described? What is the potential for violence originating from modern extremists on the left?
  • Keeping in mind the many conspiracy and mystical beliefs of the American right, what is the potential for violence from adherents of these theories to the modern American environment?
  • As a matter of policy, how closely should hate and antigovernment groups be monitored? What restrictions should be imposed on their activities? Why?
  • Is the American activity profile truly an idiosyncratic profile, or can it be compared with other nations’ environments? If so, how? If not, why not?
  • What is the likelihood that the new millennium will witness a resurgence of a rightist movement on the scale of the 1990s Patriot movement? What trends indicate that it will occur? What trends indicate that it will not occur?

Chapter 13: Counterterrorism: The Options 

  • How necessary are elite counterterrorism units? Why?
  • How effective do you think these elite units are?
  • What other counterterrorist options do you think can be effective without resorting to the deployment of elite units?
  • Which counterterrorist options work most efficiently in conjunction with elite units? Which options work least efficiently?
  • In the long term, what impact will elite units have in the war against international terrorism?

Chapter 14: A New Era: Homeland Security 

  • How serious is the threat of catastrophic terrorism?
  • Can catastrophic attacks be prevented?
  • How would a catastrophic terrorist attack affect American homeland security culture?
  • How will society in general be affected by a catastrophic attack?
  • What is the likelihood that homeland security authority will be expanded in the future?

Chapter 15: What Next? The Future of Terrorism

  • How serious is the threat from abuses in the use of new technologies?
  • How should new technologies be regulated? Can they be regulated?
  • Is it sometimes necessary to sacrifice a few freedoms to protect national security and to ensure the long-term viability of civil liberty?
  • Should the same protocols be used for domestic electronic surveillance and foreign surveillance? Why?
  • What is the likelihood that new surveillance technologies will be used as tools of repression by authoritarian regimes in the near future?