5000-Chapter 1. Mutating Forms of Terrorism
The purpose of this research is to examine the concept and of modern-day terrorism as a manifestation of group-organization behavior. One must begin with a working definition of the term, as well as a conceptual structure and method for understanding terrorism as a product or feature of historical, social, religious, and political contexts. In that regard, White (2003) makes the point that in the modern age terrorism has "mutated" in meaning owing more or less to its sociology. A key feature of his discussion is that terrorism can be defined only with difficulty and only with reference to the historical context in which it is being articulated. That makes sense in light of traditional ideas of terrorism as "the systematic use of terror or unpredictable violence against governments, publics, or individuals to attain a political objective" ("Terrorism"). In recent years, media coverage and analytical literature on the subject demonstrates that such a definition does not capture the abundant evidence that, at a time when government policy has articulated a mission of eradicating terrorism from common contemporary experience, some individuals seem only too happy to embrace and adopt both the means and ends of terrorism. Importantly, such persons reject the option of seeking access to political change through political institutions and mechanisms. Instead, they appear to be intent on destroying such institutions to achieve media recognition.
White tracks the evolution of the designation terrorism in order to highlight the relevance of context to definition. He locates the origin of modern terrorism in the French Revolution, although the Terror was identified with the government. By the time of the Revolution of 1848, the term was meant to denote nongovernment actors such as revolutionaries. At the time of the fin de siFcle, terrorism referred to anarchists and other antigovernment groups. Af...