International Terrorism: Ideology, Nationalism, and State Sponsors

Introduction: Defining Terrorism and Its Common Roots

Terrorism is the notion of inflicting violence or terror on a population to further some kind of agenda without adhering to the rules regulating combat established by the Geneva Conventions. This is because terrorists often have specific aims — whether political, ideological, or religious — in furthering goals that are typically excluded from the institutions governing politics and society. Terrorists exist, even at times with popular support, as outsiders trying to make their voices heard and their desired outcomes a reality.

Considering three distinct forms of terrorism — ideological, nationalist, and state-sponsored — and case samples exemplifying each, one can draw conclusions about why terrorist groups act as they do. Terrorists act out of necessity, or desperation, and they see terrorism as the last available option in a battle in which they are the heavy underdog. While terrorist groups have different aims, courses of action, and final goals, they share the feeling that they have been repressed by existing institutions and are forced to fight back, with terrorism as the next best available option.

Additionally, terrorist groups often respond with violence to incidents in which they feel they have been wronged. There are positive expectations, but when those expectations go unmet, the groups that feel themselves to be oppressed or not benefiting become marginalized and resort to terrorism to achieve their goals.

Ideological Terrorism: The Red Army Faction

An example of ideological terrorism, the Baader-Meinhof Group in Germany became a leading left-wing organization in West Germany. As West Germany was dominated by United States notions of democracy, the left-wing Red Army Faction was going against the grain of society. Described by government forces as a terrorist group, it saw itself as a military organization forced to rely on urban guerrilla tactics to achieve its aims. The roots of the organization lay with students, but the opposition grew as Communism was outlawed and many ex-Nazi right-wingers came to assume political office.

This growing threat of right-wing influence in the government motivated the youth, as did a series of inciting events — including the death of a student shot by a member of the military. Rising tension led to a strong left-wing opposition and a right-wing counter-response, which culminated in the formation of the Red Army Faction. After training with the PLO, the Red Army Faction returned to Germany to oppose what it saw as the urban imperialistic course of the country, instigating a series of bank robberies and arson attacks.

The actions of the Red Army Faction culminated in the German Autumn of 1977, which saw substantial deaths, a major hijacking with Arab ties, and ultimately resulted in the deaths of many key members of the Baader-Meinhof Group. This was a period of deep fear among Germans in the aftermath of World War II. The group's objectives were never clearly articulated, but it stood in opposition to the right-wing tendencies of West Germany and in support of a more leftist government. It was thus an ideological war that resulted in failure: the Red Army Faction generated fear but made no substantial political gains.

Nationalist Terrorism: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

An organization fighting for political and territorial gains is the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, who seek an independent state within Sri Lanka inhabited by Tamils. Sri Lanka is a deeply cleavaged society, and in this case the ethnic cleavage has generated a powerful nationalist movement that the terrorist group seeks to advance. The Liberation Tigers are a highly militaristic group whose members are willing to carry out suicide attacks and to take their own lives if captured. It also maintains administrative control over certain areas of the country, functioning as an opposition government backed by military capability — a position that arguably strengthens its claim to legitimacy.

Nevertheless, the Liberation Tigers are considered a terrorist organization because they resort to violence against civilians in an attempt to further their goal of independence. They have a record of major attacks on civilians and successful assassinations of political rivals and enemies. Their campaign is therefore much more than a separatist movement — it amounts to a war against the government of Sri Lanka. Yet it is not a traditional war; it is one encompassed by terrorist tactics intended to incite fear and to operate outside conventional military norms. Furthermore, the group uses child soldiers, attempts to expel non-Tamil ethnic groups from areas under its control, and has a record of killing prisoners of war.

Because of its complete inability to achieve the goal of an independent state through conventional means, the group was forced to resort to increasingly extreme and widely condemned terrorist activities, all of which resulted in failure. Other forms of illegal activity — stealing, extortion, and bribery — were also conducted by the group. Ultimately, the primary goal failed, leading to a 2001 ceasefire in which intermediaries were brought in to broker an agreement for regional autonomy. While this may appear to be a step toward the Tamil objective, it has not been fully realized. Because terrorism has failed, only an all-out war could conceivably secure a Tamil state, and terrorism can therefore be seen as a desperate act that produced failure.

Conclusion: Understanding Terrorism to Reduce Its Impact

This analysis — that those who engage in terrorist activities expect better outcomes and, when those expectations are not realized, are forced to use terrorism as a course of action — is effective and relevant for explaining the causes and nature of terrorism. If the roots of terrorism can be understood, terrorism can perhaps be reduced. By recognizing that very different terrorist groups all suffer from the same set of underlying conditions, it becomes possible to work toward eliminating those causes and building a safer world.

It is impossible to hunt and kill every terrorist; terrorists will keep emerging and new grievances will produce new terrorism. It is therefore useful to understand the causes of terrorism in order to reduce its impact and threat across the world. The understanding that terrorists are an excluded group with strong objectives but no conventional means to achieve them is both accurate and practically valuable, and it can help prevent further terrorist activity.

When a group — whether ideological, political, ethnic, or religious — holds expectations that go unmet and finds itself powerless to effect change through legitimate channels, terrorism becomes a last resort. This is the case with all of the types and examples of terrorist activity examined here. The Red Army Faction, fearful of and oppressed by right-wing sentiment in post-war Germany, was forced to radical measures. The Liberation Tigers, a nationalist group that sees itself as an independent government but cannot make that vision a sovereign reality, found that even negotiation failed to deliver its ideal statehood. Iran, pursuing international goals it cannot openly advance without threatening its own regime, turned to terrorism as the only alternative to direct and unwinnable confrontation.

Comparing all three cases, international terrorism is motivated by one common cause: the inability to use traditional, accepted, and legitimate channels of activity to accomplish a political, ideological, or religious goal. Terrorism is a last resort — and often a sign of desperation — but its effects run deep through society. Through terrorism, groups whose ideas have fallen outside the mainstream can come to the limelight and gain a chance to succeed, although the prospects for lasting success are typically very dim.

Works Cited

"Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Sri Lanka, Separatists)." Council on Foreign Relations. Aug. 2006. 24 Apr. 2007 <

"Overview of State-Sponsored Terrorism." Patterns of Global Terrorism. 2006. 24 Apr. 2007 <

"This is Baader-Meinhof." 2007. 24 Apr. 2007 <