The political context of terrorism in America

Ignoring extremists or pandering to them

Bibliographic Data

ID5017750
AuthorsChristopher Hewitt (University of Maryland, Baltimore County, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume12
Issue3-4
Pages325-344
Publication date2000-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTerrorism and Political Violence (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0954-6553 • E-ISSN: 1556-1836
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09546550008427582
OpenAlexW1996763299
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited9

This article examines the political context of four waves of terrorism in the United States: by White racists in the South during the civil rights period, by Black militants in the late 1960s and early 1970s, by left‐wing revolutionaries in the 1970s, and by contemporary anti‐abortion extremists. Two alternative theories are considered; that citizens resort to violence because their views and interests are ignored by politicians; and that politicians by ‘pandering to extremists’ incite them to violence. The evidence appears to support the first theory. In the cases examined, a sizable number of people felt very strongly about some social/political issues ‐ segregation, racial equality, the Vietnam war, abortion ‐and also felt that the political system ignored, or was hostile to, their concerns. Terrorism was most likely to occur under presidential administrations hostile to the goals of the terrorists, rather than under sympathetic administrations

Abortion · Criminology · Political economy · Political science · Political violence · Politics · Presidential system · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Terrorism · American Constitutional Law and Politics · History · Law · Race, History, and American Society · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

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