The Roots of Terrorist Motivation

Dostoevsky's most famous novel dealing with terrorism is his work The Demons. In this first-ever novel about terrorism, he carefully analyzed the various factors that contributed to the rise of modern terrorism. This article argues that Dostoevsky's subsequent novel, The Brothers Karamazov, is equally important in understanding the motivations of individual terrorists. The author argues that The Brothers Karamazov is fundamentally a novel about the rage and violence that are the byproducts of shame and humiliation. If modern counterterrorism policymakers, analysts, and operatives are serious about understanding the fundamental motivations of modern terrorists, it may benefit them to read (or reread) The Brothers Karazamov in this light. (Jack) Moran is an associate professor of political science and international affairs at Kennesaw State University just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. He is a specialist in Russian politics and international terrorism and has also worked in this field outside of academia. Among other works, he is the author of From Garrison State to Nation State: Political Power and the Russian Military under Gorbachev and Yeltsin (Praeger, 2002). This article first appeared as the chapter "Demonic Shame" in the author's book The Solution of the Fist (Lexington Books 2009). It is printed here with the permission of the publisher. Notes 1. The title of Dostoevsky's novel Besy has been translated in three different ways: The Possessed, The Devils, and The Demons. I refer to it as The Demons. See F. M. Dostoevskij, Besy, vol. 10–11 (Leningrad: Izdatel'stvo "Nauka," 1974). 2. Nikolai Vsevolodovich Stavrogin is also shamed, but he never commits a violent act in the name of a political cause. 3. Edward Wasiolek, Dostoevsky: The Major Fiction (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1964), 181. 4. Because of this focus on the concept of shame, this chapter will discuss all four Karamazov brothers, in contrast to the conventional approach to this novel, which tends to focus only on the three older, legitimate brothers. By taking into account the fourth—illegitimate—brother, we can more accurately conceptualize the pivotal role that shame and humiliation play in leading to the supremely violent act of patricide. 5. Parenthetical citations throughout this article refer to the volume and page of F. M. Dostoevskij, Brat'ya Karamazovy, vol. 14 and 15 (Leningrad: Izdatel'stvo "Nauka," 1976). Ultimately, I am responsible for the translation of all quotations from Russian to English, although I am heavily indebted to previous translations that I found to be enormously helpful in this task, particularly that of Constance Garnett: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, tr. Garnett (London: Signet Classic, 1980). 6. All the brothers were approximately as "motherless." 7. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "Introduction," Emile or On Education, trans. and ed. Allan Bloom (New York: Basic Books, 1979), 39. 8. Ivan comes back later, emotionally shaken by this interview, and helps the peasant, who had not yet expired. 9. Interestingly, Alyosha's father does not remember where his second wife is buried. 10. One can imagine that he was trying to compensate for his public humiliation through a more dignified physical appearance and wardrobe. 11. Anatol Lieven, "The Cold War Is Finally Over: The True Significance of the Attacks," in James F. Hoge Jr. and Gideon Rose, eds., How Did This Happen? (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2001), 299. 12. Ibid., 300. 13. Ibid. 14. Ibid. 15. James Gilligan, "Shame, Guilt, and Violence," Social Research 70, no. 4 (2003): 1162. 16. Brian M. Jenkins, "The Organization Men: The Anatomy of a Terrorist Attack," in Hoge Jr. and Rose, eds., How Did This Happen?, 6–7. 17. Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2002), 3. 18. Ibid., 4. 19. Ibid., 23. 20. Ibid., 31. 21. Ibid., 152. 22. Spencer Ackerman, "Religious Protection: Why American Muslims Haven't Turned to Terrorism," The New Republic (December 12, 2005). 23. Bernard Lewis, "The Roots of Muslim Rage," Policy 17 (2001–02): 26. 24. Experience has illustrated that torture rarely produces quality intelligence. See Stephen Budiansky, "Intelligence: Truth Extraction," The Atlantic Monthly 295 (June 2005): 32–35. 25. "Verbatim Transcript of Combatant Status Review Tribunal Hearing for ISN 10024," March 10, 2007, U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 23, http://www.defenselink.mil/news/transcript_ISN10024.pdf. 26. Today, most agree with Dostoevsky's observation that terrorists are motivated in a variety of different ways. Rex A. Hudson includes a Dostoevskian epigram in his book that reads, "While nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer, nothing is more difficult than to understand him." See Rex A. Hudson, Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why: The 1999 Government Report on Profiling Terrorists (Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 1999). 27. This gives extra meaning to Nikolai's letter to Lize when he writes, "Your brother told me that he who loses his ties with his own soil also loses his own gods, that is, all his purposes" (10:514)

Criminology · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Shame · Sociology · Terrorism · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Violence, Religion, and Philosophy

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