Terror, the Strategic Tool

Response and Control

Bibliographic Data

ID9754701
AuthorsROBERT H KUPPERMAN (corresponding author), DEBRA VAN OPSTAL, David Williamson (0000-0003-3826-7889)
Year1982
Volume463
Issue1
Pages24-38
Publication date1982-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0002716282463001003
OpenAlexW2140336653
LanguageEN
Citations received7

The United States appears ill prepared to deal with an emerging form of interstate rivalry, that is, the use of terror as an unconventional weapon to achieve conventional political ends. The terror event represents a powerful form of leverage simply because of its media value. Using media coverage to amplify their impact, acts of terrorist violence have paralyzed Western governments and undermined their credibility. In a destabilized international environment, the vectored terrorist threat offers additional advantages to radical nations or superpowers in pursuit of foreign policy objectives. Under the guise of criminality, it can become a low-cost, low-risk, high-leverage tool of low-intensity warfare, difficult to combat because uncertainty about the origin of the threat limits the full range of diplomatic and military responses

Business · Computer security · Credibility · Development economics · Economics · Foreign policy · International trade · Law and economics · Leverage (statistics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Rivalry · Terrorism · Computer Science · Law · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

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