Sociology Now, Census Update

for the Basque people of northern Spain might engage in terrorism in the hope that the

Spanish government will acquiesce to their demands for autonomy. Frequently, however,

terrorism has no specific political goal. Instead, it is used to publicize the terrorist’s polit-

ical agenda or simply to cause as much damage to the enemy as possible. Interviews with

terrorists who bomb abortion clinics reveal that they do not believe that their actions

will cause the Supreme Court to reverse the Roe v. Wadedecision; they simply want to

kill abortion doctors. Similarly, when al-Qaeda orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, they did

not expect Americans to embrace their extremist form of Islam en masse; they simply

wanted to hurt Americans (Hoffman, 1998; Juergensmeyer, 2003).

Terrorism can be used bythe regime in power to ensure continued obedience and

to blot out all dissent. For example, Stalin in the Soviet Union, Pol Pot in Cambodia,

Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and the apartheid regimes in South Africa all used terrorist

violence to maintain control. Because totalitarian states can only survive through fear

and intimidation, many make terrorism lawful, a legitimate tool of government.

But usually we think of terrorism as the actions againstthe existing regime. Usu-

ally terrorists have little or no political authority, so they use terror to promote or

publicize their viewpoints, just as nonviolent groups might use marches and protests.

Terrorists often believe that their cause is just, but they lack the legitimate means

(movements, parties) to effect the sorts of changes they want. Most terrorists are

recruited and mobilized in the same way as members of social movements. They

simply see violence as a legitimate political tactic.

While terrorism is not new, recent technological advances have made weapons eas-

ier to acquire or produce and communication among terrorist groups easier, so that ter-

rorism is increasingly common. According to the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center,

in 2006 there were 14,000 terrorist attacks worldwide, resulting in 20,000 deaths (Figure

14.4). Those figures represent a 25 percent increase in attacks and a 40 percent increase

in deaths over 2005. Of the 14,000 global total, 45 percent—6,600 attacks, with 20,000

deaths—occurred in Iraq. Afghanistan saw a 50 percent increase in terrorist attacks from

2005. But 2006 saw more than 700 killed by terrorists in Sudan, 520 in Thailand, 115
      in Russia, and 97 in Nigeria (National Counterterrorism Center, 2007).

478 CHAPTER 14POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

15

12

9

6

3

0

Africa East Asia and

Pacific

Europe and

Eurasia

Near East South Asia Western

Hemisphere

THOUSANDS

1,643

422 854

1,036

220 659

13,691

7,755

3,609 3,654

556 826

Total dead—20,573

Total number of attacks—14,352

FIGURE 14.4Terrorist Attacks and Deaths by Region

Source: National Counterterrorism Center: Report of Terrorists Incidents,April 30, 2007.