The spread of terrorism in democratic societies forces one to examine once more the rela tionship between society and political violence. From a conceptualization of terrorism based on the cross between two types of characteristics (tactical-strategic; instrumental-finalistic) some observations appear which make common explanations of the causes of terrorism unsatisfactory. For this one might substitute the hypothesis that societies which must cope with terrorism are 'blocked', i. e. incapable of advancing and at the same time immune to disintegration. In this interpretation, the appearance of terrorism becomes an indicator that the society in question is only apparently democratic. But, at the same time, this study denounces the inability of terrorism to eliminate the block, to the point of involuntarily acting as a restabilizing element.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bonanate, L., ed., 1978a, Dimensioni del terrorismo politico, Milan: Angeli.
2.
Bonanate, L., 1978b, 'Il teorema del terrorismo', Il Mulino , no. 258, pp. 574-95.
3.
Bonanate, L., 1978c, 'Eurocommunism, or "The rules of the game"', Scientia, vol. 113. no. 1-4, pp. 154-68; no. 5-8, pp. 577-90.
4.
Davies, J. C., ed., 1971, When Men Revolt and Why. New York: The Free Press.
5.
Deutsch, K.W., 1963, The Nerves of Government. New York : The Free Press.
6.
Dispot, L., 1978, La machine à terreur. Paris : Grasset.
7.
Feierabend, I., R. Feierabend , T. R. Gurr, eds., 1972 , Anger, Violence and Politics. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
8.
Greisman, H.C.1977, 'Social Meanings of Terrorism: Reification, Violence and Social Control', Contemporary Crises, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 303-18.
9.
Gross, F., 1973, Violence in Politics: Terror and Political Assassination in Eastern Europe and Russia. Paris, Den Haag: Mouton.
10.
Gurr, T.R., 1970, Why Men Rebel. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
11.
Habermas, J., 1977. 'Die Bühne des Terrors. Ein Brief an Kurt Sontheimer ', Merkur, vol. 31, no. 10, pp. 944-59.
12.
Hibbs, D.A., Jr., 1973, Mass Political Violence. A Cross-national Analysis . New York: Wiley.
13.
Holton, G., 1977. 'Reflections on Modern Terrorism', Jerusalem Journal of International Relations, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 94-104.
14.
Hutchinson, M.C., 1972, 'The Concept of Revolutionary Terrorism', Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 383-96.
15.
Hutchinson, M.C., 1975, 'Transnational Terrorism and World Politics', Jerusalem Journal of International Relations, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 109-29.
16.
Hyams, E., 1975, Terrorists and Terrorism. London : Dent and Sons.
17.
Jenkins, B.M., 1975, 'International Terrorism: a New Mode of Conflict ', in D. Carlton & C. Schaerf (eds.), International Terrorism and World Security . London: Croom Helm.
18.
Klein, H.J., 1978a, 'Ho fatto il terrorista', Panorama , 29 August 1978, pp. 74-81 (transl. from Der Spiegel).
19.
Klein, H.J., 1978b, 'Terrorista per forza', L'espresso, 8 October 1978, pp. 36-52 (transl. from Libération).
20.
Laqueur, W., 1977, Terrorism. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.
21.
Lenin, V.L., 1902, What is to Be Done; see vol. 6 of the Russian Edition of his complete works, pp. 1-192.
22.
May, W.F., 1974, 'Terrorism as Strategy and Ecstasy', Social Research, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 277-99.
23.
McHale, V., 1978, 'Economic Development, Political Extremism and Crime in Italy', Western Political Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 59-79.
24.
Minucci, A., 1978, Terrorismo e crisi italiana. Rome: Editori Riuniti.
25.
Pecchioli, U., 1977, 'Conoscere il terrorismo per poterlo sconfiggere' , L'Unità, 14 December 1977, p. 1.
26.
Rosenbaum, H. J. & P. C. Sederberg, eds., 1975. Vigilante Politics . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
27.
Silj, A., 1977, 'Mai più senza fucile!'Florence : Vallecchi.
28.
Thornton, T.P., 1963, 'Terror as a Weapon of Political Agitation', in H. Eckstein, ed., Internal War: Problems and Approaches. New York.
29.
Trotsky, K., 1920, Terrorism and Communism. Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press ( 1935).
30.
Walter, E.V., 1969, Terror and Resistance. New York : Oxford University Press.
31.
Weber, M., 1922, Wlrtschaft und Gesellschaft. Tübingen : Mohr.
32.
Wilkinson, P., 1974, Political TerrorismLondon: Macmillan.
33.
Wilkinson, P., 1977, Terrorism and the Liberal StateLondon : Macmillan.
34.
Young, R., 1977, 'Revolutionary Terrorism, Crime and Morality', Social Theory and Practice, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 287-302.
