- 1 - •' Tlie c d iff Terarorism" a n d . -tlie In-bema-t ± onal Poli-tical Sys-fc. # 1967-1992 Adr'ian 331 stxicDli.eizrr'ciL Guelke 1994 Thesis submitted to the Department of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science for the degree of Ph.D. UMI Number: U062751 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U062751 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 7/6 8 *3. togo/6gg - 2 - ABSTRACT The thesis examines the notion that an age of terrorism began in the late 1960s. It is argued that this issue is complicated by the different meanings associated with the term* terrorism. Three main meanings of the term are identified: a normative usage treating terrorism as violence without humanitarian constraints; its association with the lowest level of violent conflict; and a usage that treats terrorism as in practice co-terminus with assaults on the Vest. An examination of the most common generalisations about terrorism to be found in the literature follows. The use of the term in different contexts is highlighted by case studies of Vest Germany and Northern Ireland. It is argued that in so far as it is possible to treat the varieties of modern terrorisms as one, they are best seen as a post-colonial phenomenon which drew on the legitimisation of anti-imperialist violence against colonial rule. The reluctance to apply the term, terrorism, to political violence inside Third Vorld countries is considered. The centrality of an international dimension to terrorism is analysed, followed by an examination of international co-operation to control covert violence by small groups that crosses state boundaries. Case studies of the ending of campaigns of violence by small groups are presented to underline the role played by internal group dynamics in terrorism. In conclusion, it is argued that the term, terrorism, is losing its coherence and, partly for that reason, terrorism is unlikely to be seen as a central feature of the international political system in the post-bipolar era. - 3 - CO 2STTE3STTS A bstract 2 List of Tables and Appendices 4 Preface 5 1. Introduction: Barriers to Understanding 8 Terrorism 2. Distinguishing Terrorism from other forms 37 of Violence 3. The Poverty of General Explanations 64 4. Varieties of Terrorisms 93 5. The Legitlmlsatlon of Terrorism 125 6. On the Fringe: Political Violence In Stable 152 Democracies 7. Bomb Culture: The Case of Northern Ireland 180 8. Violence, Legitimacy, and the Third Vorld 211 9. The International Dimensions of Terrorism 240 10. Strategies of Control 270 11. How Campaigns of Violence End 300 12. Conclusion: The End of Terrorism? 330 Appendices 347 Select Bibliography 382 - 4 - Tables 2.1 Frequency of Definitional Elements in 109 Definitions 37 7.1 Deaths in Northern Ireland arising out of the security 168 situation, 1969-1992 Appendices 1. Convention for the prevention and punishment of terrorism, 347 opened for signature at Geneva on 16 November 1937 2. Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of 354 A ircraft, The Hague, December 1970 3. Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the 360 Safety of Civil Aviation, Montreal, September 1971 4. International Convention against the Talcing of Hostages 368 5. The European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism 375 - 5 - Preface This thesis covers the period up to the end of 1992. That has excluded from the scope of the thesis some significant developments In the field of terrorism that have occurred In the course of 1993. The most Important of these were the following: the bomb In the Vorld Trade Centre in ffew York In February; the peace agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO); and the contacts between the British government and the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The first of these developments underlined the fact that the era of clandestine violence by small groups across national boundaries Is not over. The second and third that the principle that government should not negotiate with 'terrorists* has lost much of its force. The literature on terrorism has treated the PLO as an archetypal terrorist organisation, so much so that the Palestinian cause had become virtually inseparable from association with terrorism. Consequently, the transformation of the PLO seems bound to affect the use of the concept as a standard of absolute illegitimacy. Chapter 1 of the thesis examines the difficulties in the way of understanding the concept of terrorism In the light of the emotive force of the term. Chapter 2 analyses the attempts by academics to distinguish terrorism from other forms of violence. Chapter 3 examines critically the generalisations that have been made about terrorism in the vast literature that has grown up about the subject. Chapter 4 examines the different strands of political violence in the late 1960s and early 1970s that gave rise to modem usage of the term. Chapter 5 examines the background to the legltlmlsation of violence by small groups at the onset of the age of terrorism. Chapter 6 examines the - 6 - case of terrorism in Vest Germany, while Chapter 7 explores the very different case of Northern Ireland. Chapter 8 considers the application of the concept of terrorism to conflicts in the Third Vorld. Chapter 9 examines why an international dimension is so central to terrorism, while Chapter 10 examines the different strategies that have been pursued to combat terrorism and the measures that the international community has adopted to outlaw hijacking and hostage-taking. Chapter 11 employs case studies to examine factors that have influenced the ending of campaigns of violence, while Chapter 12 examines the relationship between the age of terrorism and the nature of the international political system. Xy thanks are due to the library staff at the following libraries: Queen's University, Belfast; the British Library of Economics and Political Science; Jan Smuts House Library; United States Information Service library in Johannesburg; and Linenhall Library, Belfast; for their assistance in helping me to track down the very diverse material that I have needed for this thesis. I am also most grateful to the United States Consulate in Belfast for help in getting hold of copies of the State Department publication, Patterns of Global Terrorism. Colleagues at both Queen's and Vlts have Influenced my ideas in informal discussions. Of these, special mention needs to be made of Frank Vright, Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Limerick when he died of cancer in February 1993. For 17 years he and I were colleagues in the Department of Politics at Queen's. He had a profound Influence on my thinking about violence in deeply divided societies. His insights into why people resorted to political violence complemented his own personal commitment to peace. I should also mention Professor Adam Roberts of the University of Oxford who encouraged me - 7 - to examine the Issue of terrorism, notwithstanding the tendency of many academics to dismiss the concept. Finally, I owe a debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Professor James Kayall, who made numerous helpful comments on an earlier draft. *y thanks to all the above are subject to the usual disclaimer that I accept full responsibility for the final product, with all its limitations. Adrian Guelke, Johannesburg, December 1993. - 8 - Chapter 1 - Introduction: Barriers to_Understanding.Terrorism By the 1990s, the concept of terrorism had become so elastic that there seemed to be virtually no limit to what could be described as terrorism. For example, among titles of books published in 1989 and 1990 were the following: flarcoterrorism: Western State Terrorism: ApartheljL-XeiXPrisn. ~ . The Destabilization Report: and Pornography - The Few Terrorism. (1) An attempt by criminals to extort money from the manufacturers of baby products by lacing jars of baby foods on supermarket shelves with broken glass, tacks, and other harmful objects was quickly labelled 'consumer terrorism' by much of the media.(2) In the United States the long-established phenomenon of anonymous, obscene phonecalls was given the new description, 'telephone terrorism '.(3) An academic text analysed rape as a 'terrorist institution'.(4) On the eve of the Argentinian Presidential election in 1989, the country's finance minister described speculation against the Argentinian currency as 'economic terrorism', (5) while the Iraqi Ambassador to the United States used the same term in outlining allegations in October 1990 that Kuwait had sought to sabotage his country's economy. (6) These examples should be distinguished from the use of the terms, terrorism and terrorist, for metaphorical purposes by the media, such as the description in a British newspaper of a breed of dog involved in a series of attacks on children as 'a terrorist on four legs'.(7) The stretching of the term to cover a wider and wider field of activity is in part a response to constant reference in the media to terrorism as a pervasive reality of the modern world. It has become almost impossible to pick up a newspaper or to listen to a news bulletin without coming across a reference to terrorism or terrorists. More than ten years ago, Brian Jenkins, - 9 - one of the leading specialists in the field, made a revealing comment on this point.