AboutDon Radlauer Expertise I`m originally from the United States, and now make my home in Israel - after living
for some years in Hong Kong and England. In addition to handling general questions about
Israeli life and history, I can field questions relating to strategic aspects of terrorism
and counter-terrorism, as well as some tactical aspects. As an Associate of the Institute
for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, I can draw on ICT`s
accumulated expertise in this area. As the Lead Researcher for ICT`s "al-Aqsa Intifada"
Database Project (and author of "An Engineered Tragedy", ICT`s report on the findings of
this project), I have become the world`s leading expert (indeed, as far as I know, the
world`s only expert) on the demographics of the victims of the phase of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict that began in September 2000. Going beyond terrorism per se, I can answer questions
regarding pretty much all aspects of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Experience For over five years, I have been associated with the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel. My own role there is, to a degree, that of "expert in everything else" - that is, I'm less of a security expert than many of the other researchers there, but I have a broader background in other areas, including banking and finance, general scientific subjects, and so on. I also can draw upon the knowledge of other ICT staff.
Publications ICT website, http://www.ict.org.il
My blog, "On the Contrary: Don's Mideast Musings" is at http://radlauer.blogspot.com .
Expert: Don Radlauer Date: 5/1/2008 Subject: History of Terrorism
Question My knowledge of history is not very strong. So I do not understand a lot about wars and terrorism. Books and movies about the past; even going back to the days when people in England and Ireland fought with clubs and swords, I never heard about terrorists. Even up to Vietnam, and various other smaller wars found around the world; sorry, no terrorists. Always countries fought against other countries. Now terrorists seem to be everywhere. And I believe that countries are almost ending fighting each other.
Did the decline of country vs country fighting cause some kind of "vacuum" that is being 'filled' by people who work for NO military or country, that we call terrorists, or is it because we, as people, just like to fight each other all the time? The good news is, from what I see and read, there is a slow decline in all types of fighting all over the world. It may take hundreds of years in the future, but I think we are ALL finally getting tired of fighting each other.
I was wondering what you think.
Answer Dear David -
A proper answer to your question would take a book or three! I can only begin to brush the surface in this short format, but I'll throw out a thought or two.
Whether terrorism has existed at any particular time and place is really a matter of interpretation; after all, there is still not a single, internationally-accepted definition of "terrorism", and the word itself didn't exist until the last 100-150 years or so. (The best definition I know of is that terrorism is politically-motivated violence directed at civilian targets, generally by sub-governmental groups or individuals.) Certainly there have been incidents even long ago that can qualify as terrorism - my personal favorite is Samson's destruction of a Philistine temple filled with civilians! The original "assassin" cult was also terrorist in nature, and even the Jewish "sicari" group of 2,000 years ago could probably be classified as terrorists by today's standards.
Because terrorism is normally thought of as a non-governmental phenomenon (as when governments do the same thing we have other terms for it, like "war crime" or "crime against humanity"), effective terrorism (as opposed to "lone wolf" terrorism) requires the ability to organize a group and recruit followers. This, in turn, is much easier when populations are larger, literacy is higher, living standards are higher (so that people aren't purely focused on survival - it's worth noting that the world's poorest societies do not tend to create a lot of terrorist organizations), and people have grievances that can be amplified and focused on the chosen enemy. All this means that terrorism is rather easier to promote nowadays than it has been during most of human history.
It's also true that terrorism has become more prominent nowadays in part because conventional military conflict has become less attractive as a way of achieving ethnic or national goals. Recent major wars, particularly in the West and in the Middle East, have cost the "victors" almost as much as the victims; so traditional military conflict, while certainly not completely obsolete, seems to be becoming less common than it was in the past. At the same time, the increased (and increasing) flow of information, including electronic news media and the Internet, increases the power of terrorism and guerilla warfare to influence events locally and remotely.
I would like to believe that you're right about "combat fatigue" leading to a gradual reduction in fighting worldwide. You may even be correct - but keep in mind that if this indeed happening, it's happening only very slowly and inconsistently. We still need to keep our powder dry!
