Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Teaching “Terrorism:”
Historical Perspectives
and Pedagogical Problems
Eric Davis
davis@polisci.rutgers.edu
http://http://new-middle-east.blogspot.com/
The BLaST IU Liberty 17 Fellowship
2013 Summer Institute
American Institute for History Education
June 19, 2013
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Teaching about “terrorism:”
what rubric should we use?
 Terrorism needs to be well defined: what exactly do we
mean when we use the term?
 Terrorism may be defined as: “the ideologically driven use
of indiscriminate violence against civilian populations for
political ends”
 Terrorism must be understood relationally and contextually,
not as an abstract concept - it happens for specific reasons
 If terrorism has causes, theoretically eliminating these
causes can eliminate terrorism
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Teaching about “terrorism:”
what rubric should we use?
 Terrorism needs to be understood historically - the causes
for terrorism do not develop overnight
 If students understand the historical causes for the
development of terrorism, they will be able to better
understand how to potentially eliminate those causes
 Terrorism must be understood in dynamic terms
 The ideology, goals, tactics and membership of groups
that support it go through constant change
 One of the problems with understanding the goals of
terrorism is the ill-defined nature of is ideology and goals
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
What are the main questions we should raise
in teaching the topic of terrorism?
How do we teach about terrorism without instilling
fear in our students? How can we empower, not
intimidate, students when teaching about terrorism?
 How do we teach the topic of terrorism without
undermining respect for civil liberties and
democratic values and processes?
How can we avoid overwhelming students when
teaching a topic which by definition is global in
nature? What exactly do they need to know?
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism and Stereotypes
How do avoid reinforcing negative stereotypes
when teaching about terrorism, particularly about
specific religions and ethnic groups, e.g., Muslims,
Arabs, Iranians, Pakistanis?
How do we avoid associating the phenomenon of
terrorism with Islam? Should terrorism be seen as
an Islamic problem?
How do we answer the assertion that the majority
of terrorist activity occurs in the Middle East?
How can quantitative indicators help disprove
stereotypes about terrorism? For example, what
percentage of Muslims actually engage in terrorist
activities?
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Danish cartoon controversy 2006
Negative
Western
Stereotypes of
Muslims
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Images of
immigrants in US
in 19th century
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Gallup Poll as reported by Salon.com, Aug 6, 2011
( (http://www.salon.com/2011/08/06/gallup_muslim_americans/
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism in American history
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism and American history
 Studying violence in US history that can be
considered terrorism is critical to showing that
no society exempt from violence/terrorist acts
 If terrorism is seen as some “exotic” form of
behavior that only affects non-Western nations
it can produce a false sense of security
 Students must understand, esp. after 9/11,
that terrorism is a global, not local threat
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism in American History:
The Salem Witch Trials
 How can we draw upon comparative historical analysis to
improve the teaching of terrorism? How can we draw upon
American history help students better contextualize and
understand the study of terrorism?
 Do the Salem witch trials, for example, constitute a form of
terrorism (in this case, primarily against women)?
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism in the United States:
Abraham Lincoln’s assassination
Last photograph of
Lincoln on Inauguration
Day March 6, 1865
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism in American History: Anarchism
 Can we draw upon the assassination of US presidents to help us teach about the
concept of terrorism? What was the political atmosphere of late 19th and early
20th century America?
 Attacks by anarchists on courthouses, police stations, churches, and private
homes led Woodrow Wilson to warn (1915) of: “hyphenated Americans who
have poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life.
Such creatures of passion, disloyalty and anarchy must be crushed out (sic).”
This led to Palmer Raids (1919)
 Were assassinations of American presidents a form of terrorism?
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Wall St. bombings Sept. 20, 1920
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism in American History
 Lynching of African-Americans was a common
occurrence in the American South after the end of
Reconstruction (4,743 people lynched US between 1888
and 1968, 3,446 -72.7 percent) of them black, 73 percent
of them in the South, around 150 of them women)
 Was not this period an example of terrorism according to
the definition provided above?
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Laura Nelson and
Lynching in Marion, IN, 1930;
1891 lynching of 11 Italian son, lynched in
last lynching in north
Immigrants in New Orleans Oklahoma, May 1911
Images of lynchings in US
between 1891 and 1930
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism in the United States: Nazi Bund Rally
Madison Square Garden 1939
Effort to use American
symbols (image of George
Washington) to bolster a
terrorist organization –
German-American Bund
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism in the United States:
Pro-Nazi Bund Rally
American history textbooks fail to mention the widespread
support for Nazism in the US during the 1930s
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism in the United States:
Nazi Bund Camp – Yaphank, Long Island
July 1935, Friends of New Germany established Camp Siegfried in
“Yip Yip,” Long Island. “Camp Siegfried Special” left NY’s Penn
Station every Sunday at 8a.m. Thousands of summer campers
enjoyed Nazi rallies, salutes and swimming
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
“Home grown” US terrorists
Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Bldg., Oklahoma City, OK
April 19, 1995
Abortion clinic
bomber, Eric Rudolph
Timothy McVeigh
Theodore Kaczynski
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
The terrorist attacks of 9/11
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
The American response to 9/11
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism in the international arena
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
The Role of the Tamil Tigers in Promoting
Terrorism in Sri Lanka
 LTTE – Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam – founded 1976,began
terrorist operations in 1983; first suicide attack in 1987
 Used suicide bomber to kill Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991
 A Marxist organization (namely secular), LTTE has carried out
more suicide bombings than any other terrorist group in the world
 LTTE recruited Sri Lankan Hindus who seek a Tamil state
 LTTE destroyed by Sri Lankan army in May 2009 and leader killed
Velupillai Prabhakaran
former LTTE leader
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Suicide Car Bombings in Iraq
 How much do such bombings tell us about Iraqi society? Or
do they promote stereotypes about Iraq?
 Large majority of Iraqis pro-democracy and anti-sectarian
 Long tradition of cross-ethnic cooperation in Iraqi nationalist
movement prior to the rule of Saddam Husayn and the Bacth
Party
 No suicide bombings in Iraq before US invasion of 2003
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
This sign
indicates
Iraqi desires
to separate
religion and
politics
Iraq's political life may still be dominated by ethnic and religious dynamics
between Sunni and Shiite Arabs and ethnic Kurds. But one Baghdad businessman
seems ready to move on to a more harmonious future. This sign, found Sunday in a
Baghdad auto-parts shop, reads: "Please, please no discussion of religion or
politics.“
Baghdad; Photo by Ashraf Khalil
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Example of cuneiform
writing as developed by
Mesopotamian merchants
Hammurabi’s Code (282 laws)
The 5th Law: If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and
present his judgment in writing; if later error shall appear
in his decision, and it be through his own fault, then he
shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and
he shall be publicly removed from the judge's bench, and
never again shall he sit there to render judgment.
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Abbasid Caliphate c. 950 CE.
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Iraq’s Arab-Islamic contribution to modern world
 Abbasid Empire ruled world - 750-1258 CE
 Capital Baghdad world’s first planned city
 Abbasids known for contributions to
mathematics (e.g., al-jabr = algebra),
chemistry or alchemy (al-kimiya’), astronomy
(many stars named after Arab astronomers),
and medicine
 Abbasids also made great strides in poetry,
literature and the arts
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Caliph Ma’mun and the Bayt al-Hikma
 Ma’mun (786-833 CE) 7th Abbasid caliph was son
of Harun al-Rashid and a Persian slave girl
 Maintained great interest in rationalist Islam, and
supported Mu’tazilites (those who believed Qur’an
created in time, and not eternal)
 Ma’mun was fascinated by science, particularly in
Greek writings
 Love of Greek one reason many Greek texts
translated into Arabic and thus were kept for West
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
The Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom)
 Ma’mun ordered all the knowledge of known world
to be brought to Baghdad and translated into Arabic
 This knowledge would be stored in a libraryuniversity called the Bayt al-Hikma
 Ma’mun brought scholars for every religion/ethnic
group - Arab, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Greek, even
Vikings – to Baghdad (and saved Aristotle’s works)
 Greek, Sanskrit, Persian and many other languages
became known to Abbasid scholars creating a
extensive cultural renaissance in Baghdad
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Is terrorism a male only phenomenon?
Female suicide bombers in Chechnya
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Why do people become terrorists?
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Why do people become terrorists?
 Poverty (social class) is a poor predictor as Fareed Zakaria’s
The Future of Freedom, and Robert Pape’s Dying to Win:
The Logic of Suicide Terrorism indicate
 Terrorists are often well educated and secular (Zakaria)
 Pape argues that terrorists’ main goals to make foreign
forces leave their soil, e.g., West Bank, Iraq, Chechnya, Sri
Lanka, but his analysis ignores many factors
 Rural-urban migration, lack of jobs and poor education
system central in promoting terrorism
 Collapse of agrarian sector and expansion of education
systems that prevent critical thinking (particularly by populist
regimes) have been central to promoting terrorism
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Why do people become terrorists?
 Terrorists are invariably members of social groups which
have experienced rapid periods of change
 However, they are often forced to leave their homes and move
to new areas, esp. rural to urban migrants
 These people do not find opportunities for employment and
then often turn to crime or terrorism
 Others who move sometimes find opportunities for education
but then can’t translate their education into meaningful careers
or employment
 Terrorists those who forced to confront dramatic changes in
their lives that lead to dashed expectations or no hope in future
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Education, Terrorism and Middle Classes
 Education is not necessarily correlated with support
for democratic values if it prevents critical thinking, especially
in authoritarian societies (often supported by US and the West)
 Education can promote feelings of anger and powerlessness
when accompanied by a perception of no hope for the future
 The well-to-do (Bin Laden is the exception that proves the
rule) and the very poor are not the primary recruits to terrorist
organizations
 Terrorists often view their activities as a vehicle for
empowerment, suggesting that important (social) psychological
processes are at work
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism and the Poor
 Most terrorist organizations are usually led by members of
middle classes (Lenin, Mao, Castro, Guevara, Ho Chi Minh)
 The poor are often recruited by promises of money but
rarely have sophisticated ideological understanding of politics
 Poor are often the “foot soldiers” of terrorist organizations
but are not the “brains” behind them
 Poor peasants and factory workers are not recruits to
terrorist organizations
 The poor who are recruited to terrorist organizations are
those who are without jobs and economically displaced from
their former communities, e.g., rural to urban migrants
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
The future of terrorism
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorist organizations and ideology
 Terrorist organizations share an important weakness:
ideological rigidity
 For example, in Iraq after 2003, many rural tribes rejected
Islamist al-Qacida in Iraq after the organization began
infringing on tribal political and economic prerogatives
 In Syria, many Syrians who want to see President Bashar
al-Asad leave office also reject radical Islamists associated
with al-Qacida who reject idea of democracy
 In Mali, Muslim population of Timbuktu was infuriated
when radical Islamists associated with al-Qacida in the
Islamic Maghrib destroyed religious shrines and important
scholarly manuscripts
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorist organizations and social control
 People reject the strict rules that terrorists impose on them
 For example, in Afghanistan, populace resented ban on
the playing of music, making wear “Islamic” clothing, and
closing of beauty parlors,
 In areas in Iraq taken over by al-Qacida for short periods
of time, Iraqis rejected bans on smoking, ban on watching
soccer games on TV, and ban on women leaving their
homes unless accompanied by a male relative
 Some smokers had their fingers cut off
 al-Qaicda in Iraq kidnapped wealthy merchants in the
towns they controlled and then ransomed to families, all in
the name of their “Islamic” cause
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorist organizations and internal conflict
 Another factor undermining terrorists is their
tendency towards internecine warfare
 In north Africa, there has been conflict
between al-Qaida and local terrorists groups
 In Mali, al-Qacida in the Islamic Maghrib has
spilt into multiple competing groups
 Two wings of al-Qa ida in Syria and Iraq
unable to unite due to leadership squabbles
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorist organizations and criminality
 Many terrorist organizations have morphed into
crime syndicates
 The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Columbia) began as a Marxist organization but
became one of worlds’ largest cocaine cartels
 The Taliban in Afghanistan one of the largest
drug cartels in the world, producing heroin
 The leader of the North African al-Qacida
faction, the Signed in Blood Brigade, known as
“Mr. Marlboro” for his cigarette monopoly
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorist organizations and criminality
 In Somalia, the destruction of country’s fishing
industry led to rise of al-Shibab (lit. “the youth”)
 al-Shibab have garnered millions of dollars for
seizing and ransoming tankers and other shipping
 The Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) guerillas
who fought the Peruvian military 1980-2000 has
remerged as a large cocaine smuggling syndicate
 Abu Sayyaf in Philippines, Hizballah in Lebanon,
Haqqani Network (Afghanistan-Pakistan) other
examples of terrorists groups as crime syndicates
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Hostages held by Abu Sayyaf:
Martin and Gracia Burnham
Terrorism and
Crime
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorist organizations and political goals
 Many terrorist organizations know how to use
violence but unclear about their political goals
 al-Qacida has little idea of what it would do
politically were it to come to power
 Olivier Roy distinguishes Islamo-nationalism
from Trans-national Islam – the latter is
spectacle without defined political ends
 Terrorist groups more interested in posting
their exploits on the Internet than seizing power
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorist organizations and political goals
 Many terrorist organizations know how to use
violence but unclear about political goals, e.g.,
al-Qacida has little idea of what it would do
politically were it to come to power
 While Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has well
defined political goals, many terrorist groups
focus on spectacle without defined political ends
 Conclusion: terrorist groups will continue their
violent actions, but will be unable to seize power
in Middle East or elsewhere
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
What do our students need to
know about combating terrorism?
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Addressing causes of terrorism
 Dangerous to teach terrorism if not placed in a
historical, political and socioeconomic context
 Students need to understand that there are
causes and solutions to the problem of terrorism
 Providing jobs for displaced poor and opening
authoritarian societies to democratic rule are key
 Reforming education to emphasize critical
thinking skills a great palliative to radicalism
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Contextualizing teaching of terrorism
 By situating terrorism in a larger context,
students see that only a small fraction of any
society is engaged in terrorism
 They see that when terrorists do control an
area, they invariably alienate those they control
 A larger context lets students see that societies
that produce terrorists have made important
contributions to global culture, e.g., Iraq
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Terrorism and civil liberties
 Students need to understand that terrorists seek
to disrupt democratic societies
 They seek to provoke democratic countries to
limit civil liberties and personal freedoms
 Once terrorists undermine civil liberties, they
have begun to win the war against democracy
 Strengthening democracy is the best antidote
for fighting terrorism
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
Defeating terrorism
 An international effort is required to defeat
terrorism - no one country can do this alone
 An effort to use jobs, education, and public
diplomacy is critical to “win hearts and minds”
 “Youth bulge” in much of developing world
requires giving youth hope in the future and
 Youth in developing world need to come into
more contact with democratic norms and values
 US needs to promote democracy worldwide
Department of Political Science
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers University
The American people united can never be defeated
An excerpt from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's’ first
Inauguration Speech, March 4, 1933:
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we
have to fear is...fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified
terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into
advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of
frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and
support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.
And I am convinced that you will again give that support to
leadership in these critical days.