Why do terrorists terrorize

Was it that anomalous kiss on the mouth he gave her one summer when she was 11 and he 36? Or was it the mysterious firebrand Rita Cohen who radicalized her? But it is a negative clarity. Do terrorists have their reasons for committing atrocities? Sometimes not, because what they do is motivated by reasons that are too dark, shameful, or bizarre to be openly acknowledged.

Sometimes people do things that are so morally contentious that when called to account they are liable to excuse or justify , rather than to explain, their actions. Terrorists unquestionably fall into this category. And sometimes people do what they do without the slightest sense of knowing why. I once met someone who robbed a liquor store in his teens.

He was caught and did jail time for it. This person is now an accomplished writer. Doing that stick-up was a hinge moment in his life and today, some 30 years later, he still cannot make sense of it. The motive simply eludes him. Terrorism scholar John Horgan has made a similar point.

To explain why any of us does anything is a challenge. As Horgan suggests, a more manageable and useful question to ask about terrorism is not why, but how—and when and where? How did this specific person come to join this specific organization? What networks helped facilitate the act of joining, and where and how were these networks accessed or sought out? Because these questions are about the circumstances of terrorism, and not the interior world of terrorists, they are not only more intellectually tractable for scholars, but also more directly relevant to efforts to prevent or stop terrorist recruitment.

Although Sageman has some interesting things to say about the why question, the strength of his research lies in showing just how decisive social and kinship networks are in the radicalization process.

Skip to content Site Navigation The Atlantic. Popular Latest. The Atlantic Crossword. Sign In Subscribe. Can 3. Many terrorist groups are inspired by a specific interpretation of religious or prophetic scriptures. Al-Qaida and IS are two related groups that justify their violent actions as part of a crusade against nonbelievers. IS wants to establish a Caliphate , or an Islamic-ruled state.

How different terrorist groups act is informed by what they are trying to achieve. Some adopt a reactionary perspective aimed at stopping or resisting social, economic and political changes. Others adopt a revolutionary doctrine and want to provoke change. Despite the intensity of media coverage and public perception, terrorism is actually not more frequent today than a few decades ago.

Some experts believe terrorism peaked during the s. Despite the recent attacks, the U. In the United States, terrorism attacks were in sharp decline from to , decreasing from approximately incidents a year to fewer than Terrorist attacks in were mainly concentrated in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria.

These countries saw 78 percent of the deaths and 57 percent of all attacks in the world. Since , only 3 percent of deaths caused by terrorist attacks took place in Western countries, including Australia, Canada, members of the European Union and the United States.

In the U. The opposite is true. According to American University professor Audrey Cronin , terrorism as a tactic does not work well. Cronin studied terrorist groups worldwide since The groups lasted an average of eight years before they lost support or were dismantled. No terrorist organizations that she studied were able to conquer a state, and 94 percent were unable to achieve even one of their strategic goals.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on Sept. Portsmouth Climate Festival — Portsmouth, Portsmouth.