E-Book Overview
What motivates those who commit violence in the name of political beliefs? Terrorism today is not solely the preserve of Islam, nor is it a new phenomenon. It emerges from social processes and conditions common to societies throughout modern history, and the story of its origins spans centuries, encompassing numerous radical and revolutionary movements. Marc Sageman is a forensic psychiatrist and government counterterrorism consultant whose bestselling books Understanding Terror Networks and Leaderless Jihad provide a detailed, damning corrective to commonplace yet simplistic notions of Islamist terrorism. In a comprehensive new book, Turning to Political Violence, Sageman examines the history and theory of political violence in the West. He excavates primary sources surrounding key instances of modern political violence, looking for patterns across a range of case studies spanning the French Revolution, through late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century revolutionaries and anarchists in Russia and the United States, to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and the start of World War I. In contrast to one-dimensional portraits of terrorist "monsters" offered by governments and media throughout history, these accounts offer complex and intricate portraits of individuals engaged in struggles with identity, injustice, and revenge who may be empowered by a sense of love and self-sacrifice. Arguing against easy assumptions that attribute terrorism to extremist ideology, and counter to mainstream academic explanations such as rational choice theory, Sageman develops a theoretical model based on the concept of social identity. His analysis focuses on the complex dynamic between the state and disaffected citizens that leads some to disillusionment and moral outrage—and a few to mass murder. Sageman's account offers a paradigm-shifting perspective on terrorism that yields counterintuitive implications for the ways liberal democracies can and should confront political violence. Marc Sageman, a forensic psychiatrist, is a government counterterrorism consultant. He is author of Misunderstanding Terrorism, Leaderless Jihad, and Understanding Terror Networks, all of which are available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.
E-Book Content
Turning to Political Violence This page intentionally left blank Turning to Political Violence The Emergence of Terrorism Marc Sageman U N I V E R S I T Y O F P E N N S Y LVA N I A P R E S S PHIL A DELPHI A Copyright © 2017 Marc Sageman All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher. Published by University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112 www.upenn.edu/pennpress Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Sageman, Marc, author. Title: Turning to political violence : the emergence of terrorism / Marc Sageman. Description: 1st edition. | Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017010333 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4877-7 (hardcover) Subjects: LCSH: Political violence—History. | Radicalization—History. | Terrorism— History. | Terrorists—Psychology—History. Classification: LCC JC328.6 .S24 2017 | DDC 363.32509—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017010333 For Jody and Joseph This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface 1. A Model of the Turn to Political Violence 2. The French Revolution and the Emergence of Modern Political Violence ix 1 48 3. Political Violence from the Restoration to the Paris Commune