Law Commons^™

Terrorism As A Backfire Process, Brian Martin

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Terrorism is widely seen as an injustice, naturally enough because it is a blatant violation of human rights. The reaction against actions that are perceived as unjust can be called 'backfire'. The concept of backfire is an extension of Gene Sharp's political jiujitsu concept. The strange thing about terrorism is that it seems designed to backfire. Look in turn at each of the five methods of inhibiting backfire. First is cover-up. Terrorists commonly carry out their actions publicly and announce responsibility for them. They expose their actions rather than covering them up. Second is devaluing the target. Usually terrorists have …