Editing Terrorism (section)

== Causes and motivations ==

Terrorist acts frequently have a political purpose based on self-determination claims, ethnonationalist frustrations, single issue causes (like abortion or the environment), or other ideological or religious causes that terrorists claim are a moral justification for their violent acts.{{sfn|Chalk|2013|loc=Introduction}}

===Choice of terrorism as a tactic===
Individuals and groups choose terrorism as a tactic because it can:
* Act as a form of [[asymmetric warfare]] in order to directly force a government to agree to demands
* Intimidate a group of people into capitulating to the demands in order to avoid future injury
* Get attention and thus political support for a cause
* Directly inspire more people to the cause (such as revolutionary acts) – [[propaganda of the deed]]
* Indirectly inspire more people to the cause by provoking a hostile response or over-reaction from enemies to the cause<ref name="Think">[https://think.kera.org/2016/04/05/the-meaning-behind-extremism/ The Psychology Of Terrorism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610075734/https://think.kera.org/2016/04/05/the-meaning-behind-extremism/ |date=June 10, 2023 }}, audio interview summarizing [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/special-report-the-psychology-of-terrorism/ Special Report: The Psychology of Terrorism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610075734/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/special-report-the-psychology-of-terrorism/ |date=June 10, 2023 }}</ref>

Attacks on "collaborators" are used to intimidate people from cooperating with the state in order to undermine state control. This strategy was used in Ireland, in [[Kenya]], in [[Algeria]] and in [[Cyprus]] during their independence struggles.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtRBDwAAQBAJ&q=Attacks+on+%27collaborators%27+are+used+to+intimidate+people+from+cooperating+with+the+state+in+order+to+undermine+state+control.+This+strategy+was+used+in+Ireland%2C+in+Kenya%2C+in+Algeria+and+in+Cyprus+during+their+independence+struggles&pg=PT247|title=Handbook of Emergency Management Concepts: A Step-by-Step Approach|last=Madigan|first=Michael L.|date=December 6, 2017|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9781351337472|language=en|access-date=October 29, 2020|archive-date=March 29, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329132957/https://books.google.com/books?id=MtRBDwAAQBAJ&q=Attacks+on+%27collaborators%27+are+used+to+intimidate+people+from+cooperating+with+the+state+in+order+to+undermine+state+control.+This+strategy+was+used+in+Ireland%2C+in+Kenya%2C+in+Algeria+and+in+Cyprus+during+their+independence+struggles&pg=PT247#v=snippet&q=Attacks%20on%20'collaborators'%20are%20used%20to%20intimidate%20people%20from%20cooperating%20with%20the%20state%20in%20order%20to%20undermine%20state%20control.%20This%20strategy%20was%20used%20in%20Ireland%2C%20in%20Kenya%2C%20in%20Algeria%20and%20in%20Cyprus%20during%20their%20independence%20struggles&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

Stated [[motives for the September 11 attacks]] included inspiring more fighters to join the cause of repelling the United States from Muslim countries with a successful high-profile attack. The attacks prompted some criticism from domestic and international observers regarding perceived injustices in U.S. foreign policy that provoked the attacks, but the larger practical effect was that the United States government declared a [[War on Terror]] that resulted in substantial military engagements in several Muslim-majority countries. Various commentators have inferred that [[al-Qaeda]] expected a military response and welcomed it as a provocation that would result in more Muslims fight the United States. Some commentators believe that the resulting anger and suspicion directed toward innocent Muslims living in Western countries and the indignities inflicted upon them by security forces and the general public also contributes to radicalization of new recruits.<ref name="Think" /> Despite criticism that the Iraqi government had no involvement with the September 11 attacks, Bush declared the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]] to be part of the War on Terror. The resulting backlash and instability enabled the rise of [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] and the temporary creation of an Islamic caliphate holding territory in Iraq and Syria, until ISIL lost its territory through military defeats.

Attacks used to draw international attention to struggles that are otherwise unreported have included the [[Dawson's Field hijackings|Palestinian airplane hijackings in 1970]] and the [[1975 Dutch train hostage crisis]].

===Causes motivating terrorism===
Specific political or social causes have included:
* Independence or [[separatist]] movements
* [[Irredentist]] movements
* Adoption of a particular political philosophy, such as [[socialism]] ([[left-wing terrorism]]), [[anarchism]], or [[fascism]] (possibly through a [[coup]] or as an ideology of an independence or separatist movement)
* Environmental protection ([[eco-terrorism]])
* [[Supremacism]] of a particular group
** Preventing a rival group from sharing or occupying a particular territory (such as by discouraging immigration or encouraging flight)
** Subjugation of a particular population (such as [[Lynching in the United States|lynching of African Americans]])
* Spread or dominance of a particular religion – [[religious terrorism]]
* Ending perceived government [[oppression]]
* Responding to a violent act (for example, tit-for-tat attacks in the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]], in [[The Troubles]] in Northern Ireland, or [[Timothy McVeigh]]'s revenge for the [[Waco siege]] and [[Ruby Ridge]] incident)

Causes for [[right-wing terrorism]] have included [[white nationalism]], [[ethnonationalism]], fascism, anti-socialism, the [[anti-abortion movement]], and [[tax resistance]].

Sometimes terrorists on the same side fight for different reasons. For example, in the [[Chechen–Russian conflict]] secular Chechens using terrorist tactics fighting for national independence are allied with radical Islamist terrorists who have arrived from other countries.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Janeczko |first1=Matthew |title='Faced with death, even a mouse bites': Social and religious motivations behind terrorism in Chechnya |date=June 19, 2014 |pages=428–456 |journal=Small Wars & Insurgencies |volume=25 |issue=2 |doi=10.1080/09592318.2014.903975 }}</ref>

===Personal and social factors===
{{main|Radicalization}}

Various personal and social factors may influence the personal choice of whether to join a terrorist group or attempt an act of terror, including:
* [[Identity (social science)|Identity]], including affiliation with a particular culture, ethnicity, or religion
* Previous exposure to violence
* Financial reward (for example, the [[Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund]])
* [[Mental illness]]
* Social isolation
* Perception that the cause responds to a profound injustice or indignity

A report conducted by Paul Gill, John Horgan and Paige Deckert {{dubious|date=October 2019}} found that for "lone wolf" terrorists:<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal |title=Bombing Alone: Tracing the Motivations and Antecedent Behaviors of Lone-Actor Terrorists |first1=Paul |last1=Gill |first2=John |last2=Horgan |first3=Paige |last3=Deckert |date=March 1, 2014 |journal=Journal of Forensic Sciences |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=425–435 |doi=10.1111/1556-4029.12312|pmid = 24313297|pmc=4217375 }}</ref>
* 43% were motivated by religious beliefs
* 32% had pre-existing mental health disorders, while many more are found to have mental health problems upon arrest
* At least 37% lived alone at the time of their event planning or execution, a further 26% lived with others, and no data were available for the remaining cases
* 40% were unemployed at the time of their arrest or terrorist event
* 19% subjectively experienced being disrespected by others
* 14% percent experienced being the victim of verbal or physical assault

[[Ariel Merari]], a psychologist who has studied the psychological profiles of suicide terrorists since 1983 through media reports that contained biographical details, interviews with the suicides' families, and interviews with jailed would-be [[suicide attack]]ers, concluded that they were unlikely to be psychologically abnormal.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Merari |first1=Ariel |title="Psychological Aspects of Suicide Terrorism," in Bruce Bongar et al., Psychology of Terrorism. |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York}}</ref> In comparison to economic theories of criminal behaviour, [[Scott Atran]] found that suicide terrorists exhibit none of the socially dysfunctional attributes—such as fatherless, friendless, jobless situations—or suicidal symptoms. By which he means, they do not kill themselves simply out of hopelessness or a sense of 'having nothing to lose'.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Atran |first1=Scott |title=Mishandling Suicide Terrorism |journal=The Washington Quarterly |year=2004 |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=67–90 |doi=10.1162/016366004323090269|s2cid=155714216 }}</ref>

Abrahm suggests that terrorist organizations do not select terrorism for its political effectiveness.<ref name="Abrahm">{{cite journal |last=Abrahms |first=Max |title=What Terrorists Really Want: Terrorist Motives and Counterterrorism Strategy |journal=[[International Security]] |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=86–89 |date=March 2008 |url=http://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/publications/what_terrorists_really_want_terrorist_motives_and_counterterrorism_strategy |format=PDF 1933 [[Kilobyte|KB]] |issn=0162-2889 |access-date=November 4, 2008 |doi=10.1162/isec.2008.32.4.78 |s2cid=57561190 |archive-date=February 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217201432/http://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/publications/what_terrorists_really_want_terrorist_motives_and_counterterrorism_strategy |url-status=live }}</ref> Individual terrorists tend to be motivated more by a desire for social solidarity with other members of their organization than by political platforms or strategic objectives, which are often murky and undefined.<ref name="Abrahm" />

Michael Mousseau shows possible relationships between the type of economy within a country and ideology associated with terrorism.{{example needed|date=October 2019}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mousseau |first1=Michael |title=Market Civilization and its Clash with Terror |journal=International Security |year=2002 |volume=27 |issue=3 |doi=10.1162/01622880260553615 |pages=5–29 |s2cid=26190384 |url=http://digitalcollections.library.ku.edu.tr/cdm/ref/collection/IR/id/527 |access-date=December 11, 2019 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133015/https://librarydigitalcollections.ku.edu.tr/en/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Many terrorists have a history of domestic violence.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/06/many-terrorists-first-victims-are-their-wives-were-not-allowed-talk-about| title = Many terrorists' first victims are their wives – but we're not allowed to talk about that| date = June 7, 2017| access-date = June 8, 2017| archive-date = June 8, 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170608190151/http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/06/many-terrorists-first-victims-are-their-wives-were-not-allowed-talk-about| url-status = live}} ''[[New Statesman]]''</ref>