Terrorism studies situate the cause of violence in the terrorist psyche, not politics

Evidence

In terrorism studies, the focus is on the motivations and belief systems of individual terrorists. The psyche is thus the privileged site of investigation and terrorism is explained as a compulsion or psycho-pathology. That is to say, the terrorist is driven to commit acts of violence as a consequence of psychological forces. The terrorist psyche is born in abnormal family dynamics, with the West’s own heterosexual family as its point of contrast. Bin Laden, for example, is represented as someone abandoned by a polygamous father whose interests were with his other wives. He was drawn to find substitute father figures in fundamentalist men. Terrorists are depicted as failed heterosexuals who need the promise of virgins in heaven to commit to the cause. Such portraits not only draw on older discourses about the effeminate or sexually dysfunctional Muslim man and the Oriental despot, but they preclude any examination of the socio-political causes of terrorism. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 121 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The recodification of racism in North America whereby the Jew became the Muslim and the black the brown (or Arab, in a color-coded register) was predicated on a fundamental logical flaw, whereby the criminal acts of a band of militant Muslim adventurers was politicized, identified as definitive to a world religion, and called “Islamic terrorism”. Islam is a world religion; terrorism is a political act, indiscriminately targeting civilian populations—examples of which in modern history include the Irgun in Palestine, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the Janjaweed in Darfur. — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 616 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Furthermore, the situations in which terrorism occurs vary along a number of dimensions. Political contexts include democracies as well as authoritarian regimes and states ranging from strong to weak in coercive capability and political stability. Legal systems may be flexible or rigid in dealing with violent opposition. Target societies may be homogeneous or heterogeneous, and history and political culture may be tolerant or intolerant of violence against the state. The international environment can be permissive or discouraging. Several types of terrorism occur in this range of contexts. The organizational forms and capabilities of terrorist organizations and the environments they operate in are related to both motivations and psychological consequences. Any model of terrorism must take into account the varieties and the interactive dynamics of the process. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4076 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Terrorism emerges from the intersection of disposition and environment, not single personality types — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 4086; Terrorists are rarely psychopathological, and labeling them so evades political questions — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 4088; Terrorism is framed as irrational fanaticism rather than political response (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Terrorism studies explains violence through individual psychology rather than politics #corroborates (1.00) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 121
• Terrorism is a political act, not a religious one #complicates (0.80) — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 616
• Terrorism’s political context shapes its motivations and psychological effects #complicates (0.78) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4076
• Terrorism is not generally a product of mental pathology #complicates (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4088
• Terrorists show no shared psychological attitude pattern toward violence #complicates (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4100
• Terrorism aims at political influence through emotional arousal rather than destruction #complicates (0.72) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4067