>When people use the words 'terrorism', 'insurgency'

>>2609683
But all armed human conflict is arguably terrorism. Is the point not to intimidate your opponent into submission?

>>2609693
Terrorism is attacking civilians to force a political change. All armed conflicts aren't aimed nor involves towards civilians.

>>2609725
So that time a truck driver blew him and his truck up in a US army base shouldn't be consider an act of terrorism?

>>2609693
>Is the point not to intimidate your opponent into submission?

That is not the definition of terrorism in a modern political science context. Terrorism, as distinct from other forms of political violence, is coercive and not controlling, and is not limited to specific areas, does not attempt to change the overall (near) monopoly of organized violence that states tend to have.

To step out of jargon and into some illustrative examples, let's look at the Warsaw pact for a second. The Soviet Union exerted enormous influence over a bunch of other European nations on the east side of the Iron Curtain. A lot of this influence was based in the enormous military advantage the Soviets had over places like Poland or Hungary. By the use or even just the threat of conventional force, the Soviets could "intimidate" these countries into submission. But that specific threat, of pouring in hundreds of thousands of troops is not one that could have been resisted by the subject nations by mere exercise of political will not to give in. In 1956, the Soviets sent the tanks into Hungary, and the Hungarian Revolution was effectively demolished; and the ultimate failure of those revolutionaries was material, not an issue of will.

Terrorism is a 'weaker' form of intimidating your opponent into submission; the material strikes are not enough to destroy or usually even severely hamper the opposing political force. Consider the various intifadas by Hamas against Israel. Suicide bombings and mortar strikes are shocking and bloody, but Israel is not going to die as a state because of them. The idea is that enough people will die so that the costs of various Israeli policies (such as settlement of the West Bank, for instance) are discontinued, but the choice is and remains in the Israeli hands, who have a number of material options.

There are similarities, but there's a reason counter-terrorism strategy is fundamentally different from conventional military strategy.

>>2609731
Nice explanation, bit of a tangent but do you have any recommendations for books on the subject? I've read John Nagl's take on insurgencies in Vietnam/Malaya but that's it

>>2609736
Terrorism and Political Violence, the periodical, is amazing, and if you want something a bit further afield into insurgency and counterinsurgency after Nagl (and Nagl is great), I would recommend Ahmed Hashim's book on insurgency and counterinsurgency in Iraq. I would also actually recommend, from an insurgent's point of view, Mao's handbook on running one, lastly, I would recommend Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare by Daniel Marston and Carter Malkasian.

For whatever reason, it's easier to find books discussing insurgency and counterinsurgency as a general trend than it is to find the same for terrorism; most books about terrorism/counterterrorism are about specific episodes of violence. It's honestly not a bad idea to just pick a spate of terrorism and read up on it.

>>2609761
I really appreciate the recs, I know Nag l points a lot to Mao and the others seem on point. Just out of curiosity, is the subject relevant to what you studied/study in university or is it more of a personal interest?

>>2609787
I did study it in university, but I'm a bit of an oldfag, so it was some time ago. It's not related to what I do professionally.

File: Fox-News-Lies.jpg (71KB, 520x504px) Image search: [Google]

71KB, 520x504px

>>2609683
https://youtu.be/z8RkkqHVPKs

It's all part of the international societal engineering through the use of fearsome vocabulary.

If you've never heard of this watch Metanoia Film's Human Resources: Social Engineering In The 20th Century
https://vimeo.com/102686111

>>2609761
>I would also actually recommend, from an insurgent's point of view, Mao's handbook on running one

Isn't there an Irishman where his book basically is THE insurgents guide to insurgency.

>>2609813
Sounds familiar, if anyone has a name i'm interested

>>2609729
It may be terrifying or frightening but it isn't fundamentally different from any other kind of attack. It's only terrorism in the media of the entity which was attacked. Just like airstrikes might be called terrorism by the people on the ground.

>>2609725
Attacks towards civilians were previously called massacres or slaughters, killings etc. Civilians often make up most of the casualties in wars. People going into a conflict know this beforehand.

bump?