ABSTRACT

Terrorist organizations do not exist in a vacuum. They need to have some sources of support in order to survive for more than a brief period. Dissident terrorist groups need money and a flow of recruits in order to continue their struggle against governments, which usually have greater resources. Many dissident organizations fail quickly precisely because they cannot mobilize enough support, although they can fail for other reasons. Terrorist groups that have succeeded in surviving long enough to mount serious campaigns of actions against governments or other target groups, have been able to draw upon important sources of support – either domestic, foreign, or both. Governments that provide assistance to groups involved in terrorism against its own citizens, of course, do not usually have a problem in terms of resources. While these governments may be too weak to successfully use repression against the targeted groups, they can provide major support to paramilitary groups, militias, or vigilantes. The effects of such government support were discussed in Chapter 5, and groups receiving this support have a big advantage, and, as a consequence, do not usually rely on the other sources of support discussed below.