ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an introduction to the psychoanalytic study of terrorism and terrorist movements, with special emphasis on the mental processes and large-group dynamics involved. It argues that terrorism and terror cannot be understood only by reference to sociological factors, such as poverty, political constellations and power struggles, or historical events. The chapter discusses terrorism mainly from the perspectives of the underlying mental processes involved—that is, from a psychological perspective and from the viewpoint of large-group dynamics. In 1979 the Islamic revolution took place in Iran, and the idea of exporting the revolution emerged. Acts of violence involve a disturbed relation to other human beings—at a moral, ethical, and emotional level—even if the violence is justified by some higher goals and a state-sanctioned rationale. In Europe alone, terrorist groups of all categories described by Waldmann are active.
