ABSTRACT
THE STUDY of political terrorism has largely been an a-theoreticalundertaking.1 Psychiatrists and psychologists, from Cesare Lombroso to Fred Hacker and beyond, have offered their views identifying the personality types likely to commit acts of terrorist violence or take the lead in organizations pursuing their ends by terrorist means. Analysts drawn from other social sciences have also applied their ideas concerning the sources of unconventional warfare, human aggression, and the behaviour of individuals in small face-to-face groups to account for the operations of terrorists in different settings. During the 1970s several scholars sought to apply the lessons learned from the study of mass social and political movements to the conduct of such minuscule endeavours as the Symbionese Liberation Army in the USA or the equally short-lived Angry Brigade in the UK. These efforts led Walter Laqueur to throw up his hands and suggest that his readers consult Conrad and Dostoevski if they really wanted to understand the terrorist phenomenon.2
