Introduction

In the aftermath of September 11 and the declaration of the ‘War on Terrorism’, some would say that it is irrelevant and apologetic to address root causes of terrorism. Terrorism, they stress, is evil, and it must be crushed and uprooted. This is not the time to show understanding of its causes.1 Others argue that if we focus solely on the symptoms of terrorism, without addressing the conditions that produce it and provide fertile ground in which extremism and violence can grow and take root, then the war on terrorism will only produce more terrorism. Some even point to a specific root cause which they see as ‘the mother of all terrorism’, be it poverty, the festering IsraeliPalestinian conflict, state sponsorship of terrorism, or some other favourite reason. Only if that particular problem is solved, they argue, will terrorism come to an end.

Terrorism, however, is an extremely complex set of phenomena, covering a great diversity of groups with different origins and causes. Thus, it is not the ambition of this book to come up with any new magic bullets. The aim should rather be to provide a more nuanced discussion on the causes of terrorism and, it is hoped, indicate some possibilities for influencing factors that may actually have an impact on the level of terrorism.