Non-State Actors in Colombia: Threats to the State and to the Hemisphere: Max G. Manwaring

The terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC on 11 September 2001 reminded Americans of realities long understood in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. That is, terrorism is a very practical, calculated, and cynical strategy of warfare for the weak to use against the strong. It is a generalized political-psychological asymmetric substitute for conventional war. 1 The intent is to coerce substantive political change.2